What to ask before you sign

Google describes optimizing for generative AI search as an extension of search-experience optimization — that is, of SEO. CiteAngle builds on technical SEO, people-first original content and entity fact consistency, then directly observes what AEO and GEO are named for: answer-level brand mentions and citations, plus AI Overviews (AIO) exposure — one integrated visibility read across search and AI answers. Google's official guide

Yes — the AI summary that sits at the top of US Google results (AIO · AI Overviews) is judged as its own surface: whether it appeared for the query, whether the answer names your brand, and whether your page is cited as a source. It is included from Compass up. Where a client property has Search Console's generative-AI report, we link that export as client-owned first-party evidence — and CiteAngle keeps AIO as an external observed surface, measured with repeated runs, so you get query-level coordinates for appearance, mention and citation.

Yes — the more you have invested in search, the more there is to check. On queries where an AI summary appears, part of the attention your ranking used to earn moves into the answer itself, and the rank table does not tell you whether that answer carries your brand. SEO remains the foundation. What the report adds is the crosswalk: search presence and AI presence measured on the same queries, in the same round — because some search work demonstrably transfers into AI answers and some does not, and the crosswalk shows which move comes first for your category.

Because the engines disagree. In our measured runs, a brand cited on one engine routinely fails to appear on another — one engine's answer is not a proxy for the market. Our US rail follows how US buyers actually search: as of June 2026, StatCounter puts Google at 86.67% of US search and Bing at 8.73% — and Bing carries its own AI answer surface — with Yahoo Search at 2.55% and DuckDuckGo at 1.53% kept as secondary diagnostics. And we don't stop at AI answers: from Compass up the same queries cross-check organic search, and Panorama widens to news, YouTube and short-form — 13 measured surfaces — so you can see whether your search equity is transferring into AI answers.

Every run carries provenance — interface, model, location, capture time, run index and a source receipt — so the same conditions can be measured again. Judgment is separated from collection: citation is verified against the source (deterministic), while mention and sentiment are judged on their own track with labeled confidence levels. Entity disambiguation keeps a same-name company from being counted as your brand. The measurement standards are published in the methodology.

They do — AI answers vary on the same question, and the protocol is built for exactly that. Every paid audit repeats the same query seven times per round and reads citation and mention counts inside the collected runs, alongside the answer variation itself. Applicable citation rates carry Wilson score 95% confidence intervals, reported with the effective sample size — and precision labels are granted by the actual width of the pooled interval, never by wishful thinking. The final report is released after the repeated runs and the delivery-package review complete.

The planned measurement, the report, the agreed execution and matched remeasurement under the same conditions — that is the contractual delivery standard. We report the observed change in search and AI visibility together with client-owned conversion evidence — Search Console, Bing and GA4 numbers you can recompute in your own accounts — so the next round of priorities is set by data, not by opinion.

Same measurement engines, same judging rules — what changes is measurement width and interpretation depth.

Compass ($900) runs 20 queries × 7 runs × 9 surfaces — a 1,260-cell measurement grid run in full with every cell status shown (six AI engines + Google AI Overviews + organic search cross-check) — and delivers fully automated to your dashboard in one to three business days after measurement starts: the SEO×AI quadrant crosswalk, a technical gate audit, the AI brand-recognition read and 3 verified competitor profiles. Precise current coordinates, complete without a meeting.

Panorama ($1,900) widens to 50 queries × 7 runs × 14 engines — a 4,900-cell grid adding News, YouTube, Google short-form, Bing and Copilot — and adds 8 competitors, SNS presence cards, the misinformation scan, Wilson score 95% confidence intervals, the completeness manifest that checks the deliverable set for gaps, an expert-written narrative, the 15-slide executive brief, and the async expert layer: a written decision memo, a recorded executive decision briefing and email Q&A with a two-business-day written response. If the result is going in front of a board, it's Panorama.

Both audits repeat every query seven times per round and release the final report after the delivery-package review — one to three business days after measurement starts. If you start with Compass and upgrade within thirty days of payment, the Compass fee applies to Panorama. Want live sessions? The Expert Live add-on attaches a 45-minute live executive decision briefing, quote-based.

The Refit Sprint ($12,900 · four weeks) implements the priority winning moves your audit confirmed: core pages implemented or patched, new evidence assets, technical gate patches and an entity fact sheet — closing with a change-receipt ledger, matched remeasurement and an executive delta memo. The Category Sprint ($24,900 · eight weeks) widens to two implementation waves with baseline, mid and final measurement, registered held-out and delayed evaluation, an authority-source pack and weekly written decision memos.

Change the core pages and the technical foundation first: four weeks. Build the structure that gets you selected across the category, including the authority-source layer: eight weeks. Both require a paid audit first — that is where the priorities come from.

All three run on a monthly rhythm fixed in the contract — never a quarterly black box. The expert layer completes in writing on every program: written memos, recorded briefings and email Q&A with a two-business-day written response; live sessions attach through the Expert Live add-on, quote-based.

Competitive Signal ($6,900 per quarter) — months one and two each run a Compass-scale signal measurement on the full 1,260-cell grid with month-over-month movement flagged; every month brings role, source and misinformation change cards (each with source URLs and run indices) and a written signal memo; the quarter closes with a full Panorama, a decision deck, a recorded quarterly briefing and the complete change ledger — yours to keep. Observation-led: your team executes.

Growth Operations ($19,900 per quarter) — every month a full Panorama (the 4,900-cell grid with a month-over-month delta view), a written decision memo, two priority winning moves executed with work orders and completion receipts, and a recorded briefing. The quarter closes with a delta report joining three matched Panoramas, the full receipt ledger, client-owned conversion evidence read side by side, and next-quarter priorities. The flagship program.

Category Leadership ($34,900 per quarter) — adds weekly signal runs on your core queries with weekly notes, four executed moves a month, a monthly authority-source campaign pack, and a quarter-end board-ready decision deck with an expanded competitor position map.

The expert layer on paid audits and programs completes in writing: a written decision memo (PDF), a recorded briefing and email Q&A with a two-business-day written response. The evidence, the recommendation and the next order of work arrive as documents and video — you read and watch on your own schedule, in any time zone. The calendar stays yours.

For organizations that want an expert in the room — executive reporting, cross-team alignment, board sessions — the Expert Live add-on attaches from Panorama up: a 45-minute live executive decision briefing over video, monthly live decision meetings, a quarterly live review or board presentation, and an execution-team workshop. Quote-based: the proposal fixes the sessions, duration and attendees.

Within thirty days of a Compass or Panorama payment, the audit fee applies toward a Panorama upgrade, the Refit Sprint, the Category Sprint, Growth Operations or Category Leadership. Competitive Signal is excluded — its quarter already contains its own measurement program, with signal rounds in months one and two and a quarter-end Panorama built in.

Paid measurement raw data, reports and change receipts are handed over within the contract scope (free-snapshot raw data ages out after ninety days). The quarterly close reads monthly observation, execution and conversion evidence side by side — and next-quarter priorities and the renewal scope are decided on that record, which you keep either way.

We collect the minimum — email, brand, queries — and process it under the US Privacy Notice. Benchmark statistics are built only as anonymous, industry-level aggregates; brand names, domains and other identifying details are not included.

Every engagement is quote-first. Send the scope from the contact page and the proposal fixes your USD price, the approved payment rail and the refund route before you pay — invoicing documents are settled at the quote stage, and all prices are independent US-dollar list prices. Measurement starts once payment is confirmed, and a scope is fully refundable any time before measurement begins. Full terms live in the Terms and the Refund Policy.

Delivery follows the async rhythm: paid audits publish to your dashboard in one to three business days after measurement starts, and Panorama ships with the recorded executive decision briefing and the written decision memo.