Every answer here follows the same discipline CiteHQ.io builds for clients: a direct, self-contained answer first — no burying the point three paragraphs down.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are related but genuinely distinct disciplines. An AEO agency focuses on getting a brand's content extracted as a clear, single answer to a specific question — think concise, well-structured, and easy for an AI system to pull directly. A GEO agency goes deeper: building the original research, expert perspective, and cross-source corroboration that makes an AI system treat a brand as a trusted authority it cites repeatedly, not just once. As buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews instead of scrolling search results, being cited by name in the AI's answer matters more than ranking on a page few people scroll to anymore. For a deeper look at how AEO and GEO actually differ, see our full guide to AI search.
The shift is happening now because of a concrete wave of 2025 product launches, not just industry buzz. Google made AI Mode available to all US users in May 2025, expanding to 180+ countries by August 2025. ChatGPT crossed 1 billion monthly users by June 2026 — the fastest app in history to reach that milestone. This mirrors a pattern seen before: Google itself was three years late to search but built the compounding mechanism that let it overtake AltaVista's head start and hold 80–90% of the market for two decades. AI/AEO/GEO is that same kind of shift now, with citation share as the new compounding mechanism. For the full picture — adoption numbers, the mechanism behind it, and what it means for your business — see our complete guide to AI search.
Left: a conceptual illustration, not a forecast for any specific brand. Right: a real historical case — AltaVista launched in 1995 and was still the most-visited search engine as late as 2000; Google's 1998 PageRank breakthrough let it overtake both AltaVista and Yahoo within a few years and sustain global dominance for two decades, while AltaVista was shut down in 2013.
No. CiteHQ.io is a full-service, bilingual agency — a team that builds and executes your AI visibility strategy directly, from strategy through implementation and reporting. Cite AI (citehq.ai) is a different company: a self-serve software dashboard that tracks brand mentions across AI platforms. If you're looking for hands-on strategy and execution, not just a monitoring tool, you're in the right place.
CiteHQ.io is a pure-play AEO/GEO specialist, not a full-service agency splitting attention across SEO, PPC, social, and web design. Every engagement is measured against a documented citation-share baseline across six AI platforms, scored on a fixed 0–4 scale, with results reported as a number — not a promise. Curious how AEO and GEO actually differ from traditional SEO? See our full guide to AI search.
CiteHQ.io’s DNA is pattern recognition, not hype — founder David Maruyama lived through the internet’s infrastructure buildout and the mobile handset revolution before applying that same discipline to AI. In practice, that means pure-play AEO/GEO specialization, genuine native bilingual work, and CiteRE — a proprietary model built to decode whether a citation builds trust or costs it. Every claim is measured and reported as a number, never a promise, and every engagement is a commitment to become the genuine expert for that brand, not a vendor running a checklist.
Every CiteHQ.io strategy is built in English and in genuine, native Spanish — not translated after the fact. Houston sits at the center of $800 billion in Latin American trade and 500,000-plus Spanish-speaking businesses, and CiteHQ is built specifically to serve that market natively.
CiteHQ.io was founded by David Maruyama, who holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and spent 20 years building ventures across telecom, mobile money, and retail distribution in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean before founding CiteHQ.io. Read the full story →
AI Citation Pulse is a free check, with results in 48–72 hours — 5 fixed queries across 3 platforms, pass/fail only. The AI Visibility Gap Audit is the full diagnostic — 15 to 25 custom queries across all 6 platforms, full 0–4 scoring, competitor mapping, and a prioritized fix list, delivered in 14 days.
The AI Visibility Gap Audit is a 14-day engagement, including query approval, testing across all six platforms, scoring, and a live strategist walkthrough.
Yes. AI Citation Pulse is offered free under CiteHQ.io's current Launch Promotion, through December 31, 2026. After that date, CiteHQ.io will evaluate whether to continue offering it at no cost based on competitive positioning and funnel performance.
Most engagements start with a free AI Citation Pulse check or the paid AI Visibility Gap Audit. From there, most clients move into one of the three Brand Visibility Bundles tiers. Contact info@citehq.io to begin.
Every query is scored from 0 to 4: 0 means the brand is absent entirely, 1 means mentioned with no context, 2 means cited accurately but not favored, 3 means positioned as a genuine recommendation, and 4 means the leading citation — the primary answer AI gives for that query.
CiteHQ.io tests across six platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and Claude. See the full methodology →
No. Citation-share scores are determined in part by third-party AI systems outside CiteHQ.io's control, so specific outcomes cannot be guaranteed. CiteHQ commits to delivering the methodology, deliverables, and reporting specified in each engagement, executed to the standard described on this site. Full disclaimer →
CiteRE, the Resonance Engine, is CiteHQ.io's proprietary model for decoding audience sentiment in AI-generated answers — not just whether a brand is cited, but whether that citation builds trust or costs it. The core model is functional today, and its precision builds with every engagement it learns from.
It comes down to stage, commitment, and depth. New Ventures is fixed-scope, fixed-price, no lock-in — for early-stage companies. Brand Visibility Bundles is a 12-month, multi-category monthly plan — for brands building relevance and authority. Specialty Retainers is single-category depth with no 12-month lock — for larger sites, or teams that only need one category of work.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price, fixed-length products — no 12-month commitment. Built for early-stage and pre-Series A companies (medtech and biotech ventures in Houston are a leading example) that need to establish AI visibility quickly, without a long-term lock-in.
12-month packages — Starter, Growth, Authority — that combine our six service categories into one monthly plan, sized to your site's URL count. Built for brands with an established digital presence pursuing relevance and authority in their category.
Depth in a single category — Technical, Content, Authority, Performance Tracking, or a Vertical Expertise layer — with no 12-month lock. Built for teams that want to focus on just one category of work, and for larger sites (over 2,000 URLs) that Brand Visibility Bundles aren't sized for.
Starter is the foundation tier for teams proving the model works. Growth adds a higher ongoing content cadence, competitive citation tracking, and full six-platform monitoring. Authority adds competitive citation intelligence, digital PR, a white-label dashboard, and priority strategy access — for teams ready to own their category, not just be visible in it.
The Launch Promotion offers 30% off every service on the site — all Brand Visibility Bundles tiers, New Ventures products, and Specialty Retainer category pricing — for the full 12-month contract term, for businesses in the Greater Houston region who sign by December 31, 2026.
Launch pricing locks in for the full 12-month term of your contract, regardless of when the promotion window closes. New contracts signed after December 31, 2026 are priced at standard rates. See full pricing →
Yes. CiteHQ.io has a dedicated focus on early-stage ventures in Houston, including medtech and biotech founders in the Texas Medical Center ecosystem, with a purpose-built Early-Stage Venture Visibility Sprint for pre-Series A founders.
CiteHQ.io is based in Houston, Texas, and works primarily with Greater Houston-area businesses, with a specific focus on medtech/biotech and bilingual Latin American trade relationships.