Last updated 2026-05-21

Methodology

GEO Compass is opinionated and dated by design. Every claim on the site carries a last-updated stamp, and the evaluation framework is published in full so a reader can disagree with a specific assumption rather than the conclusion as a whole. This is the framework.

How we score AI engines

Each engine profile tracks four dimensions, scored independently rather than rolled into a single ranking number. The dimensions:

1. Grounding behavior. Does the engine retrieve sources before answering? Always, sometimes (model decides), or on user request? Always-on grounding produces the most citations and the most stable GEO signal.
2. Citation surface. Where does the citation appear in the UI? Inline footnote, sidebar list, source carousel, post-answer "related sources"? More-prominent citations drive more click-through.
3. Retrieval corpus. What does the engine search? Open web, a proprietary index, partnered publishers, vertical sources, real-time social? The corpus shape determines who gets seen.
4. Source diversity per answer. How many sources does an average answer cite, and how concentrated is citation share across domains? Low diversity is a winner-take-most regime; high diversity spreads visibility across the long tail.

What counts as a citation

A citation is any user-visible link from an engine-generated answer back to a specific page on a third-party domain. Specifically:

• Counted: numbered footnotes with click-through, sidebar "Sources" lists, carousel source chips, "related links" panels shown alongside the assembled answer.
• Not counted: in-engine knowledge-graph cards, disambiguation snippets that link to the engine's own page, sponsored placements, "follow-up question" suggestions, image-search results shown alongside text answers.

Domain-level and page-level citations are tracked separately. Page-level is the meaningful signal: being cited as a domain ten times is one URL handling ten queries.

How we choose engines to profile

A profile is published when an engine is (a) generally available to U.S. and E.U. users without an invite, (b) used by enough people to generate a measurable citation share for at least one tracked query, and (c) publishes meaningful information about how it retrieves and grounds. Beta engines and country-specific products are tracked privately until they cross the threshold.

Vendor neutrality and conflicts

GEO Compass takes no affiliate payments, no sponsorship, and no paid-placement revenue. Tool comparisons elsewhere on guptadeepak.com follow the same rule. The author is co-founder of GrackerAI, an AI visibility analytics product. That conflict is disclosed wherever GrackerAI is mentioned, and GrackerAI does not get preferential treatment in any comparison or recommendation on this portal. If a future change shifts that balance, it will be disclosed here in this section, dated.

How often this is updated

The methodology page is reviewed quarterly. Engine profiles are reviewed when the engine ships a material change to grounding, citation, or retrieval behavior, usually 2-3 times per year per engine. Glossary entries are revisited annually unless a term gains a new meaning.

Corrections

If you see something wrong, email the author (link in the footer). A correction is published with the corrected date and a note describing what changed; the original wording is preserved in the page history.