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Answer engine optimization

The AEO tool to get recommended by ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI

RankHound shows which answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode name a competitor instead of you, tells you which problem each answer shows, gives you the sites to get listed on, and re-checks every engine so you can see whether it worked. All six engines from $9 a month.

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What to look for

Four things an AEO tool has to do

Judge any AEO tool by these four, this one included. New to the term? Read what answer engine optimization is, and what is oversold about it.

  1. Measure every engine separately

    The engines retrieve differently and often disagree, so an average describes none of them.

    Six engines, each with its own rate and sample size.

  2. Keep the answers, not a score

    The text, the brands in order and every source cited, so you can see why, not only how often.

    Every number opens onto the answers behind it.

  3. Name the problem

    Cited but not named and never retrieved need different fixes. A tool that blends them cannot tell you which you have.

    Each answer is marked named, cited not named, or not named.

  4. Give you the work

    The sites and pages to get onto, ranked, with the answers behind each one.

    Sites to get listed on, ranked by how often the engines read them.

Measure

Set an AEO baseline on every engine before you change a page

You can only tell whether answer engine optimization worked if you measured first. The same prompts run against all six engines on a fixed schedule, so when you publish, pitch or reframe a page, you can see which engine moved and by how much, with the number of answers behind it.

A baseline per engine.
One engine can move while another stays put, and a blended score would hide which one did.
Results you can defend.
Below five answers you see a count such as 3 of 4, so one lucky answer never reads as a win.
Like for like, week on week.
Same wording, same market, so a change in the answers is a change in the world, not in your prompt.

Diagnose

Know which AEO fix an answer needs before you write anything

Most AEO advice comes down to publishing more, and often that is the wrong fix. When an engine reads your page and still recommends a competitor, more content on the same topic will not change it. Every answer is marked with the problem it shows, so the work goes where it can move the result.

Named: protect the position.
You are in the answer, and your place in it is recorded, so you can see whether the work held.
Cited, not named: a framing problem.
The engine read your page and named someone else, so more pages on the same topic will not change it.
Never retrieved: a coverage problem.
None of your pages were among the sources, so the work is getting onto the ones that were.

Improve

The AEO work that happens off your own site, ranked

The engines read a set of pages before they answer, and the pages briefing your category are mostly not yours. We list the ones that keep naming your competitors and never name you, ranked, with the pages and answers behind each one.

Where to pitch first.
Every site the engines read that named a competitor and never you, ordered by how many answers it appeared in.
What to pitch for.
The exact articles, so you know which page to get onto rather than which domain to email.
Told when it moves.
An email when your rate rises or falls, or a rival pulls ahead, by more than the sample can explain. A quiet week sends nothing.

AEO from your AI agent

Run your AEO checks from Claude or any MCP client

Ask your agent which engines named you this week, where you were cited and not named, and which sites to get listed on. It reads the same numbers as your dashboard, and it is read-only, so it can never change your plan or spend your money.

Connect in one line.
The hosted MCP server needs nothing installed. Add the address and your API key.
Ask in plain English.
“How often did ChatGPT name us last month, per engine?”
Get numbers it cannot misread.
Below five answers your agent is told there is not enough data yet, never that you scored zero.
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MCP server address

https://mcp.rankhound.ai/mcp

In Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http rankhound https://mcp.rankhound.ai/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer amt_live_YOUR_KEY"

Tested with

  • Claude Code
  • Claude desktop

And any other MCP client, over HTTP or stdio.

Read-only tools

  • get_me
  • list_brands
  • get_visibility
  • list_answers
  • list_sources
  • get_current_date
  • get_sentiment
  • get_share_of_voice
  • list_competitors
  • list_recommendations
  • list_questions
  • list_alerts

Pricing

An AEO tool with all six engines, from $9 a month

Plans differ by one thing: how many prompts you track. All 6 engines, the API, the CLI and the MCP server come with every one of them.

  • Solo

    $9/month

    2 prompts tracked

    ~256 answers a month

  • Starter

    $19/month

    5 prompts tracked

    ~640 answers a month

  • Growth

    $29/month

    9 prompts tracked

    ~1,152 answers a month

  • Scale

    $49/month

    15 prompts tracked

    ~1,920 answers a month

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How we compare with other AI visibility tools

On every plan

Common questions about AEO tools

What a buyer asks before choosing an AEO tool, answered plainly. Anything else, ask us before you sign up rather than after.

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What is an AEO tool?
An AEO tool helps you get recommended by answer engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI answers. It shows how often each one names your brand, who it names instead, what to change, and whether the change worked. RankHound tracks your AI mentions and helps you get recommended by ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Overviews, built around the answers themselves, per engine, rather than a single blended score.
How is AEO different from SEO?
SEO is about ranking in a list of links. AEO is about being named inside a generated answer, which has no positions in that sense. They overlap more than the names suggest: the engines read web pages before they answer, so the pages that get retrieved and cited still decide who is named. That is why we track the sources behind every answer, not only the brands in it.
Which answer engines does it track?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. All six are on every plan, and each is reported on its own, because they retrieve differently and a blended score hides which one you are losing.
Does it write content for me?
No, deliberately. It shows who is recommended instead of you, which problem each answer has, and where to work. Often the fix is not more content at all: a page that is cited but not named needs reframing, and the most direct route into an answer is getting onto the sites the engines already read. We list those sites for you.
How much does it cost?
From $9 a month for 2 tracked prompts to $49 for 15. Plans differ only in how many prompts you track; all six engines, the API, the CLI and the MCP server are on every plan. Above 15 prompts, email us. The trial is 7 days.

Related reading

7-day trial

Start getting recommended by answer engines

Add your brand and the prompts your buyers ask. Your AEO baseline on all six engines lands with the first run, with the sites to get listed on beside it.

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On every plan

  • Every answer stored in full, with its citations.
  • Every rate shown with the number of checks behind it.
  • Cited-but-not-named reported as its own state.