Orion: The Answer Engine Optimization Platform

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — is the practice of optimizing a website so that AI search engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini recommend and cite the content. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on keyword rankings in Google, AEO improves the signals AI systems use to evaluate expertise, trustworthiness, and content quality. As AI-powered search grows, with over 2.5 billion daily AI queries globally, AEO is becoming as essential as SEO was in the early 2000s.

AEO and GEO refer to the same practice — making a brand visible in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and similar systems. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is the more recent term, focused on the outcome (being cited in the answer). GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the earlier term, focused on the mechanism (optimizing for generative retrieval). Both terms are used interchangeably across the industry; Orion supports both frameworks.

Orion analyzes the website across 7 factors that influence AI search visibility: content structure, entity recognition, citations, authorship, freshness, performance, and accessibility. The result is a 7-factor GEO score plus specific AEO recommendations to improve citation rate in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.

SEO and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization, also called GEO) share the same goal — visibility — but serve different systems. SEO targets Google and Bing via keywords, backlinks, and page rankings. AEO targets AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, which decide which sources to cite by evaluating structured data, entity authority, content depth, and source credibility. A site can rank #1 on Google but never appear in AI answers — that is the gap AEO fills.

AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity evaluate multiple signals when choosing sources: structured data markup (Schema.org), content freshness, topic authority, named entity recognition, citation patterns from authoritative sites, and how clearly information is structured for extraction. Orion's 7-factor GEO score measures exactly these signals and surfaces AEO recommendations to improve the chance of being cited.

Yes. Orion supports ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta AI. All engines are included at every pricing tier, starting at $59/month — no engine gates.

Orion completes a comprehensive AEO / GEO analysis in 2-3 minutes. The output includes the 7-factor GEO score, competitor benchmarks, and actionable AEO recommendations with impact estimates.

No. Orion provides step-by-step AEO recommendations that a non-technical user can implement. For more complex fixes, documentation and support are available. Launch ($59/month) includes all analysis tools; higher tiers include hands-on implementation assistance.

Orion can analyze staging sites and password-protected environments. Authentication credentials can be provided securely, or the site's HTML can be exported for local analysis. Contact support for setup assistance.

No. Orion's analysis is read-only and does not modify the site. The crawler operates similarly to how AI search engines do, without impacting server performance or user experience.

Yes. All Orion plans include competitor benchmarking. Up to 3 competitor sites can be analyzed side-by-side to see why they are being cited by AI engines and what AEO strategies they are using.