Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about cite-met, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and seeing how AI crawlers use your site.
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🎯 The Basics: What & Who
What exactly is cite-met?
cite-met is an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) platform. We show you which AI crawlers fetch which pages of your site, next to your human and search traffic, and we give you the hosting, analytics, and tools to get cited more. Our dashboard separates Human, SEO, and AEO performance so you can see which AI crawlers read which pages, instead of guessing. The free scan also checks the basics: whether your content is in the HTML, your sitemap, your structured data, and an optional llms.txt (Google ignores it). Check your AEO visibility now.
Who is this for?
Founders, growth and SEO leads, agencies, and developers: anyone who wants to see how AI crawlers use their site and do something about it. Founders use it to track a brand-new category of visibility; growth and SEO teams use it to measure AEO separately from classic search; agencies use it to report AI crawler activity to clients; developers use it to ship fast, crawlable sites and keep the technical basics right. Check your AEO visibility now.
What does C.M.E.T. stand for?
It is our framework for AEO: [C]ited: making sure AI engines can read and reference your source material. [M]emorable: people see your name often enough to start typing it into follow-up questions. [E]ffective: focusing on real citations and outcomes, not vanity traffic. [T]rackable: analytics on which AI crawlers fetch your pages, next to the citation reports Bing and Google publish. Read our complete CiteMET guide to learn how each pillar works in detail.
What is AEO, and how is it different from SEO?
SEO optimizes for clicks from a ranked list of links. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimizes for being cited inside the answer that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews generate. The technical foundations overlap (fast sites, structured data, clean HTML), but the goal diverges: SEO wants you at the top of a list; AEO wants you quoted in the essay. The key difference cite-met adds is measurement: we report AI crawler activity as its own channel, separate from Human and SEO traffic, so you can see which AI crawlers are reading which pages.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
They're the same thing. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) both refer to optimizing your content so AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews cite it when they generate answers. The terminology varies; the goal is identical. We use 'AEO' as our primary term. What is CiteMET?.
Is AEO real yet, or is it hype?
It's real, and part of it is measurable. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode answer questions above the classic blue links, and ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity answer them directly, with sources. The crawlers that fetch pages for AI search (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) and the ones that fetch a page when someone asks about it (ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User) leave requests in your server logs. cite-met shows you those requests by page. Logs show which pages were fetched, not which were cited, so for citations use the reports Bing and Google publish for their own AI features. Explore the shift to AI search.
🤖 Getting Cited: AI-Readiness
Why isn't AI citing my website?
Usually one of three reasons: AI crawlers can't reach or read your pages, the page isn't indexable, or your content doesn't answer the question directly. Check the basics the vendors document: robots.txt doesn't block their search crawlers, your words are in the HTML your server sends, and the page isn't set to noindex or nosnippet. Structured data and an llms.txt are optional extras, and Google ignores llms.txt. cite-met first measures which AI crawlers are reaching you, then helps you close the gaps. Check your AEO visibility to see where you stand.
Do AI crawlers run JavaScript?
Googlebot does: Google's documentation says Search runs JavaScript, though rendering can happen after the first crawl. OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity each publish a page about their search crawler (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot), and none of those pages says the crawler runs your JavaScript. Don't rely on it. If your words are in the HTML your server sends, every reader gets them. See what each vendor documents and how to check your own site.
Can I just ask Cursor or Lovable to "fix my AEO"?
AI coding tools generate source code. They don't check whether AI crawlers can reach the result, and they can't see your AI crawler traffic. That's the part cite-met owns: we track which AI crawlers fetch which pages, report that as its own channel, and check the technical basics (your words in the HTML, crawler access, a sitemap). Use your favorite tools to build; use cite-met to find out whether AI crawlers can reach what you built.
How does cite-met make my pages more AI-readable?
We start with the free scan. It checks whether your words are in the HTML your build writes (CM-101), whether crawlers are allowed in, and whether your pages are indexable and listed in a sitemap, and we work through what fails with you. If you host with us, we run your own build on Cloudflare's edge and serve what it outputs, give you a sensible robots.txt with one-click robots.txt and llms.txt fixes. We check your sitemap, but we don't write it. Keep your structured data accurate too. Once the pages are live, the platform also shows which AI crawlers are fetching them.
⚙️ The Features: AEO & Optimization
Do I need llms.txt?
Probably not. llms.txt is a Markdown file, proposed in 2024 by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI, that lists the pages you most want an AI agent to read. Google says Search ignores it, and no major AI search engine documents using it. It is most useful for developer documentation that coding tools read. We can generate one for hosted sites if you want it, but treat it as optional. Read the full answer: does llms.txt matter in 2026?
Do you help with Google (SEO) or just AI (AEO)?
Both. The free scan checks your words in the HTML, crawler access, indexability, titles, canonical URLs, your sitemap and HTTPS, and those are the foundations of traditional Google SEO too. Most of what makes a site easy for AI crawlers to read also helps Google.
How do you track AI traffic?
Google Analytics 4 leaves out known bots and spiders automatically, so crawler visits never reach its reports. cite-met reads requests on the server side, so it can show which AI crawlers fetched which pages. Our dashboard identifies user agents such as OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot (AI search), ChatGPT-User, Claude-User and Perplexity-User (fetches a person triggers), and training crawlers like GPTBot and ClaudeBot. Google-Extended is a robots.txt setting, not a crawler, so it never appears in logs. Logs show fetches, not citations. Discover how to measure your AEO impact with our analytics dashboard.
Can GEO work alongside my existing SEO strategy?
Absolutely. AEO/GEO doesn't replace SEO. It extends it. The technical basics the scan checks (content in the HTML, crawler access, indexability, your sitemap) and accurate structured data help your traditional Google rankings too. You're not choosing between search engines and AI; you're covering both channels simultaneously.
Why is now the right time to invest in GEO?
The basics are cheap and they compound. AI Overviews and AI Mode are now part of Google Search, and ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity answer questions with sources. What helps in all of them is the same: pages crawlers can reach and read, content that answers the question, and a way to measure. Starting now gives you a baseline, so you can see what changes when you improve a page. Explore the future of AI search and why positioning now matters.
🔒 Trust, Security & Infrastructure
Do I have to move my hosting to cite-met?
No, but AI-crawler analytics need it. On a site we don't host, we connect your domain and add one snippet, and you get human traffic, sources, journeys, uptime, DNS and AI-search readiness checks. The snippet runs in the browser, so AI crawler visits don't show up in it. To see which AI crawlers fetch which pages, the site has to be served through cite-met: we connect your repo and run your own build on Cloudflare's edge. You can start with measurement and move the hosting later, or never.
Will the Script Manager break my site?
No. The Script Manager adds and removes third-party tags — analytics, ad pixels, and similar — from one dashboard, so you can change tracking without redeploying. Your application code stays in your repository and is never modified. Remove a script and it's simply gone on the next load.
Is my site secure?
Yes. When you host with cite-met, every deployment runs on the Cloudflare Global Edge Network and includes enterprise-grade DDoS protection, a managed Web Application Firewall (WAF), and automatic SSL/TLS encryption.
What happens if cite-met goes down? Will my site go offline?
No. Your site stays up. Because your build's output is served from the Cloudflare Edge (data centers in 330+ cities), your website operates independently of our dashboard. Even if we are doing maintenance, your site remains live and globally available.
Do you own my code?
Absolutely not. You retain 100% ownership of your intellectual property. We only require access to your GitHub repository to build and deploy the site. You can disconnect your repository at any time.
💰 Pricing & Account
Can my team use it?
Yes. cite-met is built for teams: founders, growth and SEO leads, developers, and agencies reporting to clients. The dashboard separates Human, SEO, and AEO performance and shows which AI crawlers fetch which pages, so non-technical stakeholders can read the AEO story while developers wire up the technical signals. The Script Manager also lets marketers add or remove tracking tags without involving a developer or redeploying. See plan details.
Can I test before going live?
Yes. If you host with cite-met, we deploy a staging site once you share your GitHub repo, so you can preview your pages and check your visibility score before anything goes live. If you only want measurement on your existing site (human traffic, sources, journeys, uptime and readiness checks), we connect a domain and add one snippet, and nothing about your live site changes until you choose to act on what you measure.
What happens if I cancel?
Your site will be taken offline from our platform at the end of your billing period. However, your code remains safely in your GitHub repository, unchanged. You are never locked in.
Do you offer an uptime SLA?
We do not sell a contractual uptime guarantee with any plan. What every plan does include is site health monitoring that catches outages before you hear about them, and pages served from the Cloudflare edge. Support grows with the plan: the monthly report starts on Local, Growth adds priority support, and Authority adds a direct Slack channel and a dedicated lead. See all plan details.
How do I connect my custom domain to cite-met?
Every plan supports custom domains. When you're ready to connect your domain, we provide detailed step-by-step instructions including the exact DNS records (A records, CNAME records, and TXT verification records) to add at your domain registrar. Adding the DNS records takes about 5 to 10 minutes, and SSL certificates are provisioned automatically within 24 to 48 hours. See all plan details.
🚀 Getting Started
How do I get my site onto cite-met?
Talk to us first. Every plan is scoped on a call rather than bought through a signup. If you want hosting, push your project to GitHub (most builders, including Lovable, Bolt, and Cursor, have a one-click "Export to GitHub"). We link the repo and hand you a staging build, and you publish when you're ready. If you only want measurement, nothing moves: we connect a domain and add one snippet to the site you already run, for human traffic, sources, journeys, uptime and readiness checks. AI-crawler analytics need the site served through cite-met. Book a call.
How long does setup take?
Setup is done for you. Once you share your repo, we connect it, set up the build, and send you a staging link to approve. The first build takes 2 to 5 minutes, and later updates are faster. Connecting your domain adds about 5 to 10 minutes of DNS changes, plus up to 24 to 48 hours for SSL.
My CiteMET Score is still low after deploying. Why?
The score reads the HTML your site sends, so it only moves when that HTML changes. If a page has very little text in the HTML, a page is missing its own title, or the homepage has no meta description, your score will reflect that. Good content is what earns citations, and the score doesn't grade it, so keep writing. Our guide to the Inverted Pyramid strategy shows how to write answer-first pages.
Will this work if my brand is completely new?
Yes, but expect it to take time. A new brand gets the same technical footing as anyone else: crawlable pages and answers that are specific and sourced. What it has less of is reputation, and nothing replaces that. For established brands, AEO builds on authority they already have. For new brands, the work is to be the clearest, most useful source on a narrow topic and to show who is behind it. You won't outrank major publications overnight. Learn how to build authorship signals for your brand.
How quickly will I see results?
Your CiteMET Score re-checks your live site each time you scan, so fixes show up straight away. Crawlers return on their own schedules, and OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity and Google don't commit to one, so we can't promise when a crawler will fetch a page again. Our Analytics dashboard shows crawler fetches as they happen, so you can see when they come back. Citations, if they come, depend on content quality and take longer to show up. We don't promise a timeframe. Read our measurement guide to track your progress.
Still have questions?
Our founders (Mahmoud & Cho) are active in the community.
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