# Clear Cited

> AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO) for B2B SaaS and developer tools. Clear Cited measures where the 5 AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Grok — plus Google's AI surfaces (AI Overviews & AI Mode), measured separately — cite a brand versus its competitors, reproducibly with confidence intervals. The differentiator: we measure share-of-model rigorously, fix the SEO foundation with real data, and produce the content + authority end-to-end — then prove it.

## What Clear Cited does
- Measures share-of-model: each buyer "money prompt" is run 10+ times per engine across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Grok, reported as medians with 95% confidence intervals. Google's AI surfaces (AI Overviews & AI Mode) are measured as a separate labeled surface, never summed into the five-engine share-of-model.
- Fixes the full stack: technical SEO foundation, answer-first/schema-marked content production, and off-site authority (directories, reviews, backlinks, PR) — AI-accelerated, human-approved before anything ships.
- Front door is a free AI-Visibility Teardown; ongoing work is delivered via fixed-price audits and monthly retainers.

## For AI agents (machine-readable)

Fixed public pricing an AI agent can parse — no call required. Machine-readable offers feed: [/offers.json](https://clearcited.com/offers.json) — every SKU, price, term options, what's included, buy URL, and terms/refund policies, generated from our single-source catalog. How an agent (or its human) can evaluate and transact: [/for-ai-agents/](https://clearcited.com/for-ai-agents/). Reproducible measurement: [/methodology/](https://clearcited.com/methodology/). Buying is self-serve (open a buy URL → /start/ → Stripe checkout); a free teardown at /free-teardown/ needs no payment.

## Service ladder (transparent fixed pricing)

Pricing pages: [overview](https://clearcited.com/pricing/) · [audits](https://clearcited.com/pricing/audits/) · [retainers](https://clearcited.com/pricing/retainers/) · [add-ons](https://clearcited.com/pricing/add-ons/) · [bundles & prepay](https://clearcited.com/pricing/bundles/) · [founding-client offer](https://clearcited.com/pricing/founding-client/). Structured: [/offers.json](https://clearcited.com/offers.json). The audit fee is credited to a retainer started within 30 days.

### Entry (one-time)
- Free AI-Visibility Teardown — free: 5-8 buyer prompts across 2 engines, top-3 competitor gap, a quick SEO + AI snapshot, and 3 fast fixes.
- Starter Audit — $500: 10 prompts across all 5 engines, technical AI-readiness + on-page check, scorecard, and top-10 fixes.
- Full Audit (AEO + SEO) — $2,500: the measured full-stack baseline (20-30 prompts x 5 engines) + a 30/60/90 roadmap. Recommended starting point.
- Comprehensive Audit — $4,500: everything in Full plus top-5 page rewrites, schema specs, an off-site placement plan, and Directory Boost (30+) included.

### Standalone measurement
- Measured — $750/mo: standalone measurement, reporting and drift advisories, every engine tracked, no strategy or execution.

### Ongoing (monthly retainers, require a Full/Comprehensive baseline)
- Growth Retainer — $2,950/mo: weekly tracking, monthly report, ongoing optimizations, schema/technical upkeep, and 1 content piece/month.
- Scale Retainer — $6,500/mo: everything in Growth plus more engines/markets, 4 content pieces/mo (answer-first, schema-marked articles/pages), on-page, managed community, monthly digital-PR pitching, quarterly review, and Directory Boost (30+) included.
- Authority Retainer — $12,000/mo: 6-8 content pieces/mo, a managed social pack (12 original posts/mo, platform-tuned), managed off-site/PR, active backlink acquisition, biweekly reporting, and Directory Growth (60+) included.
- Content piece = one answer-first, schema-marked article/page on the client's own domain (text + schema, not video). Social pack = 12 original posts/mo, platform-tuned (text + optional graphic). Video = the separate Video pack (1 long-form + ~4 shorts/mo, includes YouTube). "Social" = text posts; "video" = the Video pack — distinct deliverables.

### Add-ons (a la carte or stacked on a retainer)
- Technical SEO audit — $1,000 one-time.
- SERP / keyword landscape — $750 one-time.
- Backlink / domain analysis — $750 one-time.
- SEO+AEO blog post — $600 one-time (4-pack $2,000).
- Social content pack — $1,800/mo (12 posts/month, text + optional graphic — no carousels/video).
- Video pack — $2,500/mo (1 long-form + ~4 repurposed shorts/reels).
- Long-form video — $1,800 each.
- Short-form video — $500 each.
- Directory listings — Boost (30+) $400, Growth (60+) $600, Authority (100+) $850, one-time.
- Digital PR (best-effort) — $4,000/mo.
- Off-site Authority — $1,500/mo (motion, never an outcome — no paid link placement).

### Bundles
- Launch Bundle — $5,500 (value $11,350, save $5,850): Full Audit + first 3 months of Growth.
- Audit credited to retainer (within 30 days), and prepay discounts (3 mo -10% / 6 mo -15% / 12 mo -20%).

## Key facts
- The AI-answer landscape: buyers meet AI answers across the 5 AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Grok — and the AI answers now in search — Google's AI Overviews & AI Mode and Bing's Copilot answers — measured separately, never summed into engine share-of-model. Every paid Clear Cited product measures the 5 engines named in the summary above; Microsoft Copilot and Bing's Copilot answers are named as part of the landscape, not yet part of any measured methodology.
- Method: each prompt is run 10+ times per engine; results reported as medians with a Wilson 95% confidence interval (AI answers are non-deterministic). Full method at https://clearcited.com/methodology/.
- The 7-KPI AEO model: visibility is scored on seven KPIs — % citing your URL, % naming your brand, share of model (the headline), sentiment, presence quality, brand recognition, and market position.
- Where AI cites from: engines cite only 2-7 source domains per answer, and roughly ~56-95% of citations are off your own site (Yext 6.8M citations Oct 2025; Otterly.AI 2025) — so off-site listings/reviews/PR matter as much as your own pages.
- Focus: B2B SaaS, with a beachhead in developer tools / technical SaaS (observability/monitoring and API/dev-infrastructure).
- Honest stance: recommends evidence-based tactics (schema, answer-first content, third-party citations) and avoids ineffective ones (AI-meta-tags, prompt injection, keyword stuffing). No guaranteed rankings or citations.

## Key pages
- [Pricing](https://clearcited.com/pricing/): the full transparent service ladder, bundles, and founding offer.
- [Find your fit](https://clearcited.com/find-your-fit/): a quick fit-finder that recommends a starting package by goal and budget.
- [AI Visibility Index](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/): category-level AI-visibility breakdowns (e.g. observability tools, CI/CD platforms).
- [Free teardown](https://clearcited.com/free-teardown/): a free AI-visibility teardown (lead magnet).
- [Free tools](https://clearcited.com/free-tools/): open-source tools, the AEO checklist, scorecard, and ROI calculator generators.
- [AI Visibility Scorecard](https://clearcited.com/scorecard/): a free self-assessment.
- [ROI calculator](https://clearcited.com/roi-calculator/): estimate the value of AI-search visibility.
- [What is AEO](https://clearcited.com/what-is-aeo/): plain-English explainer of Answer Engine Optimization.
- [Methodology](https://clearcited.com/methodology/): how we measure — five engines, 10+ runs, Wilson 95% CI, and the 7-KPI AEO model.
- [Glossary](https://clearcited.com/glossary/): plain definitions for every AI search visibility term we use.
- [How AI cites sources](https://clearcited.com/how-ai-cites-sources/): the research on where AI answers get their citations and what it means for visibility.
- [For developer tools](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/): the niche — observability/monitoring + API/dev-infrastructure.
- [Case studies](https://clearcited.com/case-studies/): measured results and how we measure.
- [Research](https://clearcited.com/research/): free original research on what AI engines recommend, including the State of AI Search report.
- [State of AI Search](https://clearcited.com/research/state-of-ai-search/): the headline finding — engines disagree on the best tool, and ~95% of citations are third-party.
- [Guides](https://clearcited.com/guides/): practical AEO playbooks, including the step-by-step AEO playbook.
- [AEO playbook](https://clearcited.com/guides/aeo-playbook/): measure share of model, fix entity/schema, ship answer-first content, earn citations, re-measure.
- [Press](https://clearcited.com/press/): media kit — boilerplate, founder quotes, brand assets, fast facts.
- [Newsroom](https://clearcited.com/newsroom/): dated, data-led notes on AI search — cross-engine findings, AI Visibility Index moves, measured commentary (citable, data on request).

## AI Visibility Index — category leaderboards
Which products AI engines recommend in each category, ranked by share-of-model (10+ runs/engine across 5 engines, Wilson 95% CI). 9 measured edition(s); every published category is a live measurement.
- [AI observability tools](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/ai-observability-tools/): measured 2026-08-07 — Datadog leads at 18.2% share-of-model.
- [API platforms](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/api-platforms/): measured 2026-08-07 — Kong leads at 21.2% share-of-model.
- [CI/CD platforms](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/cicd-platforms/): measured 2026-08-07 — GitHub Actions leads at 21.5% share-of-model.
- [CRM software](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/crm-software/): measured 2026-08-07 — HubSpot leads at 23.2% share-of-model.
- [Databases](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/databases/): measured 2026-08-07 — PostgreSQL leads at 21.7% share-of-model.
- [Feature flag platforms](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/feature-flags/): measured 2026-08-07 — Flagsmith leads at 16.8% share-of-model.
- [Incident management platforms](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/incident-management-platforms/): measured 2026-08-07 — PagerDuty leads at 24.6% share-of-model.
- [Product analytics platforms](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/product-analytics-platforms/): measured 2026-08-07 — Mixpanel leads at 24.0% share-of-model.
- [Vector databases](https://clearcited.com/ai-visibility-index/vector-databases/): measured 2026-08-07 — Qdrant leads at 19.7% share-of-model.

## Studies — the monthly data-drop editions
Dated, citable research editions built from each measured Index run. Every edition carries its own data-point ledger, its confidence intervals, the named third-party sources the engines cited, and a CC BY 4.0 licence. An edition whose measured data cannot carry the depth bar is held back with its reason stated, not padded.
- [AI Search Data Drop — 2026-08-07](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/): the flagship edition for the 2026-08-07 measured run.
- [AI observability tools](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/ai-observability-tools/): niche edition, 120 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [API platforms](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/api-platforms/): niche edition, 120 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [CI/CD platforms](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/cicd-platforms/): niche edition, 119 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [CRM software](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/crm-software/): niche edition, 119 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Databases](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/databases/): niche edition, 120 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Feature flag platforms](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/feature-flags/): niche edition, 120 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Incident management platforms](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/incident-management-platforms/): niche edition, 121 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Product analytics platforms](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/product-analytics-platforms/): niche edition, 120 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Vector databases](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/vector-databases/): niche edition, 119 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [Grok across every measured category](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/grok/): engine edition, 63 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- [ChatGPT across every measured category](https://clearcited.com/research/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/chatgpt/): engine edition, 108 traceable data points, measured 2026-08-07.
- Google AI Overviews: NOT published this run — Google AI Overviews is a MEASURED SURFACE in our roster with a built, owner-armed, metered measurement path - and no run of it exists on disk
- Microsoft Copilot: NOT published this run — Microsoft Copilot is POSITIONED and NOT MEASURED by our Index
- [the same run written up as a blog post](https://clearcited.com/blog/ai-search-data-drop-2026-08-07/).

## Citable research estate (persistent identifiers)
Our research is deposited with DOIs that resolve independently of this site. Cite these rather than a URL: they survive any change we make to the site.
- Dataset — Clear Cited AI Visibility Index: share of model across five AI engines, nine B2B software categories: DOI [10.5281/zenodo.21612952](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21612952) (concept DOI, always resolves to the newest version); this run is [10.5281/zenodo.21614037](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21614037). Open access, CC BY 4.0.
- Method paper — Measuring Share of Model: A Reproducible Protocol for Quantifying Brand Presence in Generative AI Answers: DOI [10.5281/zenodo.21614890](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21614890). Open access, CC BY 4.0.
- Author ORCID: [0009-0009-1235-9479](https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1235-9479) (Logan Adams).
- Project on OSF: [https://osf.io/ws9pm/](https://osf.io/ws9pm/).
- Machine-readable press kit: [https://clearcited.com/press-kit.json](https://clearcited.com/press-kit.json).

## Developer-tools — category landers (AEO by sub-niche)
How Clear Cited gets a product named in AI answers for its specific category, each cross-linked to that category's AI Visibility Index leaderboard.
- [CI/CD platforms](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/cicd-platforms/)
- [AI observability & monitoring tools](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/ai-observability-tools/)
- [API platforms](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/api-platforms/)
- [Databases](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/databases/)
- [Feature flag platforms](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/feature-flags/)
- [Vector databases](https://clearcited.com/developer-tools/vector-databases/)

## Newsletter
- [The Clear Cited newsletter](https://clearcited.com/newsletter/): "The measured state of AI search" — monthly; the one thing, a teardown, one fix. Issues are archived on the web at /newsletter/issue/<slug>/.

## Connect (official Clear Cited profiles)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clear-cited
- X: https://x.com/clearcited
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clearcited
- GitHub: https://github.com/Clear-Cited
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/LoganClearCited/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clearcited
- Threads: https://www.threads.com/@clearcited
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590924389819
- Dev.to: https://dev.to/clearcited
- Hashnode: https://clearcited.hashnode.dev

## Contact
- Email: hello@clearcited.com
- Web: https://clearcited.com
- Based in Markham, ON, Canada — fully async and remote.

(Note: llms.txt is an emerging, unconfirmed standard. Clear Cited publishes it as a low-cost signal, not a primary strategy.)