AEO and GEO guides, grouped by what you need to do next
Last updated October 14, 2026. Written by the Third Coast AI team.
This page lists all 54 guides on third-coast.ai about getting named and cited by ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. Start with the four pillars if the subject is new to you, then use the groups below to go deeper on how the engines work, how to buy and measure the work, what it looks like in West Michigan and specific industries, and how we compare with the alternatives.
Where should you start?
Buying and measuring the work
| Article | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Choosing an AEO agency | How to compare AEO and GEO agencies on method, measurement, writing and terms, and how to tell real work from a dashboard resold at a markup. |
| Questions to ask an agency | Fifteen questions to ask any AEO or GEO agency before hiring, with the answer a competent vendor should give to each and the answers that should worry you. |
| Agency or tool? | When an AI visibility tool subscription is enough, when you need people, and how to combine the two without paying twice for the same tracking. |
| AI visibility tools compared | Profound, Peec AI, OtterlyAI, PromptWatch, Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit and Ahrefs Brand Radar: what each tracks and the prices published on their sites. |
| Measuring AI visibility | How to measure how often AI engines name your brand: building a prompt set, share of voice, citation rate, how often to re-run, and how to handle variance. |
| AEO KPIs and reporting | Which KPIs belong in an AEO report, which are leading and which lagging, what a monthly report should contain, and how to tell a real trend from variance. |
| AEO audit checklist | A self-serve AEO audit checklist: crawler access, raw HTML, entity records, fact-check prompts, cited pages and page structure, and how to check each. |
| In-house or agency? | Whether to run AEO with your own team or an agency: the roles the work needs, the hours it takes, where each option tends to go wrong, and a hybrid path. |
| Fixing wrong AI answers | How to find and correct wrong facts AI engines state about your company: fact-check prompts, fixing the cited source pages, feedback routes and timing. |
| The first 90 days | What should happen in weeks 1 to 12 of an AEO engagement: baseline, fixes, corrections, first pages, entity work, re-runs and the first real report. |
Comparisons and plain answers about Third Coast AI
| Article | What it answers |
|---|---|
| About Third Coast AI | What Third Coast AI is, where it is based, what it does and does not do, the method, the engines and tools, who it is for and how to get in touch. |
| Third Coast AI FAQ | Short factual answers about Third Coast AI: location, remote work, engines covered, pricing model, what an audit includes, timelines and what we do not do. |
| AEO glossary | Plain definitions of the terms used in AEO and GEO work: engines, citations, entities, hidden sub-queries, share of voice, crawlers, llms.txt and more. |
| Third Coast AI vs iPullRank | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and iPullRank for a buyer choosing an AEO or GEO partner: location, focus, who each fits, how you buy, measurement. |
| Third Coast AI vs First Page Sage | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and First Page Sage for a buyer weighing an AEO or GEO partner: location, focus, fit, how you buy, reporting. |
| Third Coast AI vs Omniscient Digital | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and Omniscient Digital for a buyer choosing an AEO partner: location, focus, fit, published pricing, measurement. |
| Third Coast AI vs Siege Media | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and Siege Media for a buyer choosing a GEO partner: location, focus, who each fits, how you buy and measurement. |
| Third Coast AI vs Go Fish Digital | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and Go Fish Digital for a buyer choosing a GEO partner: location, focus, who each fits, how you buy, measurement. |
| Third Coast AI vs Profound | Profound is AI visibility software; Third Coast AI is an AEO consultancy that uses it. A neutral comparison of what each does, who each fits, how you buy. |
| Third Coast AI vs Mindscape | A neutral comparison of Third Coast AI and Mindscape of Grand Rapids for a West Michigan buyer: location, focus, fit, published pricing and measurement. |
How the engines choose what to cite
| Article | What it answers |
|---|---|
| How AI Overviews pick sources | What Google says about how AI Overviews pick the pages they cite, what the studies measured, and the page controls that decide whether you are eligible. |
| AI Mode vs AI Overviews | What Google AI Mode and AI Overviews each are, how their citations differ, how stable each one is, and what a company should do differently for each. |
| How ChatGPT picks sources | How ChatGPT search finds and cites pages: OAI-SearchBot, the search index behind it, the no-JavaScript rule, how citations appear, how often they change. |
| How Perplexity picks citations | How Perplexity finds and cites pages: PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User, real-time search, numbered citations, no JavaScript, and how stable sources are. |
| How Gemini grounding works | How the Gemini app grounds answers with Google Search, how sources appear, what Google-Extended controls, and what it means for a company seeking citation. |
| Copilot citations and Bing | How Microsoft Copilot picks the pages it cites, why the Bing index decides, and what Bing Webmaster Tools, IndexNow and the AI Performance report give you. |
| AI crawlers and robots.txt | Every major AI crawler by name (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended), what each does, what blocking costs, and a sample file. |
| JavaScript and AI crawlers | Which AI crawlers run JavaScript (none of the major ones), what Google and Bing do differently, a five-minute test for your own pages, and the fixes. |
| Does llms.txt work | What an llms.txt file is, who proposed it, which AI engines honor it in 2026 (none of the major ones), what the evidence shows, and what we recommend. |
| Why AI answers change | Why ChatGPT, Google AI and the other engines answer the same question differently each run, what the variance studies measured, and how to measure it. |
Getting named and cited
| Article | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Mentions versus backlinks | Why unlinked mentions on other sites predict AI citations about three times as well as backlinks, what the studies measured, and where to earn mentions. |
| Schema markup for AI search | Which schema types matter for AI engines (Organization, Service, Article, FAQPage, sameAs), what the Ahrefs test found, and what Google and Microsoft say. |
| Entity SEO and Wikidata | How AI engines decide your company is one real entity: consistent profiles, Wikidata, Google's Knowledge Graph and a sameAs chain, in the order to do them. |
| Content structure that gets cited | The page elements with measured effects on AI citation: answer-first passages, statistics, quotes, sources, tables and question headings. |
| How long AEO takes | Realistic AEO timelines: weeks for factual corrections, months for competitive prompts, six months for a trend, and why answers move between runs. |
| Zero-click and traffic decline | What Pew, Ahrefs, Semrush and BrightEdge measured about clicks lost to AI answers, and the metrics to track instead of sessions. |
| Decision factors the engines use | AI engines treat a buyer's question like a small RFP. How to find the decision factors for your category and prove each one on your site. |
| Refreshing content for citations | How recency affects AI citations by engine, what Google says about dateModified, what a real refresh contains, and how often to re-run prompts. |
| Reviews in AI answers | Which review platforms AI engines cite (Yelp, G2, Trustpilot, Google reviews), what the source studies show, and how to manage reviews for AI visibility. |
| Reddit and forums in AI answers | Reddit's share of AI citations by engine from the 2025 and 2026 source studies, why it swings, and how to take part in forums without astroturfing. |
AEO in West Michigan, by place and industry
| Article | What it answers |
|---|---|
| AEO in Michigan | AEO and GEO for Michigan companies: how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answer buyers in Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, in person and remotely. |
| AEO in Grand Haven | AEO and GEO in Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Ferrysburg: how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answer lakeshore buyers, what they cite, and how to get named. |
| AEO in Traverse City | AEO and GEO for Traverse City and Northern Michigan: how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answer visitors and residents, and how to get named. |
| AEO in Lansing | AEO and GEO for Lansing and East Lansing: how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answer capital-region buyers, what they cite, and how to get named. |
| AEO in Detroit | AEO and GEO for Detroit and Southeast Michigan: how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answer metro buyers, what they cite, and how to get named. |
| AEO for manufacturers | How procurement buyers ask ChatGPT and Gemini for supplier shortlists, which factors and sources the engines use, and a plain plan for a manufacturer. |
| AEO for law firms | How people ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for a lawyer, which factors and sources the engines use, what Michigan Rule 7.1 allows, and a plain plan. |
| AEO for accounting firms | How owners ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for a CPA, which factors and sources the engines use, what the AICPA code allows, and a plain plan. |
| AEO for healthcare practices | How patients ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for a doctor, which factors and sources the engines use, what HIPAA allows in marketing, and a plain plan. |
| AEO for home services | How homeowners ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for a contractor, which factors and sources the engines use, what the FTC review rule requires, and a plan. |
Frequently asked questions
Which guide should I read first?
Start with What is AEO and GEO if the subject is new, then How to show up in ChatGPT for the method, then the pricing guide if you are budgeting.
How often are these guides updated?
Each page carries its last-updated date. We re-run the prompt sets behind them monthly and revise when the engines change how they pick sources.
Can I share or cite these guides?
Yes. Link to the page and name Third Coast AI as the source. Every statistic on the site links to its primary source so you can check it.