A buyer asks AI where to buy a car in your town. AEO and GEO help Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity find, trust and name your store. Our free scan asks ChatGPT and Claude, web search on, up to 20 local buyer questions, 3 times each, and shows who they name, what they cite and the 3 fixes to make first.
AI Visibility is the AEO and GEO service from AutoLander, the Facebook Marketplace software for car dealers.
Illustration of an AI answer. Frank’s Irvine Subaru is an AutoLander customer.
AI search optimization, in plain words
Updated
AEO and GEO help a dealership show up in AI answers. AEO shapes your pages so AI tools can lift a short, direct answer from them. GEO builds the trust and clear facts that lead AI chat tools to name and cite your store. Both build on SEO, and nobody can promise what an AI will say.
AEO, answer engine optimization, is formatting your content so AI tools and search features can pull out a short, direct answer: voice assistants, featured snippets and the direct answers at the top of a search. For a dealership, that means buyer questions answered in plain sentences, with price, mileage, VIN and hours on your pages as text.
GEO, generative engine optimization, is building the trust, authority and clear structure that lead AI chat tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude to reference and cite your brand. For a dealership, that means the same store facts everywhere, reviews you answer, a site AI crawlers can open and mentions on the sites assistants already cite.
SEO, search engine optimization, is the work that helps your pages rank high in the list of search results. AEO and GEO build on the same foundation and aim at different spots on the screen: AEO at the quick, direct answer, and GEO at the AI answer that names a store and cites its sources.
| Compared on | SEO | AEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main goal | Rank high in search results lists | Give a quick, direct answer | Become the cited source |
| Where it shows up | Traditional search results pages and map results | Voice assistants, featured snippets and direct answers | AI chat tools and generative summaries, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews |
| What it takes for a dealership | A site search engines can crawl, a page for every car and a complete Google Business Profile | Pages that answer buyer questions in the first sentence, with price, mileage, VIN and hours as page text | The same store facts everywhere, answered reviews, open doors for AI search crawlers and mentions on sites assistants cite |
| How you check it | Rankings, clicks and queries in Google Search Console | Search Console, which counts featured snippets and Google’s AI features with regular results | Repeated questions to AI assistants, like our free scan |
They share one foundation. Google says there are “no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode”: to show up as a link there, a page has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet in Google Search, which is everyday SEO work. Keep the SEO your website vendor already does, and add what AI tools need on top.
Our free scan measures two of these tools, ChatGPT and Claude, each with web search on. The work itself, from crawler access to reviews and answer pages, is what Google Gemini, AI Overviews and Perplexity read too.
How buyers shop now
They ask an AI assistant the questions they used to ask a friend: which dealer, which car, is the store any good. The answer names a few dealers and says why, where a search results page lists ten links. If your store isn’t in that answer, the buyer may never see it.
19%
of all car buyers used AI websites or AI-generated overviews while they shopped.
Cox Automotive, 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study, released January 2026Where buyers ask
Buyers now type the whole question, like “where should I buy a Silverado near Toms River,” and get back a short answer that names a few dealers and cites the pages it trusted. It happens in the four places buyers use most.
OpenAI
Buyers ask in the app or on the web. The answer names a dealer, gives reasons and links the sources it used.
The AI summary above the regular results, and the AI Mode tab, name dealers before a buyer ever scrolls to the links.
Anthropic
Buyers ask it to compare options and plan the visit. It recommends a store and explains why.
Perplexity
Every sentence carries a numbered source, so the pages it trusts decide which dealer it names.
Illustrations of AI answers. The dealerships shown are AutoLander customers. Real answers change with the buyer, the question and the day.
Our free scan measures ChatGPT and Claude, each with web search on. What we fix, from crawler access and vehicle-page text to your Google profile, reviews and answer pages, is what Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity read when they decide who to name.
Where you see it
Two free Google tools show the change from your side. Search Console shows the searches that find your site. Google Analytics shows the visits that arrive from AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Copilot, and what those visitors do next.
Clicks, impressions and average position for the searches that find your site, with the exact queries buyers typed.
Sessions from AI assistants, broken out by the assistant that sent them, with engagement and key events such as leads, calls and test drives.
Illustrations of the Search Console and Google Analytics views. Your numbers depend on your market, your inventory and where you start.
Your free report
It checks whether ChatGPT and Claude name your store for local buyer questions, which sources they cite, whether AI can read your site and vehicle pages, and the 3 fixes to make first. Each part is tagged AEO, GEO or both.
GEO
The dealers ChatGPT and Claude name for buyer questions in your town, question by question, and how often each one comes up.
GEO
The pages each answer cites, as links you can click, so you can see where the assistants learn about dealers near you.
AEO
We open up to five vehicle pages on your website and check whether price, mileage and VIN are on the page as plain text an assistant can read.
AEO and GEO
Whether your robots.txt lets AI search crawlers in, and whether the security service in front of your site challenges automated visitors. If our own check is blocked, the block goes in your report as a finding.
AEO and GEO
Built from how often you are named, the sources that cite you, your reviews and your site’s technical readiness. Answers vary from run to run, so the score comes with a margin.
AEO and GEO
The three changes we would make first, written plainly enough to hand to your website vendor.
AI Visibility Report · sample layout
Common gaps
The security service in front of many websites can block AI crawlers, and some now ask site owners to choose when the site is set up. If yours blocks them, your site never gets read.
Different hours, names or phone numbers across Google, Yelp and the listing sites make an assistant less sure it’s the same store.
Your reviews, and how you answer them, are part of what an assistant sees about your store. Silence reads as neglect.
When price, mileage and VIN aren’t on the page as text, an answer can’t describe the car on your lot.
How it works
1
Your store, website and city or ZIP. No logins, nothing to install.
2
Up to 20 questions a buyer in your town would ask (finding a dealer, specific cars, reputation, trade-ins), put to ChatGPT and Claude with web search on, 3 times each, because answers change from run to run. Every question names your city or ZIP. If we can’t find cars on your site, we skip the car questions and say so in your report.
3
A person on our team checks every match and your report before it goes out, e-mails it to you and walks you through it in 20 minutes. No obligation.
Plans
The scan is free, and the 3 fixes in your report are yours to keep whether or not you hire us. If you want the work done every month, plans are $997, $2,497 or $5,997 a month plus a one-time setup fee, month to month. Every plan starts with the free scan and a 20-minute walkthrough.
$997 a month
$997 one-time setup
Independent and franchise stores that want their Google profile, listings, reviews and website fixes handled every month.
We run your Google profile, listings, reviews and website fixes every month, add 2 answer pages a month to your own website and track 3 named competitors.
$2,497 a month
$997 one-time setup
Busy stores selling 150 or more cars a month, and franchise rooftops.
Everything in AI Foundation, with 4 answer pages and 1 sponsored publication placement a month, a weekly competitor watch and review replies within 1 business day.
$5,997 a month
$2,997 one-time setup
High-volume franchise stores that want brand exclusivity in their market.
Everything in AI Authority, with 8 answer pages, 4 sponsored publication placements and 2 video answers a month, and brand exclusivity in your market. By application.
AutoLander customers pay no setup fee.
| AI Foundation | AI Authority | Market Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $997 | $2,497 | $5,997 |
| One-time setup fee | $997 | $997 | $2,997 |
| Setup fee for AutoLander customers | None | None | None |
| Built for | Independent and franchise stores that want their Google profile, listings, reviews and website fixes handled every month. | Busy stores selling 150 or more cars a month, and franchise rooftops. | High-volume franchise stores that want brand exclusivity in their market. |
| Monthly scan and report | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website fix list, including structured data | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Google Business Profile run for you | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Core listings plus 40 directory listings in month 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Answer pages on your own website | 2 a month | 4 a month | 8 a month |
| Sponsored publication placements | None | 1 a month | 4 a month |
| Video answers for your YouTube channel | None | None | 2 a month |
| Named competitors in your report | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Weekly 10-question competitor watch | No | Yes | Yes |
| Quarterly competitor teardown | No | No | Yes |
| Google review replies | Within 2 business days | Within 1 business day | Within 1 business day |
| Review calls | Kickoff, then every quarter | Kickoff, then a 30-minute call every month | Kickoff, a monthly call and a quarterly planning meeting |
| Brand exclusivity in your market | No | No | Yes |
| How it starts | Written agreement after your walkthrough | Application after your walkthrough, answered within 1 business day | Application, answered within 1 business day |
Each promise is a step we control, with a date you can check in your report.
| Kickoff call within 5 business days of your signed agreement. | We book it with you as soon as your agreement is signed. |
|---|---|
| Your website fix request goes to your vendor within 3 business days of kickoff. | We send it with your written authorization, chase it every week and re-check your site until each fix is live. Its status is in every report. |
| Your Google Business Profile is complete within 30 days of us getting manager access. | We never change your business name, address or main category without your sign-off. |
| Core listing claims and completions submitted within 45 days of kickoff. | Each one goes live when that site finishes its own verification. |
| Your directory order is placed within 30 days of kickoff. | Every live link is listed in your report. |
| Your review-request template and cadence are set up within 14 days of kickoff. | We set it up in your own CRM or DMS. It starts sending when your system admin switches it on. |
| Every Google review answered within your plan’s window: 2 business days on AI Foundation, 1 business day on AI Authority and Market Leader. | A person approves every reply to a 1-star or 2-star review, and you hear about those reviews the same day. |
| Each month’s answer-page drafts reach your approver by the 15th. | We submit each approved page to your website vendor or CMS within 3 business days of your approval. |
| AI Authority and Market Leader: each month’s placement topic reaches you by business day 10. | Topics come from the sources the assistants cited in your scan. We check the live link, tag and label on every delivery. |
| Market Leader: 2 video answers reach you for approval each month. | They go up only after you approve them. |
| Your monthly report arrives by business day 5. | It links to every piece of work and shows the raw answers, each labelled by the assistant it came from, with a short note on how we measure. |
| If you leave, our access is removed within 5 business days. | We delete your scan data and reports within 30 days and confirm it in writing. You keep every profile, listing, page and video. |
Tell us your store, website and city or ZIP. We ask ChatGPT and Claude up to 20 questions a buyer in your town would ask, 3 times each, with web search on.
20 minutes on your report with our team, including the 3 fixes we would make first.
AI Foundation starts with a written agreement, month to month. AI Authority and Market Leader start with an application, and we reply within 1 business day. For Market Leader we also confirm whether your territory is available.
We agree the questions we measure. You give us Google Business Profile manager access, name who approves pages and bad-review replies, authorize our note to your website vendor and connect your inventory feed (already done if you use AutoLander).
Your website vendor gets the fix list within 3 business days of kickoff, and your first monthly report arrives by business day 5 of the next month.
Prices and plans updated
For national and category brands, such as auto brands, online car retailers, marketplaces and dealer software companies, we run a brand scan with no location. It follows a buyer from the first questions to the final choice and shows whether ChatGPT and Claude name your brand for category questions, and which sources they cite. For now we scan English-language markets only. Brand scans and brand plans are priced by quote: e-mail sales@autolander.ai with your brand and website and we reply with the scope and a quote.
FAQ
Free · No logins needed · Checked by a person · 20-minute walkthrough
AI Visibility is AutoLander LLC's AEO and GEO service (answer engine optimization and generative engine optimization) for US car dealerships. It measures whether ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic), each with web search on, name a dealership when local buyers ask where to buy a car, then fixes what keeps AI assistants, including Google Gemini and Perplexity, from finding and trusting the store: website crawler access and vehicle-page text, the Google Business Profile, listings, reviews and answer pages. It starts with a free scan. Plans are $997, $2,497 and $5,997 a month plus setup, month to month. It is separate from AutoLander's Facebook Marketplace software.
AI Visibility, the AEO and GEO service for car dealers, comes from AutoLander LLC and is separate from our Facebook Marketplace software. Not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or any AI company; product names belong to their owners.