A GEO tool tracks how generative AI describes and recommends your brand.
GEO, generative engine optimization, is the same work as AEO under a name that came from a 2023 research paper. A GEO tool samples the answers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews and others generate about your category, and shows where you are missing or misdescribed. Proofsource is one.
What does a GEO tool do?
Generative engines write a new answer every time. A GEO tool samples those answers and measures three things: whether your brand is named, how it is described, and which sources the engine leaned on.
The description matters as much as the mention. An engine can name you and get your product, price or category wrong, or confuse you with a company that has a similar name. A GEO tool should catch both.
Three things it should give you
Generated answers
The same questions on several engines, repeatedly, because each answer is one draw.
How you are described
Whether the engine has your category, product and facts right.
Sources
Which pages and third-party lists shaped the answer.
How does Proofsource measure it?
Proofsource is an AI intelligence platform that shows which buyer questions name your brand in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, who gets named instead, and exactly what to fix. It asks the questions your buyers ask on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, reads every answer, and records which brands are named and which pages are cited.
- Mention rate per question and engine, so you can see exactly which phrasings leave you out.
- A 95% Wilson interval on every percentage, so a dip you see on Tuesday can be told apart from noise. See the glossary.
- Daily, weekly or monthly sampling, you choose; the trial runs 2 scans about a day apart.
- A gap list: each question where a competitor is named and you are not, the pages that won it, and a drafted fix held for your approval.
The full method is on the methodology page.
Which engines does Proofsource cover?
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, on the free trial and by default on every paid plan, with the same questions on each.
Google AI OverviewsGoogle AI Mode
What should a GEO tool measure?
- Mentions and accuracy. Being named with the wrong facts is a problem, not a win.
- Unbranded questions. Questions that name your brand will mention it whether or not the engine knows you. The category questions are the test.
- Repeat sampling with intervals. One generated answer is an anecdote.
- Crawler access. Generative engines cannot learn from pages their bots cannot fetch or read.
How do the leading tools compare?
6 criteria, the same for every tool. Each competitor fact links to the vendor's own page.
| Tool | Engines covered | Intervals and stats | Fixes and actions | Crawler checks | Price to start | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proofsource | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews in the trial and in every plan's default four. Each is priced per question. Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI are enabled on a call or on Managed. | A 95% Wilson interval on every percentage; changes are flagged only when they clear it | Each gap names the pages the engine cited instead and comes with a draft held for your approval | Site audit checks whether AI crawlers get through and how much of each page they can read without JavaScript | Free trial; then plans from $9 a month (5 questions on ChatGPT, weekly), at self-serve checkout | 2 days of full AI visibility, today and tomorrow: 25 questions on 4 engines, no card |
| Profoundsource | Up to 9 on Enterprise: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Claude, Google AI Overviews, Exa Search | Not published | AI Marketer agent, Opportunities, reusable Agents and Profound Sheets | Agent Analytics: AI-sourced traffic and attribution through CDN integrations such as Cloudflare, Vercel and Akamai | Free trial, then Enterprise at a custom price through a demo | Free: 50 prompts run daily for 7 days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews |
| Otterly.AIsource | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on every plan; Claude, Google AI Mode and Gemini as paid add-ons | Not published | Recommendations (3 a week on Lite) and GEO audits (1,000 a month on Lite) | Agent Analytics on Standard and above; a free AI crawler simulation tool | $29/mo Lite (15 prompts); Standard $189/mo (100); Premium $489/mo (400) | Free trial offered; length not stated on the pricing page |
| Peec AIsource | Choose 3 per plan from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini and Naver AI; Perplexity as an extra model; up to 13 models including Claude on Enterprise | Not published | Gap analysis, ranked recommended actions and agent actions | Crawlability audit of robots.txt across 40+ AI bots, plus crawl insights from CDN logs | $95/mo Starter (50 prompts, 3 models); Pro $245/mo (150); Advanced $495/mo (350) | Free trial offered; length not stated on the pricing page |
| Scrunchsource | Core: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot. Enterprise: 9, adding Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, Google AI Mode and Grok | Not published | Insights and recommendations, 1 page optimization a month on Core, content generation | AI agent and bot traffic, 5 site audits a month on Core; AXP on Enterprise | $250/mo Core (125 prompts, 5,000 responses a month, 4 LLMs) | 7-day free trial on Core |
| SE Rankingsource | Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini | Not published | Not published | Not published | Core $129/mo (100 prompts tracked daily); AI Search add-on +$89/mo | 14-day free trial, no card |
The full comparison of eight tools, with what each does best, is in the best AI visibility tools.
- Profound pricing www.tryprofound.com/pricing
- Otterly.AI pricing otterly.ai/pricing
- Peec AI pricing peec.ai/pricing
- Scrunch pricing scrunch.com/pricing
- SE Ranking pricing seranking.com/pricing.html
- SE Ranking AI visibility tracker seranking.com/ai-visibility-tracker.html
Sources read on .
What buyers ask about GEO tools
What is a GEO tool?
Software that tracks how generative AI engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention and describe your brand, and what to change to improve it. GEO stands for generative engine optimization.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
Yes, in practice. GEO comes from a 2023 research paper (Aggarwal et al.); AEO is the name more common in marketing. Tools in this category use both.
Does llms.txt help GEO?
Not as a ranking lever. Google says no special AI text files are needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and none of the four engines Proofsource tracks has said it uses llms.txt for ranking. Readable pages and crawler access matter far more.
Which engines should a GEO tool cover?
The ones your buyers use. Proofsource covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews on the free trial, and Google AI Mode, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI are enabled on a call. The comparison table lists each tool's named engines with a source.
See how generative engines describe your brand.
See which buyer questions name your brand, who gets named instead, and what to fix. 200 answers. 25 Prompts/Question. Top AI engines. 2 days. Free. No card.
Google AI OverviewsGoogle AI Mode