Guides

AEO/GEO guides, written plainly

Practical, specific writing on getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overview. Written by Kai, founder of Hirira. No filler, no "10x your visibility" hand-waving.

Foundations & theory

Theory

The Citation Economy: Why AI Search Rewards Corroboration Over Authority

An original framework for why AI models trust independent corroboration over a business's own claims, and what that means for where to spend effort.

Technical

How Large Language Models Actually Decide What to Cite

Chunking, embedding, retrieval, re-ranking, and grounded generation, the four-step pipeline behind every AI citation decision, explained plainly.

Framework

E-E-A-T for AI Search: Google's Trust Framework, Reapplied

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, reapplied to what actually gets a business cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Comparison

AEO vs SEO: What's Actually Different

Why a page ranking #1 on Google can still be completely invisible in ChatGPT, and what that means for where you spend effort.

Practical guides & checklists

Guide

How to Get Cited by ChatGPT: A Practical Guide for Local Businesses

What AI models actually look for before naming a business in an answer, and the four things to fix first.

Checklist

The Hirira AEO Checklist: 12 Technical Fixes That Get You Cited Faster

The exact technical checklist we run through on every Hirira Snapshot audit, in order of impact.

Checklist

The Off-Site AEO Checklist: What to Fix Beyond Your Own Website

Reviews, directories, Google Business Profile, press mentions, and community presence, the half of AEO that has nothing to do with your website.

Myth-busting

7 AEO Myths That Are Quietly Costing You Visibility

Seven widely repeated claims about AI search optimization that are wrong or misleading, and what's actually true instead.

Industry-specific

Guide

Why Local Service Businesses Are Invisible in AI Search

Roofers, dentists, contractors, and clinics lose to national brands and directory sites in AI answers for a specific, fixable reason.

Industry guide

AEO for Roofers: Why Roofing Companies Are Nearly Invisible in AI Search

One industry study found 0 out of 19 roofing companies cited by AI for a natural buying question. Here's why, and the fixes that matter most.

Reference

Glossary

AEO & GEO Glossary: Every Term Explained in Plain English

Answer Engine Optimization, citation frequency, query fan-out, and every other term in this field, defined in one sentence each.