Click to discover the top Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) tools, software, and platforms from the experts at Goodie. Take control of your AI presence today.
Daria Erzakova
November 4, 2025
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TL;DR (Skip Ahead if You’re in Search of Vendors)
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the discipline of controlling how Large Language Models (LLMs) also known as “answer engines” (think ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, Grok, AI Overviews, and others) talk about your brand.
Why It Matters: Generative AI referral traffic to SMB sites was up 123 % in the first half of 2025, while classic search clicks are down slightly year‑over‑year.
Market Momentum: AI companies have dominated funding flows and secured over half of global VC money in 2025. VC funding into the category now tops $45 million with players like Goodie AI, Profound’s $24 M Series A, AthenaHQ, Scrunch AI, and Bluefish’s Bloomberg Beta‑backed seed round.
Core Evaluation Checklist: The tools and software listed in this article have been evaluated on the following criteria:
Coverage (which LLMs are covered)
Data refresh frequency
Availability of visibility and sentiment metrics
Citation depth
Overall optimization workflow
Collaboration capabilities
Available integrations
What Is Answer Engine Optimization?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the process of ensuring that a particular brand, product, or service is accurately and favorably represented in LLMs and AI‑generated answers across chat interfaces (like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek) and AI‑enhanced SERPs (like Google’s AI Overview).
Unlike SEO, where the click happens on your blue link from the SERP, AEO lives in a zero‑click world: the model condenses, cites (sometimes), and often converts inside its own UI.
In short, winning here means that your brand is surfaced, described correctly, and linked; without the user ever having to open a browser tab.
The 2025 AEO Market Snapshot
Metric
2023
2024
2025
Global LLM Market Size
$1.6B
$6.3B
$8.3B (est.)
YoY Traffic Growth to Chatbots
81%
95%
80% (Apr-Mar 2025)
Investments in AEO
Early activity limited to a few small or undisclosed seed rounds
$13.5M+ in disclosed AEO tool seed funding
$90M+ in disclosed AEO tool funding
Key Takeaways for Marketers
Currently, LLM traffic remains below 10% of traditional search but is experiencing rapid growth, while traditional SERP clicks remain relatively stable.
AI search traffic (from platforms like ChatGPT or Gemini) sourced leads converts 2-4x better compared to conventional search traffic (Google and Bing).
North‑American LLM spend is forecast to hit $105 B by 2030, a 72 % CAGR.
Early adopters who lock in citations now are building durable “answer equity”; similar to how 2010s brands captured SERP featured snippets.
Goodie is the only platform that combines full‑stack observability (visibility, sentiment, citations) with an agentic optimization layer that pushes fixes: rewriting outreach emails, generating LLM‑ready press snippets, and publishing schema via an API.
Goodie’s latest updates also include specialized tools for:
Agentic commerce. eCommerce brands now get specific insights and recommendations on how to optimize their PDPs to meet buyers where they are: ChatGPT’s Instant Purchase, Google’s AI Mode, and more.
Intelligent prompting. Goodie’s Intelligent Prompt Engine recommends the topics and prompts to optimize content around, plus the ability to draw a concrete connection between content topics and target ICPs.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overview, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, AI Mode, Copilot, Rufus.
Standout Features
Geo‑Language Matrix: Visibility by country and language (critical for multinational brands).
Optimization Hub: Prescriptive tasks ranked by impact, one‑click export to Jira.
Attribution Dashboard: Ties AI answer impressions to sessions and assisted revenue via UTMs.
Ideal For: Enterprise CMOs, growth engineers, and SEO directors who need multi‑market governance and a closed‑loop workflow.
Pricing: Custom pricing; reach out to us for a demo.
Evertune’s AEO suite provides a blend of accuracy, ease of use, and integration power. It’s not the broadest in engine coverage, but what it does, it does well: making it a solid choice for brands that want actionable, real-time answer engine optimization without the steepest learning curve.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overview, Claude, Perplexity, Meta AI, DeepSeek, Copilot.
Standout Features
Scale Monster: Runs up to 1.2 M prompts per month across 6+ models, providing less volatility compared to sample‑based trackers.
SERP & AEO Insights Dashboard: Combines traditional SEO analytics with AI visibility data.
Collaborative Brief Builder: Helps teams create content briefs tailored to human readers and AI interpreters.
Ideal For: Mid-size to enterprise-level marketing teams and agencies who want a specialized, user-friendly AEO tool that integrates neatly into existing SEO workflows.
Price: Enterprise-only (built for large, high-volume datasets).
HumanizeAI.com combines AI content humanization with answer engine optimization, a unique angle in the AEO space. The platform focuses on content quality and natural readability, making it valuable for teams that produce AI-assisted content and want it to perform well across both traditional search and AI engines.
Engine Coverage: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Bing Copilot, and Perplexity.
Standout Features
AI Article Agent: Generates content optimized for both SEO and AEO, designed to surface in AI-generated answers.
AI Humanizer: Refines AI-generated text to sound more natural (useful for teams worried about detection or tone).
AI Monitor: Tracks when and how your content appears across major AI engines.
Built-In Content Suite: Includes editing, grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and paraphrasing tools in one platform.
Ideal For: Content-heavy marketing teams, agencies, and SEO professionals who produce AI-assisted content at scale and need tools that balance automation with natural readability and AEO performance.
Pricing: SEO and AEO plans start at $29 per month; AI Humanizer plans start at $7 per month.
Founded by an ex-Google Search PM and ex-Cribbly founder, AthenaHQ stands out for its AI-powered research tools and content discovery features that help teams not only optimize, but identify what to optimize. It’s slightly less automated than the top contenders, but useful when it comes to AEO strategy planning.
Funding: Y Combinator
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, AI Overview, AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, and Claude, plus additional capabilities available upon request.
Standout Features
Blind Spot Detection: Highlights prompts where your brand is absent.
Competitor AI Visibility Tracking: Monitors how rival brands are appearing in AI-generated answers.
Ideal For: Agencies, content strategists, and in-house SEO teams who want a research-focused planning tool to build an AEO strategy.
Pricing: Starts at $295 per month for the Lite plan, with higher tiers and custom pricing available.
Bluefish is built for technical SEOs and data-driven teams. While it may feel complex for casual users, its analytics power makes it a favorite among large enterprises and AI search specialists.
Funding: Undisclosed seed, backed by Bloomberg Beta.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, as well as niche engines in finance, legal, and healthcare.
Standout Features
Experimentation: Lets brands push “verified data feeds” to LLM providers and experiment with AI‑native ad units.
LLM Content Gap Analyzer: Identifies missing topics and recommends new content tailored to AI conversational trends.
Ideal For: Heavily regulated brands that are anxious about factual control.
Pricing: Pricing is not public and requires contact with the Bluefish sales team.
A rising player that earns its place for its clean UI, Scrunch features content collaboration tools and AI prompt testing features, making AEO feel accessible to teams without deep technical expertise.
Funding: $4M (Mayfield).
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Meta AI, Claude.
Standout Features
Journey Mapping: From prompt to purchase (nice for consumer funnels).
Automated Answer Snippet Builder: Generates structured summaries designed to surface as preferred answers in AI engines.
Ideal For: Mid-sized marketing teams, agencies, and brands looking for usability without the complexity of enterprise-first platforms.
Pricing: Starts at $250 per month, with other tiers and custom enterprise pricing available.
Profound focuses on why content ranks in AI answers, not just how. It’s less flashy than its competitors, but great for teams who want to blend data science with AEO. One thing to watch out for, though: optimization guidance is still manual, and geo support is limited to EN markets.
Funding: $24M Series A (Kleiner Perkins).
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overview, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Grok, Rufus, Meta AI, DeepSeek.
Standout Features
Conversation Explorer: Surfaces LLM search volume; a proxy KPI no one else offers.
Explainable AI Models: Visual dashboards show why AI engines are selecting (or skipping) your content.
Ideal For: Data-driven marketing teams, research institutions, and enterprise SEOs who want deep diagnostics and advanced content science.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $99 per month for the Starter plan, with a middle Growth tier as well as custom pricing available for enterprise plans.
Peec AI gives you a laser-focused view into how AI search engines mention your brand, tracking visibility, position, and sentiment, all in one dashboard built for marketing teams. Peec AI is markedly an analytics tool, not necessarily a full AEO suite like some of the other tools in this list, but it’s still useful for teams who have experience with content writing and don’t need as much direct guidance for AEO strategies.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. Models like Grok, AI Mode, DeepSeek, and Llama can be added for an additional cost.
Standout Features
Visibility + Sentiment Tracking: See how often your brand appears in AI chats and how it’s described.
Prompt & Competitor Monitoring: Track specific prompts and compare your AI search performance versus peers.
Reports & Exports: Pull CSVs, dashboard views, connect via API or Looker Studio; make your AI-search data shareable.
Ideal For: Marketing leads, SEO professionals, and growth teams at established brands who already have some SEO or AEO traction and need to monitor how their brand shows up in AI search.
Pricing: Tiered plans starting around €89 per month for starter tracking (with only AI Overview, Perplexity, and ChatGPT).
Gauge turns the data from AI search into action. Prompts are run in Gauge through every model every day giving highly granular data on what exactly LLMs are saying and what sources they’re using. Their content creation workflows then analyze what is influencing LLMs the most to craft specialized pieces based on their data.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot. Claude is available for an extra charge.
Standout Features:
Detailed Prompt Tracking: Create relevant prompts from keywords and track them daily through all major models
Content Creation: Create publication ready content directly in Gauge based on what’s the data shows for your industry
AI Assistant: Ask anything to Gauge’s AI SEO expert assistant. The assistant can analyze, explain, and take action on all of the data.
Ideal For: Marketing and SEO leaders at scaling brands looking to overtake leading competitors.
Pricing: Plans start at $300 / month and scale with number of prompts ran.
XFunnel specializes in Answer Engine Optimization efforts that are directly aligned to conversions (as the name suggests). It’s less about monitoring overall visibility and more about making sure the AI answers that surface actually drive qualified traffic and sales.
Engine Coverage: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, AI Overview, AI Mode, Grok.
Standout Features
Conversion Focus: Marries sentiment and buyer journey analytics to conversion insights; helpful for growth marketers optimizing bottom‑of-the-funnel AI queries.
Attribution Dashboard: Measures how AI answer visibility translates into site visits, leads, or sales.
Ideal For: eCommerce brands, growth marketers, and performance-driven teams who care as much about ROI as about being featured in AI results.
Pricing: Offers an extremely limited, albeit free AI search analysis audit, with custom pricing for Enterprise plans post-audit.
AEO Feature Trends & Gaps
Citation transparency is now a fundamental requirement, with even budget-friendly tools providing source URLs.
Precise optimization guidance is scarce. Goodie identifies specific areas within content that require editing. Most vendors still stop at general insights.
Sentiment scoring is noisy. Tools using rule‑based tone detection mislabel neutral statements. Goodie uses fine‑tuned transformers for >90 % accuracy.
LLMs.txt and JSON‑LD helpers are sprouting (Open Forge, ChatRank) to prep sites for agent crawling.
When choosing the right answer engine optimization platform for your AEO scope, it’s important to consider technical complexity, your engine requirements, and the overall goal of your AEO: do you want to monitor user sentiment, show up as a trusted source in a particular topic, or show up in AI shopping searches?
Use the chart and decision flow below to get the ball rolling when selecting an AEO tool:
Decision flow:
Inventory Your Current LLM Footprint: Which engines send you traffic today?
Put Coverage Before the Bells & Whistles: A beautiful dashboard is useless if it doesn’t track Grok and AI Overviews but your audience uses them.
Demand an Action Layer: Tools that stop at insights slow your team down.
2025 Best Practices for AEO Teams
Map your “answer graph”. Export all citations where engines pull data, then shore up thin or outdated sources.
Prioritize structured entities. Schema.org, JSON‑LD, LLMs.txt, and high‑authority Wikidata entries.
Optimize for accuracy first, sentiment second. A factual error hurts more than a lukewarm tone.
Localize prompts. LLMs now geo‑bias answers; measure visibility in every growth market.
Close the loop weekly. Feed fresh citations + PR wins back into Goodie’s Optimization Hub (or equivalent) and rerun tracking.
The Complete 2025 AEO Toolscape
Best AEO Tools FAQs
Is AEO replacing SEO?
No, SEO is still alive and well. Think of AEO as the next layer: traditional SEO still drives the majority of traffic, but AEO controls how that traffic starts.
How long will it take to see results from AEO?
Brands using Goodie and Profound report measurable citation lifts in 4‑6 weeks on long‑tail prompts; headline terms take 3‑4 months.
What KPIs matter?
The KPIs we recommend tracking include:
Visibility %
Sentiment delta
Citation authority
Assisted revenue from AI engines.
Goodie’s attribution module integrates with GA4 and Adobe for maximum KPI visibility.
Why do brands need an AEO tool?
As more people get answers directly from AI search engines and chatbots, brands risk being left out of the conversation. AEO tools help:
Track where your content appears in AI answers
Find new questions and prompts to target
Optimize content so AI engines understand and prefer it
In short: they keep your brand visible, competitive, and relevant in the age of AI search.
Conclusion: Own Your Narrative Before the Models Write It for You
With LLMs projected to significantly increase their traffic share, brands must act swiftly to secure “answer equity" that will benefit them long-term. Goodie AI distinguishes itself as a comprehensive end-to-end platform, offering unparalleled capabilities to monitor, analyze, and optimize AI-driven brand visibility.
If you’re serious about protecting and amplifying brand equity in a world where the first impression is a machine‑generated snippet, start an AEO program today and put Goodie at its core.
AEO Periodic Table: Elements Impacting AI Search Visibility in 2025
Discover the 15 factors driving brand visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity — based on 1 million+ prompt outputs.
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AEO Periodic Table: Factors Impacting AI Search Visibility in 2025
Discover the 15 factors driving brand visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity — based on 1 million+ prompt outputs.
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