Target the platforms your own records point to, and work through them in the order those records suggest. Three products document what a site has to allow or meet for their search answers: Google's AI features in Search, ChatGPT search and Perplexity. That makes them a practical first set to check. Your referral reports, your CRM and a sample of real buyer questions decide which one gets the most attention and which other assistants you add.
\n","summary":"Target the AI platforms your own referral reports, CRM records and sampled buyer questions point to. Google's AI features in Search, ChatGPT search and Perplexity document their access and eligibility requirements, so they make a practical first set to check, with other assistants added when your records give a reason.","publishedAt":"2026-08-29T14:15:05.417","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-10-10T06:09:51.536","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-12-14T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["Which AI platforms matter for AEO","What AI platforms should I optimize for","Should I target ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews","Which answer engines should I optimize for","AEO platform priorities","Which AI search engines cite websites","Which AI assistants should a brand target","Is Perplexity worth optimizing for","Does Meta AI cite websites","Which AI platform has the most users","How to choose AI platforms for answer engine optimization","Where to focus answer engine optimization effort"],"confidenceScore":80,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","legalName":null,"description":null,"websiteUrl":null,"imageUrl":null,"slogan":null,"subtitle":null,"facts":[],"coiNote":null,"foundingDate":null,"numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":null,"address":null,"headquartersText":null,"organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":null,"sections":[{"id":"2e135322-5121-4c36-8f2c-5e5340dad664","sectionKey":"your_own_records_name_the_platforms","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Your own records name the platforms","introMarkdown":"Published audience figures describe everyone who uses a product. They can't tell you whether the people who buy from you are among them, so we'd start with what your site has already recorded.\n\nTwo reports show visits that arrived from assistants. [Google Analytics has an AI Assistant channel](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891?hl=en) for visitors who come from sources such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Grok. [HubSpot's traffic sources report](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/reports/understand-hubspots-traffic-sources-in-the-traffic-analytics-tool) has an AI Referrals category, and clicking its session count breaks the visits out by platform. HubSpot's list includes ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Meta AI.\n\nRead both reports with one limit in mind. They count recorded visits that started with a click on a link in an answer, so an answer that named your company without a click leaves nothing in them. A platform with few sessions can still be naming you in its answers.\n\nYour CRM adds the commercial part. If contacts and deals keep their original source, you can see which assistant is recorded against the visitors who became customers. That source is the tracked visit, which isn't always where the buyer first heard of you. It's still a better guide than session counts alone, and we cover the setup in [how to track traffic and referrals from AI answer engines](https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-to-track-traffic-from-ai-answer-engines).","introHtml":"Published audience figures describe everyone who uses a product. They can't tell you whether the people who buy from you are among them, so we'd start with what your site has already recorded.
\nTwo reports show visits that arrived from assistants. Google Analytics has an AI Assistant channel for visitors who come from sources such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Grok. HubSpot's traffic sources report has an AI Referrals category, and clicking its session count breaks the visits out by platform. HubSpot's list includes ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Meta AI.
\nRead both reports with one limit in mind. They count recorded visits that started with a click on a link in an answer, so an answer that named your company without a click leaves nothing in them. A platform with few sessions can still be naming you in its answers.
\nYour CRM adds the commercial part. If contacts and deals keep their original source, you can see which assistant is recorded against the visitors who became customers. That source is the tracked visit, which isn't always where the buyer first heard of you. It's still a better guide than session counts alone, and we cover the setup in how to track traffic and referrals from AI answer engines.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"b994926a-bdf3-4070-8dcd-a491b67ff17e","sectionKey":"google_needs_a_separate_reading","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Google needs a separate reading","introMarkdown":"Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode don't show up in either of those assistant reports. Google Analytics says its AI Assistant channel excludes them, and HubSpot keeps regular Google search under organic search. A click from an AI Overview arrives looking like any other organic visit.\n\nThe place to look is Search Console. Its [generative AI performance report](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139?hl=en) counts impressions, meaning the times a link to your site was shown in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It groups them by page, country, date and device. An impression means a link was displayed, which is a different count from a visit, so keep it in its own column beside the referral numbers.\n\nThe Gemini app is a separate product from those Search features. Analytics and HubSpot both treat Gemini as an assistant source, while the Search Console report lists AI Overviews and AI Mode. A plan that says \"target Google\" should say which of the two it means, because they're checked in different places.","introHtml":"Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode don't show up in either of those assistant reports. Google Analytics says its AI Assistant channel excludes them, and HubSpot keeps regular Google search under organic search. A click from an AI Overview arrives looking like any other organic visit.
\nThe place to look is Search Console. Its generative AI performance report counts impressions, meaning the times a link to your site was shown in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It groups them by page, country, date and device. An impression means a link was displayed, which is a different count from a visit, so keep it in its own column beside the referral numbers.
\nThe Gemini app is a separate product from those Search features. Analytics and HubSpot both treat Gemini as an assistant source, while the Search Console report lists AI Overviews and AI Mode. A plan that says "target Google" should say which of the two it means, because they're checked in different places.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"854ec8d5-baad-4e80-9add-cb7293d47382","sectionKey":"sample_the_questions_your_buyers_ask","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Sample the questions your buyers ask","introMarkdown":"Reports show where visits came from. They can't show what an assistant says about you. For that, take the questions buyers ask before they buy and put them to each platform you're considering. Write down whether your company is named, whether your pages are linked and which other sources appear.\n\nA sample tells you how you appear for those questions on the day you ran them. It can't tell you how many buyers asked them, so read it beside the visit and CRM numbers.\n\nLean Labs' AEO service is a documented example of the method. [Its service page](https://www.leanlabs.com/solutions/answer-engine-optimization-agency) describes building the question set from HubSpot sales calls, CRM insights, Search Console demand and competitor prompts. It then lists prompt tracking across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Two things make that useful as a model. The questions start from the client's own sales and search records, and the same set runs on several platforms, so the results can be compared.\n\nSuppose your HubSpot report shows 140 sessions from ChatGPT last quarter, 30 from Perplexity and 4 from Claude. Six of the contacts created from those visits reached a sales conversation, and five of the six have ChatGPT as their recorded source. Search Console shows AI impressions on your pricing page and two comparison pages. When you run twenty buyer questions, your company is named in several ChatGPT answers and in none of Perplexity's.\n\nThose inputs put ChatGPT first, because recorded visits and sales conversations already come from it. Google's Search features come second. The impressions show your links are being displayed there, and you'd want to learn which pages earn them. Perplexity is a gap to investigate, starting with whether its crawler can fetch your pages. Claude stays on the watch list until its numbers change.","introHtml":"Reports show where visits came from. They can't show what an assistant says about you. For that, take the questions buyers ask before they buy and put them to each platform you're considering. Write down whether your company is named, whether your pages are linked and which other sources appear.
\nA sample tells you how you appear for those questions on the day you ran them. It can't tell you how many buyers asked them, so read it beside the visit and CRM numbers.
\nLean Labs' AEO service is a documented example of the method. Its service page describes building the question set from HubSpot sales calls, CRM insights, Search Console demand and competitor prompts. It then lists prompt tracking across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Two things make that useful as a model. The questions start from the client's own sales and search records, and the same set runs on several platforms, so the results can be compared.
\nSuppose your HubSpot report shows 140 sessions from ChatGPT last quarter, 30 from Perplexity and 4 from Claude. Six of the contacts created from those visits reached a sales conversation, and five of the six have ChatGPT as their recorded source. Search Console shows AI impressions on your pricing page and two comparison pages. When you run twenty buyer questions, your company is named in several ChatGPT answers and in none of Perplexity's.
\nThose inputs put ChatGPT first, because recorded visits and sales conversations already come from it. Google's Search features come second. The impressions show your links are being displayed there, and you'd want to learn which pages earn them. Perplexity is a gap to investigate, starting with whether its crawler can fetch your pages. Claude stays on the watch list until its numbers change.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"c3ec357b-0c79-4f3a-ab5a-2be4ebccf189","sectionKey":"what_the_three_documented_platforms_require","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"What the three documented platforms require","introMarkdown":null,"introHtml":null,"outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Google AI Overviews and AI Mode","The page is indexed and can be shown with a snippet, and the site is included in Search generative AI features in Search Console","Search Console generative AI performance report, as impressions"]},{"cells":["ChatGPT search","OAI-SearchBot is allowed in robots.txt and through the firewall","AI assistant referrals in analytics and the CRM"]},{"cells":["Perplexity","PerplexityBot is allowed in robots.txt and through the firewall","AI assistant referrals in analytics and the CRM"]}],"columns":["Platform","Access and eligibility requirements","Where the result shows up"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"3eaaa9b3-04c5-4ade-87bb-ffe34343291c","sectionKey":"reading_the_access_rules","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Reading the access rules","introMarkdown":"Each row is a requirement, and meeting it doesn't mean a page will be shown. [Google's guide to generative AI features in Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide) says those features draw on its Search index. It also says indexing and serving aren't guaranteed, even for a page that meets every requirement.\n\nThe ChatGPT row has a detail that's easy to miss. [OpenAI's crawler documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) describes OAI-SearchBot as the agent for search and GPTBot as the agent that collects training material, and it says each setting is independent. A site that blocked every OpenAI agent to stay out of training has also opted out of ChatGPT search answers, though OpenAI says it can still appear as a navigational link. You can allow the search agent and keep the training agent blocked. OpenAI publishes the IP ranges for the search agent and recommends allowing them too.\n\n[Perplexity's crawler page](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers) makes a similar split. PerplexityBot surfaces and links sites in Perplexity's search results, and Perplexity says it isn't used to crawl content for foundation models. A second agent, Perplexity-User, fetches a page when a person's question calls for it, and Perplexity says that fetcher generally ignores robots.txt. Perplexity also publishes the IP ranges its crawler uses and recommends allowing them. A firewall can turn the crawler away even when robots.txt allows it.\n\nWe'd check these settings first for each of the three, because a page has to be reachable by a product's search crawler before the writing on it can count there. Blocked search access is one of the errors we describe in [the biggest AEO mistakes to avoid](https://www.answerstack.io/q/biggest-aeo-mistakes-to-avoid).","introHtml":"Each row is a requirement, and meeting it doesn't mean a page will be shown. Google's guide to generative AI features in Search says those features draw on its Search index. It also says indexing and serving aren't guaranteed, even for a page that meets every requirement.
\nThe ChatGPT row has a detail that's easy to miss. OpenAI's crawler documentation describes OAI-SearchBot as the agent for search and GPTBot as the agent that collects training material, and it says each setting is independent. A site that blocked every OpenAI agent to stay out of training has also opted out of ChatGPT search answers, though OpenAI says it can still appear as a navigational link. You can allow the search agent and keep the training agent blocked. OpenAI publishes the IP ranges for the search agent and recommends allowing them too.
\nPerplexity's crawler page makes a similar split. PerplexityBot surfaces and links sites in Perplexity's search results, and Perplexity says it isn't used to crawl content for foundation models. A second agent, Perplexity-User, fetches a page when a person's question calls for it, and Perplexity says that fetcher generally ignores robots.txt. Perplexity also publishes the IP ranges its crawler uses and recommends allowing them. A firewall can turn the crawler away even when robots.txt allows it.
\nWe'd check these settings first for each of the three, because a page has to be reachable by a product's search crawler before the writing on it can count there. Blocked search access is one of the errors we describe in the biggest AEO mistakes to avoid.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"6226ece8-ffc7-4988-a5ce-1fc56a6bb471","sectionKey":"when_to_add_other_assistants","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"When to add other assistants","introMarkdown":"Claude, the Gemini app, Copilot and Meta AI are all on HubSpot's list of recognized sources, so a visit is labeled with the assistant's name when it arrives with that assistant as its recorded referrer. We'd add one to the target list when your records give a reason. That reason could be sessions that turn into contacts, or a buyer who mentions the assistant on a sales call.\n\nYour market can supply a reason too. Suppose your customers are IT teams who spend the day in Microsoft 365. You'd have grounds to give Copilot the full set of buyer questions before its referral numbers show anything.\n\nFor the rest, run a short version of the question set. That gives you a starting reading to compare against when one of them starts sending visits.","introHtml":"Claude, the Gemini app, Copilot and Meta AI are all on HubSpot's list of recognized sources, so a visit is labeled with the assistant's name when it arrives with that assistant as its recorded referrer. We'd add one to the target list when your records give a reason. That reason could be sessions that turn into contacts, or a buyer who mentions the assistant on a sales call.
\nYour market can supply a reason too. Suppose your customers are IT teams who spend the day in Microsoft 365. You'd have grounds to give Copilot the full set of buyer questions before its referral numbers show anything.
\nFor the rest, run a short version of the question set. That gives you a starting reading to compare against when one of them starts sending visits.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60},{"id":"15197a68-12ef-4c7b-af0a-898c922d61f3","sectionKey":"one_set_of_pages_several_places_to_check","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"One set of pages, several places to check","introMarkdown":"Choosing platforms mostly changes what you check and measure. Google's guide says its AI features need no special files or markup and no separate style of writing for AI, and it treats the work as SEO. ChatGPT search and Perplexity fetch public pages through their own crawlers. So the writing is shared work. Clear answers to your buyers' questions are what you'd publish whichever platforms are on the list. We explain that work in [how answer engine optimization works](https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-does-answer-engine-optimization-work), and how it overlaps with search work in [the difference between AEO and SEO](https://www.answerstack.io/q/difference-between-aeo-and-seo).\n\nThe target list then decides where you verify access settings and read reports, and which platforms get the full set of buyer questions. A change in the referral or CRM numbers is a reason to revisit it, and so is a new assistant coming up on sales calls.","introHtml":"Choosing platforms mostly changes what you check and measure. Google's guide says its AI features need no special files or markup and no separate style of writing for AI, and it treats the work as SEO. ChatGPT search and Perplexity fetch public pages through their own crawlers. So the writing is shared work. Clear answers to your buyers' questions are what you'd publish whichever platforms are on the list. We explain that work in how answer engine optimization works, and how it overlaps with search work in the difference between AEO and SEO.
\nThe target list then decides where you verify access settings and read reports, and which platforms get the full set of buyer questions. A change in the referral or CRM numbers is a reason to revisit it, and so is a new assistant coming up on sales calls.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":70}],"citations":[{"title":"Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide","excerpt":"You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Search operator documentation, last updated 2026-07-10 UTC: the two eligibility conditions for Google's generative AI features (indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet; the site included in Search generative AI features in Search Console); the statement that no new machine readable files, AI","domain":"developers.google.com","publisherName":"Google Search Central"},{"title":"AI features and your website","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features","excerpt":"There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Search operator documentation, last updated 2025-12-10 UTC: no additional requirements or special optimizations to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode; AI features display a wider and more diverse set of helpful links than classic web search; links are shown inside and alongside the summary.","domain":"developers.google.com","publisherName":"Google Search Central"},{"title":"Alphabet earnings, Q2 2026: CEO's remarks","url":"https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/","excerpt":"Since expanding AI Mode globally last October, we've surpassed 1 billion monthly active users.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Company statement dated July 22, 2026: AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users since expanding globally in October 2025; the Gemini app has 950 million monthly active users with daily active users tripling in the last year. Used as the dated company figure for AI Mode and Gemini reach.","domain":"blog.google","publisherName":"Google"},{"title":"Alphabet earnings, Q2 2025: CEO's remarks","url":"https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2025/","excerpt":"AI Overviews now has over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Company statement dated July 23, 2025: AI Overviews has over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages; AI Mode had over 100 million monthly active users in the US and India at that date. Used as the dated company figure for AI Overviews reach and as the","domain":"blog.google","publisherName":"Google"},{"title":"Gemini Apps Privacy Hub","url":"https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961","excerpt":"some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Google's own statement that some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results. Used to separate the Gemini app from AI Overviews and AI Mode on grounding behavior.","domain":"support.google.com","publisherName":"Google"},{"title":"OpenAI crawlers (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User)","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots","excerpt":"Each setting is independent of the others - for example, a webmaster can allow OAI-SearchBot in order to appear in search results while disallowing GPTBot to indicate that crawled content should not be used for training OpenAI's generative AI foundation models.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"OpenAI's bot documentation: OAI-SearchBot surfaces websites in ChatGPT's search features and sites opted out of it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers though can still appear as navigational links; GPTBot is the training crawler; ChatGPT-User fetches pages on user request; each setting is in","domain":"developers.openai.com","publisherName":"OpenAI"},{"title":"ChatGPT reaches 900M weekly active users","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users","excerpt":"ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users, OpenAI announced Friday, putting the AI chatbot within striking distance of 1 billion.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Press report, February 27, 2026, of OpenAI's own stated figure of 900 million weekly active users. Measure is weekly active users, not monthly. TechCrunch has no stake in the comparison; the figure itself is a company disclosure relayed by the press, and OpenAI publishes no equivalent page of its ow","domain":"techcrunch.com","publisherName":"TechCrunch"},{"title":"Perplexity crawlers (PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User)","url":"https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots","excerpt":"PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity. It is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Perplexity's bot documentation: PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity and is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models; Perplexity-User visits a page when a user asks a question, is not used for training, and generally ignores robots.txt rule","domain":"docs.perplexity.ai","publisherName":"Perplexity"},{"title":"Perplexity AI Statistics (2026): Active Users & Revenue","url":"https://www.demandsage.com/perplexity-ai-statistics/","excerpt":"Perplexity AI has over 45 million monthly active users (MAUs)","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Third-party statistics roundup, page updated July 4, 2026. Supports the 45 million monthly active user figure for Perplexity, which the page attributes to Wired, Similarweb, and Business of Apps without a measurement date, and the 780 million queries in May 2025 attributed to Perplexity's chief exec","domain":"demandsage.com","publisherName":"DemandSage"},{"title":"Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call","url":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q2","excerpt":"now have 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Microsoft's own earnings call transcript, January 28, 2026: 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, and paid Microsoft 365 commercial seats grew 6% year over year to over 450 million. Used as the company measure for Copilot, which is paid licenses rather than users.","domain":"microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Investor Relations"},{"title":"Introducing Copilot Search in Bing","url":"https://blogs.bing.com/search/April-2025/Introducing-Copilot-Search-in-Bing","excerpt":"cites its sources prominently, so you know exactly where the information came from and can follow it for more context","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Microsoft's own announcement, April 4, 2025: Copilot Search cites its sources prominently, inline links passages to their sources, and a reader can open a list of every link used to generate the answer. Used for Copilot citation display and for the Bing index behind Copilot Search.","domain":"blogs.bing.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Bing Blog"},{"title":"Announcing new options for webmasters to control usage of their content in Bing Chat","url":"https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/september-2023/Announcing-new-options-for-webmasters-to-control-usage-of-their-content-in-Bing-Chat","excerpt":"Content tagged NOARCHIVE will not be included in Bing Chat answers, not be linked to in the answers.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Microsoft's own webmaster documentation, September 22, 2023: NOARCHIVE content will not be included in Bing Chat answers and will not be linked to in the answers; NOCACHE content may be included with only URL, title, and snippet displayed; content with neither tag may be included in answers and may ","domain":"blogs.bing.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Bing Webmaster Blog"},{"title":"Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?","url":"https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler","excerpt":"prevents our system from indexing your content for search optimization, which may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Anthropic's own crawler documentation: ClaudeBot collects web content that could contribute to model training; Claude-SearchBot indexes content for search and disabling it may reduce a site's visibility and accuracy in user search results; Claude-User retrieves content in response to a user query an","domain":"support.claude.com","publisherName":"Anthropic"},{"title":"Claude AI Statistics (2026): Active Users Data","url":"https://www.demandsage.com/claude-ai-statistics/","excerpt":"Claude AI now has over 245 million monthly active users across the web and the mobile app.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Third-party statistics roundup, page updated July 7, 2026. Supports the figure of over 245 million Claude monthly active users across web and mobile, which the page attributes to the Sensor Tower State of AI Report 2026 rather than to Anthropic. Cited here as a third-party estimate with its attribut","domain":"demandsage.com","publisherName":"DemandSage"},{"title":"Meta AI now has 1B monthly active users","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/29/meta-ai-now-has-1b-monthly-active-users/","excerpt":"Meta AI now has one billion monthly active users across its apps","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Press report, May 29, 2025, of Mark Zuckerberg's statement at Meta's annual shareholder meeting that Meta AI reached 1 billion monthly active users across Meta's apps. Measure is monthly active users across apps. Used for the Meta AI reach figure and for the point that the assistant sits inside soci","domain":"techcrunch.com","publisherName":"TechCrunch"},{"title":"Google Common Crawlers (including Google-Extended)","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-common-crawlers","excerpt":"Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search nor is it used as a ranking signal in Google Search.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Search operator documentation, last updated 2026-07-14 UTC: Google-Extended lets publishers manage whether crawled content may be used to train future Gemini models and to ground Gemini Apps and Vertex AI, and it does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search nor is it used as a ranking signal.","domain":"developers.google.com","publisherName":"Google Search Central"},{"title":"AI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation Data","url":"https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/","excerpt":"ChatGPT's share of generative AI website visits fell from about 76% in June 2025 to roughly 53% by May 2026.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor panel measurement of website visits, June 2025 to May 2026: ChatGPT's share of generative AI website visits falling from about 76% to roughly 53%; citation presence in US ChatGPT prompts rising from about 1.6% to roughly 6.8%, with travel and hospitality near 23% and professional services bel","domain":"aisearch.similarweb.com","publisherName":"Similarweb"},{"title":"Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results","url":"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/","excerpt":"Google users who encountered an AI summary clicked on a traditional search result link in 8% of all visits.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Published July 22, 2025. Browsing data from 900 US adults covering 68,879 Google searches in March 2025, of which 12,593 produced an AI summary: a traditional search result was clicked in 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without, and a link inside the summary was clicked in 1% of visits. ","domain":"pewresearch.org","publisherName":"Pew Research Center"},{"title":"AI Search Has a Citation Problem","url":"https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php","excerpt":"Collectively, they provided incorrect answers to more than 60 percent of queries.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","supportsText":"Published March 6, 2025 by Klaudia Jazwinska and Aisvarya Chandrasekar. 1,600 queries across eight generative search tools, asking each to identify the source of a quoted news excerpt: incorrect answers to more than 60% of queries overall, Perplexity at a 37% error rate, Grok 3 at 94%. Establishes t","domain":"cjr.org","publisherName":"Columbia Journalism Review, Tow Center for Digital Journalism"}],"revisions":[{"revisedAt":"2026-08-19T14:15:05.417+00:00","versionLabel":"Originally published","note":"","reviewedBy":null}],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"e99a45a2-0ef5-45e5-bec8-f6d813825f8c","slug":"what-offsite-signals-matter-for-aeo","question":"What off-site signals matter for AEO?","publishedAt":"2026-09-26T14:15:07.644","confidenceScore":74,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"answer-engine-optimization","label":"Answer Engine Optimization","description":"How B2B teams get content selected and cited by AI answer engines.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"The off-site signals that matter for AEO are pages on other sites that tell a buyer something specific and true about a company: independent reviews, customer accounts, listings with current facts, and articles in specialist publications. Google says its AI features can surface what's said about a product elsewhere on the web and advises against inauthentic mentions. It sets no order of importance among these sources, so the four are an editorial priority.","url":"/q/what-offsite-signals-matter-for-aeo"},{"id":"51b59dae-ae56-4015-8788-7b0dfd233db2","slug":"what-does-aeo-cover-beyond-website-content","question":"What does AEO cover beyond website content?","publishedAt":"2026-09-20T14:57:15.8","confidenceScore":76,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"answer-engine-optimization","label":"Answer Engine Optimization","description":"How B2B teams get content selected and cited by AI answer engines.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Beyond your site, AEO covers business profiles and product feeds, reviews, coverage on other publishers' sites, and video. The work is keeping those facts accurate and earning legitimate coverage. None of it guarantees a citation.","url":"/q/what-does-aeo-cover-beyond-website-content"},{"id":"ef0e49f6-ad72-4e06-ae79-66533db84885","slug":"what-aeo-results-can-a-saas-startup-expect","question":"What AEO results can a SaaS startup realistically expect?","publishedAt":"2026-09-18T14:15:03.748","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"answer-engine-optimization","label":"Answer Engine Optimization","description":"How B2B teams get content selected and cited by AI answer engines.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"No amount or order of AEO results is guaranteed for a SaaS startup. Measure three outcomes separately: appearance in AI answers, visits from assistants, and signups or customers. Use your own baseline and a check date, since another company's figure, such as Vercel's signup share, isn't a forecast.","url":"/q/what-aeo-results-can-a-saas-startup-expect"},{"id":"e43cc4d4-fe3f-4a31-b46e-6ace8c313588","slug":"how-startups-should-budget-for-aeo","question":"How should an early-stage startup budget for AEO?","publishedAt":"2026-09-16T14:15:03.584","confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"70ea3802-1fc6-4fd7-a505-140d38d1c74a","slug":"digital-marketing","label":"Digital Marketing","description":"SEO, content, demand gen, and growth marketing"},"topic":{"slug":"answer-engine-optimization","label":"Answer Engine Optimization","description":"How B2B teams get content selected and cited by AI answer engines.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Budget AEO as a defined piece of work with a known total, sized against cash. Stage it: a free baseline and a low-cost tracker first, then one scoped project, then a monthly program as a separate decision with its whole term added up.","url":"/q/how-startups-should-budget-for-aeo"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":149,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"Which AI platforms should an AEO strategy target?","text":"Which AI platforms should an AEO strategy target?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/which-ai-platforms-should-aeo-target","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-08-29T14:15:05.417","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Answer Engine Optimization"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Digital Marketing"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Target the platforms your own records point to, and work through them in the order those records suggest. Three products document what a site has to allow or meet for their search answers: Google's AI features in Search, ChatGPT search and Perplexity. That makes them a practical first set to check. Your referral reports, your CRM and a sample of real buyer questions decide which one gets the most attention and which other assistants you add.","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/which-ai-platforms-should-aeo-target","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-08-29T14:15:05.417","dateModified":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"AI features and your website","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Alphabet earnings, Q2 2026: CEO's remarks","url":"https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Alphabet earnings, Q2 2025: CEO's remarks","url":"https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2025/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Gemini Apps Privacy Hub","url":"https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"OpenAI crawlers (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User)","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"ChatGPT reaches 900M weekly active users","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Perplexity crawlers (PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User)","url":"https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Perplexity AI Statistics (2026): Active Users & Revenue","url":"https://www.demandsage.com/perplexity-ai-statistics/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call","url":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q2"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Introducing Copilot Search in Bing","url":"https://blogs.bing.com/search/April-2025/Introducing-Copilot-Search-in-Bing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Announcing new options for webmasters to control usage of their content in Bing Chat","url":"https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/september-2023/Announcing-new-options-for-webmasters-to-control-usage-of-their-content-in-Bing-Chat"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?","url":"https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Claude AI Statistics (2026): Active Users Data","url":"https://www.demandsage.com/claude-ai-statistics/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Meta AI now has 1B monthly active users","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/29/meta-ai-now-has-1b-monthly-active-users/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Google Common Crawlers (including Google-Extended)","url":"https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-common-crawlers"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"AI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation Data","url":"https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results","url":"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"AI Search Has a Citation Problem","url":"https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php"}]}}}