Plain-English answers to your questions.
Common questions about SEO, GEO, AEO, AI visibility, audits, and what working with CMM looks like.
About the work
What's the difference between SEO, GEO, and AEO?
SEO helps you earn visibility in traditional search results. GEO helps your brand show up in AI-generated answers and recommendation environments like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. AEO helps your content answer questions clearly enough to be surfaced, cited, and reused by those systems. They work together - which is why CMM treats all three as one practice, not three separate services.
Do I need all three, or can I just focus on SEO?
You can, but you'll leave visibility on the table. AI search referrals are growing fast. The brands that show up in ChatGPT and Perplexity answers aren't there by accident - they built the technical and content signals that made it possible. If your SEO foundation is solid, adding the AI layer isn't that complicated.
What is an AI visibility score?
It's a measure of how often and how favorably your brand appears in AI-generated answers across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode. CMM tracks this monthly - by platform, by topic, and against your named competitors.
What does entity disambiguation mean?
AI systems build knowledge about entities - brands, people, products. If an AI is confused about what your company actually is or does, it either won't cite you or will cite you incorrectly. Entity disambiguation is the work of making your brand's identity clear and consistent across every signal AI systems use to understand it.
What is a site migration and why does it matter for SEO?
A site migration is any significant change to your site's URL structure, domain, platform, or architecture. Done poorly, migrations can wipe out years of search equity. CMM baselines the site before the migration, maps every redirect, validates after launch, and monitors for 90 days post-go-live.
About working with CMM
Where is CMM based? Do you work with clients outside Austin?
CMM is based in Austin, TX and works with clients remotely worldwide. Most of the work is async - audits, reports, strategy decks - with regular calls built in for review and alignment.
What does a snapshot audit include?
A full technical crawl, keyword gap and competitor analysis, AI visibility assessment, schema and entity audit, and a prioritized findings deck in plain English. Every issue surfaced. Every opportunity mapped. Clear next steps attached.
How is a CMM retainer structured?
There's no standard package. Retainer scope is built around what you actually need - which is usually a mix of ongoing technical monitoring, AI visibility tracking, content planning, and monthly reporting. We figure out the right scope together.
Do you work with agencies or just direct clients?
Both. CMM works directly with brands and also supports agencies that need SEO and AI visibility capability for their clients.
How long does an audit take?
Typically 7-10 business days from kickoff to delivery, depending on site size and complexity.
What makes CMM different from a full-service agency?
You're working directly with Leighton - not a junior account manager. The technical depth is the same as an agency. The deliverables are more direct and faster to act on. And there's no interest in selling you services you don't need.