AI search has officially gone mainstream — and your exec team just asked why you’re not showing up.
You know traditional SEO won’t cut it anymore. But with so many tools claiming to “optimize for AI,” and things like Agentic AI changing by the day, it’s hard to know what actually works — or what even counts as answer engine optimization (AEO)?
We’ve tried and tested the 9 best AI-powered SEO and AEO tools of 2025 with:
- Unbiased comparisons
- Key features that matter
- Use cases by growth stage
- A quick-reference table you can screenshot and share with your team
So, you can confidently evaluate your options and cut through the dense sales pages to build a future-proof strategy with the right tool for you. Here are the tools worth your time.
Don’t have time to read this whole page? Here’s the short and sweet version:
1. Profound
Best for: Best for growth and enterprise teams who want to actually see where their brand is showing up in AI-generated answers, how often, and what that visibility is worth.
Profound connects the dots between how often your brand gets mentioned in AI answers and the traffic it drives back to your site, so for once, you can actually answer the question: “What’s our share of answers… and is it growing?” Plus, Profound’s Prompt Volumes tool shows weekly, you guessed it, prompt volumes from answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Claude to help you understand what your customers are actually prompting on those platforms. Profound scans that database to let you know if you’re not tracking any prompts in your account and proactively flags them to you so you can be confident in your setup.
If you're trying to prove ROI, Profound’s got you. Teams using Profound have seen up to an 11% lift in AI visibility in just 30 days. Profound customers often see visibility impacts in days as LLMs can start to cite new sources on a much shorter time scale compared to traditional search that can take months.
Advanced capabilities that set Profound apart:
- Agent Analytics: Server-log integration with native support for Vercel, AWS CloudFront, Cloudflare, Fastly, and Netlify—see exactly which AI crawlers are visiting your site and what they're indexing
- Prompt Volumes: Insights from 200M+ real user prompts with on-demand keyword volume projection for any keyword, even niche ones
- Query Fanouts: See the actual search queries AI systems use under the hood when researching answers to user prompts
- Pre-publication optimization: Test and optimize content before you publish, not just after
- Continuous monitoring: Tracks citation volatility (40-60% monthly drift across platforms) to identify meaningful trends vs noise
Profound runs over 6 million prompts every day to all 10 of the major answer engine platforms. They take that data, combined with their Prompt Volumes product data, and use it to help you create and optimize content that helps your brand be more visible in AI search. Their Workflows product takes it a step further and lets you build automated systems so you’re always making progress on improving your AI visibility.
Profound also sets the industry standard for data security and compliance — with both SOC 2 Type II certification, HIPAA compliance, and full GDPR readiness.
What makes it different: Profound is the only AEO platform with full multi-engine tracking, prompt volume data, content creation and optimization, AI bot tracking, and agentic workflows all in one place and built for enterprise scale.
Use it for:
- Tracking how your product shows up in the top 10 Answer Engines
- Reporting on AI visibility (and impressing your stakeholders)
- Understanding how AI search is shaping buyer behavior in your space
2. Scout by Yext
Best for: Early-stage B2B startups who want one place to track how their brand and competitors are showing up in AI search without building a dashboard from scratch.
Scout is a newer entry in the AEO space, but one to keep an eye on. Created by the team at Yext, Scout is designed to centralize AI competitor analysis: visibility into brand mentions, competitor trends, and performance across answer engines. It’s still in development as of this writing, but its roadmap reflects a clear focus on usability for lean, fast-moving marketing teams.
While its features are still rolling out, early previews emphasize simplicity — fewer filters, cleaner dashboards, and a lower lift for teams without a dedicated SEO or data analyst. That makes it appealing for startups who want insight without overhead.
What makes it different: Scout is taking a central command approach — aiming to become the one-stop hub for B2B teams tracking AI-powered brand visibility.
Use it for:
- Getting a bird’s-eye view of how your brand compares in AI-generated content
- Monitoring early shifts in how answer engines describe your space
- Centralizing competitor analysis
- Building an AEO foundation without adding complexity
3. MarketMuse
Best for: Content teams that want to build real topical authority and get rewarded for it in AI-generated answers.
MarketMuse audits your content for depth, clarity, and competitive gaps — the same signals AI engines use to decide which sources to cite. Perfect for startups building authority fast. It aims to uncover missed opportunities, identify high-impact keywords you’re not ranking for, and rework existing content into structured, authoritative resources.
It’s not a one-click solution, but for teams with an editorial mindset, MarketMuse offers a comprehensive roadmap to better, smarter AI search visibility.
What makes it different: MarketMuse was built around topical authority before AEO was even a thing — and it’s already adapting that foundation for answer engine optimization.
Use it for:
- Auditing your existing content for AI visibility gaps
- Prioritizing updates that meet AI engines’ expectations
- Building structured, source-worthy content that gets cited
⚠️ Heads up for startups: Some plans are priced for larger teams — the free tier is limited, and the full version may be out of reach until you scale.
4. Ahrefs
Best for: Startups that want to bridge traditional SEO with early-stage AI visibility — especially if Google AI Overviews is a key part of your strategy.
Ahrefs brings its massive crawl data and search analytics engine into the AEO world with tools like AI Overview snippet tracking and real-time dashboards that show how content performs in Google’s generative search results. If you’re already using Ahrefs for SEO, these new features give you a lightweight way to explore how generative answers might be affecting your top queries.
That said, it’s not built for full-spectrum AEO. Ahrefs’ AI tracking is currently limited to Google AI Overviews — no support (yet) for tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot. So if your audience is already experimenting with other AI assistants (spoiler: they probably are), this might only get you part of the picture.
What makes it different: Combines industry-leading crawl depth with early AI search tracking — all from a familiar SEO dashboard.
Limitations:
- No AEO-specific security certifications noted
- AI tracking limited mainly to Google AI Overviews—no support for Perplexity, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot
- Not purpose-built for comprehensive AEO tracking
- Missing multi-platform citation monitoring
- No dedicated AEO strategic support
Use it for:
- Tracking featured snippet and AI Overview visibility in Google
- Conducting large-scale keyword and question research
- Aligning AI optimization with existing SEO strategies
5. Otterly.ai
Best for: Startups and agencies that need fast, actionable feedback on how their messaging performs across multiple AI models.
Otterly.ai gives you a front-row seat to how your brand shows up in AI search — all the way down to the prompt level. With real-time audits, multi-LLM tracking, and competitor benchmarks, it’s ideal for teams iterating rapidly on product messaging, summaries, or support content.
The platform shows where your answers fall short, what your competitors are saying, and how to improve your prompt-level performance across models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
It’s built for smaller teams and consultants who want precise diagnostics more than big-picture dashboards. Pricing starts around €20/month, with tiered plans that unlock more audits and historical comparisons.
What makes it different: Otterly focuses on prompt-level performance and real-time audit insights — making it one of the best tools for optimizing the actual words that AI models pick up and repeat.
Limitations:
- Security certifications not publicly listed
- Built for smaller teams—may lack enterprise scalability
- Focused on prompt-level diagnostics vs big-picture strategy
- No GA4 integration or revenue attribution
- Limited server-log analytics and technical SEO features
Use it for:
- Auditing how AI models summarize your brand or competitors
- A/B testing product descriptions, brand messaging, or support docs
- Identifying high-impact prompts to improve across generative platforms
6. Goodie AI
Best for: Teams who want a fast, lightweight way to catch outdated or misleading brand info in AI-generated summaries.
Goodie AI is built for simplicity. It scans AI-generated answers for misinformation, missing context, or outdated brand details, helping startups make sure what’s out there actually reflects reality. The interface is clean and easy to navigate — (perfect if you avoid steep learning curves and bloated dashboards).
It’s an easy entry point for marketers new to AEO or teams without much bandwidth. That said, some advanced features (like export options and multi-engine integrations) are still evolving, so it’s best suited for brands prioritizing quick audits over complex reporting.
What makes it different: Goodie focuses on accuracy and context, making it ideal for brands concerned about reputational risk or inconsistencies in AI search.
Limitations:
- Security and compliance status not disclosed
- Advanced features still evolving (export options, multi-engine integrations)
- Best for quick audits vs complex reporting needs
- No enterprise integrations or strategic support
- Limited technical depth compared to dedicated AEO platforms
Use it for:
- Spotting misinformation in AI summaries or snippets
- Catching old branding or incorrect product data in search results
- Running lightweight audits without deep technical setup
7. AnswerThePublic
Best for: Marketers looking to reverse-engineer AI prompts by understanding the real questions people ask.
AnswerThePublic takes a keyword and gives you full questions, grouped by user intent and search volume. For startups aiming to rank in AI-generated answers and traditional search engines, that’s a goldmine. These queries are the raw material for FAQ pages, semantic clusters, and prompt-matching content—all structured in ways that match how AI tools actually surface answers, and how humans ask.
What makes it different: One of the simplest ways to surface real, intent-driven search behavior — without needing a full SEO platform.
Limitations:
- Not a true AEO tracking tool—focuses on keyword/question research only
- No AI citation monitoring or visibility tracking
- No security certifications or enterprise features
- Doesn't show you where you're actually appearing in AI answers
- Best used as a supplementary research tool, not a primary AEO platform
Use it for:
- Planning atomic content for AI-driven snippets
- Building question-based content clusters
- Mapping user intent for AEO and SEO overlap
8. SEMrush
Best for: Small teams who run hybrid SEO + AEO strategies and need scalable query data and keyword visibility from traditional search.
SEMrush is still one of the most comprehensive keyword research tools out there. Its massive database uncovers long-tail, search keywords that generative AI tends to favor, making it a smart choice for mapping answer-worthy content across both traditional search and answer engines.
If your team is already using SEMrush for technical SEO, site audits, or backlink tracking, you can layer in AEO strategy without adding another tool to the mix.
What makes it different: Deep keyword and intent data that supports SEO and limited AEO tracking without switching tools.
Limitations:
- Primarily an SEO tool—AEO capabilities are secondary
- No dedicated multi-platform AI citation tracking
- No screenshot verification or real-time answer monitoring
- Missing enterprise AEO features like server-log analytics
- Can be very expensive
Use it for:
- Finding long-tail prompts that generative engines tend to surface
- Creating hybrid content strategies across SEO + AEO
- Scaling keyword discovery without starting from scratch
9. Evertune
Evertune is built to track how AI models describe your brand across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others. Its core strength lies in identifying factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations — giving you an early warning system when brand perception might be skewed by machine-generated content.
That accuracy monitoring focus makes it a solid choice for reputation-conscious teams. But it’s not a full AEO solution for most brands. Evertune currently lacks the security certifications (like SOC 2 Type II) that many enterprise teams need.
What makes it different: Evertune zeroes in on misinformation monitoring — flagging and alerting you when AI gets your brand story wrong.
Limitations:
- No SOC 2 Type II or enterprise security certifications
- Limited to 6 engines with daily updates (vs real-time monitoring)
- Only basic CSV exports—no GA4, Tableau, or enterprise integrations
- Lacks technical SEO optimization tools and server-log analytics
- No dedicated strategic support or onboarding program
- Pricing not disclosed on website
Use it for:
- Spot-checking inaccurate brand descriptions in AI-generated content
- Monitoring reputation risk across major answer engines
- Keeping internal teams aligned on what customers are actually seeing
Key Features to Consider in AEO Tools
TL;DR: The best AEO tools don’t just surface data — they help you act on it, use it as receipts, and are easy to get approved by all your stakeholders.
Here’s what to actually look for in an AEO tool if you’re a startup or scale-up team trying to stay visible, competitive, and sane:
- Multi-engine visibility
- Real-time citation tracking
- Competitive benchmarking
- Bulk prompt or keyword analysis
- Security and compliance
- Reporting
1. Multi-engine visibility
If your tool only tracks one or two engines, you're not getting the full picture. The most valuable platforms pull data from all the major players: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and more.
2. Real-time citation tracking
Traditional SEO tools weren’t built to track AI-generated answers. You need tools that can spot your brand’s name in the wild and back it up with proof — ideally, screenshots of where and how you were mentioned. Catch misinformation, track wins, and stay ahead of competitors.
3. Competitive benchmarking
Knowing your numbers is only part of the equation. Strong AEO tools let you compare your brand’s visibility to others in your space — so you can see whether you’re gaining ground or falling behind. Share-of-answer trends, side-by-side competitor views, and rankings by topic give you this.
4. Bulk prompt or keyword analysis
AEO isn’t one-prompt-at-a-time work. You need to track dozens — sometimes hundreds — of keywords, prompts, or use cases at once. Bulk analysis tools save you time, reduce guesswork, and let you see what’s working at scale. Bonus if it covers both branded and unbranded queries.
5. Security and compliance
If you’re working in fintech, health, or anything data-sensitive, SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance should be non-negotiable. Even if you’re not regulated yet, choosing a platform with serious security posture helps you scale without replatforming or tech debt later.
6. Reporting
Dashboards that are intuitive, export-ready, and easy to share (without a stakeholder Q&A session) make it a whole lot easier to secure buy-in.
What features should startups look for in an AEO tool?
Picking an AEO tool shouldn’t feel like a gamble.
If you’re at a startup, you need something that fits your team size, budget, and goals — without making you jump through enterprise-level hoops. That means finding a tool that’s easy to run, scales as you grow, and gives you a clear picture of how you’re showing up in AI-generated answers.
Step-by-Step Checklist for Choosing your AEO Tool
Here’s a quick filter to help narrow your shortlist:
- Security & Compliance What security does it offer?
- SOC 2 Type II?
- GDPR-ready?
- Data hosted securely?
- Engines Supported Does it support…
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Copilot
- Gemini
- Citation Monitoring
- Can it show me real-world mentions and citations?
- Tracks actual brand mentions, not just rankings?
- Reporting & Sharing What capacity does your team realistically have? Respect that with:
- Intuitive dashboards
- Easy to export reports
- Reports that non-marketers can understand
- Pricing & Scalability
- Is there a plan that works now — and grows with you?
- Onboarding Support
- Is setup fast?
- Is the team responsive if you get stuck?
⚡️ Pro Tip: If you’re between two tools, run a side-by-side test. Set up 10–20 core prompts or keywords, compare visibility reports over 2 weeks, and see which one actually gives you more usable intel.
How do you get the most out of your AEO platform?
Once you’ve picked your AEO tool, your next move is getting it to work for you. You don’t need to overhaul your site — just treat AEO like SEO’s faster, smarter cousin: shorter feedback loops, clearer intent signals, and more direct ROI.
Let your platform show you what’s working, then keep iterating from there. These are the tactics that actually move the needle — even if you’re a team of one.
Make Your Content Citation-Ready
Start with content you already have. These small edits can boost your chances of being cited by AI engines:
- Write the way real people talk. Long-tail questions like “What does [tool] do?” act as intent signals for ChatGPT and perform better than robotic keywords.
- Turn top pages into atomic FAQs. Break big ideas into simple Q&A blocks, each answering one clear question.
⚡️ Try This: Pick your top 5 pages in terms of traffic or relevance. Turn each into a short FAQ with real customer questions.
Optimize your site for AI Engines
The technical stuff doesn’t have to be scary! If you can add these simple things, you’ll create a big shift for your brand.
- Use schema. Add FAQPage, HowTo, or Product schema with tools like Merkle’s Schema Generator, Yoast, or injecting your own code in the head of your page.
- Add llm.txt compatibility: Host a simple text file at your domain root or use a tool like DualWeb to signal AI crawlers like Perplexity or Claude what to index or avoid — similar to robots.txt, but for LLMs. Adds a layer of control over how your content is used in AI-generated answers.
Keep Content Fresh Because AI Engines Notice
If your product changed but your site didn’t, AI will spread the wrong info. Fast-growing startups need to update before misinformation spreads.
- Set up a quarterly review time block. Refresh anything outdated: pricing, features, team, etc.
- Use your AEO tool to find stale mentions. Most AEO tools can show you where outdated info still shows up.
⚡️ Try This: Audit your homepage and “About” section for anything that changed in the last 90 days.
Use Your Dashboard Like a Growth Tool
Don’t rely on visibility stats alone, use your AEO platform to spot what’s missing and what to fix:
- See where your brand isn’t showing up and reverse-engineer what your competitors are doing differently.
- Track unbranded mentions and turn them into content opportunities.
- Correlate traffic + citations. Which prompts bring actual users? Which content drives the most exposure?
⚡️ Try This: Look at the 3 prompts where you’re not cited but should be. What’s missing in your content?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Answer Engine Optimization and why does it matter?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring your content so it appears as a cited source in AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Gemini. As these engines now handle the majority of top-of-funnel searches, AEO has become critical for driving brand visibility—especially in zero-click experiences.
How is AEO different from traditional SEO?
AEO focuses on earning citations and answer placements in conversational, AI-generated search results. Unlike traditional SEO, which targets rankings and clicks, AEO prioritizes clarity, credibility, and visibility within the answers themselves, across multiple platforms.
Which features are essential in an AEO tool?
Top AEO platforms track where your brand shows up in AI-generated answers across engines like ChatGPT and Gemini. Look for tools that offer:
- Multi-engine citation monitoring
- Competitor benchmarking
- Bulk keyword and question discovery
- Compliance support (e.g. SOC 2, GDPR)
- Structured, shareable reports
How often should I update content for AI answer engines?
Plan for quarterly content refreshes to stay visible and authoritative. But update sooner if product details, pricing, or messaging changes—AI engines reward freshness and penalize outdated info.
Can startups benefit from using multiple AEO tools?
Yes, but be intentional. Pair a core tool for visibility tracking (like Profound) with a lightweight tool for query research or audits. Avoid tool sprawl by choosing platforms that align with your workflows, budget, and internal resources.