# AutoAEO — frequently asked questions

**Q: What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?**
A: AEO is the practice of getting a subject cited inside the answers produced by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Where SEO competes for a position in a list of links, AEO competes for being mentioned in the answer itself.

**Q: How is AEO different from SEO?**
A: SEO optimises for ranking positions in a results page; AEO optimises for inclusion in a generated answer and for the sources the engine cites. AEO depends on being machine-collectable — clear structure, concrete evidence, current information and compliance with each engine's collection rules.

**Q: Which AI engines does AutoAEO check?**
A: Ten, weighted by citation importance: ChatGPT (OpenAI), AI Overviews and Gemini (Google), Perplexity, Claude (Anthropic), Copilot (Microsoft), Grok (xAI), Meta AI, Le Chat (Mistral AI) and DeepSeek.

**Q: How does AutoAEO verify its results?**
A: Every check archives the raw answer it was based on — the engine, the question, the answer text, the timestamp, the citations — and computes a SHA-256 content hash over that snapshot. Because the hash is deterministic, an independent party can recompute it from the report and confirm the record has not been altered.

**Q: Does AutoAEO report guesses as results?**
A: No. Each snapshot records how it was obtained: queried means the engine was actually asked, inferred means no channel was available. Engines with no configured channel are recorded as not checked rather than filled with a plausible-looking value.

**Q: How much does AutoAEO cost?**
A: There is a Free plan with one subject. Paid plans are $19.99 (Pro), $29.99 (Premium), $99 (Developer, with API access), $149.99 (Legion) and $299 (White Label, with white-label branding) per month.

**Q: Is there a free plan?**
A: Yes — the Free plan costs $0 and covers one subject with three engine slots. No credit card is required.

**Q: How often are checks run?**
A: AutoAEO runs on a schedule and re-checks subjects continuously, so citation status is tracked over time instead of being a single snapshot. Higher-frequency checking is available on higher plans.

**Q: Can I access the data programmatically?**
A: Yes. The Developer plan and above include a public API for reading subjects, audits and usage, with webhook callbacks for payment and status events.

**Q: Does AutoAEO serve customers in mainland China?**
A: No. AutoAEO is built for customers outside mainland China — the covered engines and the product's materials are English-first and aimed at markets where those engines are used for buying decisions.

Last updated: 2026-09-23. Canonical: https://autoaeo.work/llms.txt