Frequently asked questions

BEACON AI is an Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) platform. It measures how visible your brand is across the 6 major AI systems (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Overview) and gives you a prioritized plan to improve it. Think of it as Google Analytics, but for how AI systems discover and recommend your brand.

The AI Visibility Score™ (also called AEIQ) is a composite 0–100 metric that measures how visible and authoritative your brand is across AI systems. It combines 5 dimensions: mention rate (presence), rank position (authority), sentiment quality, response consistency, and top-pick rate. A score of 0 means your brand is invisible to AI; 100 means you're the dominant recommended brand in your category.

AEO is the practice of improving how AI systems discover and recommend your brand. It is the equivalent of SEO, but for AI. SEO helps you rank on Google; AEO helps you get recommended by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. As buyers increasingly start their research with AI assistants, AEO determines whether your brand is in the conversation or invisible.

Ahrefs and SEMrush measure Google rankings, keyword positions, backlinks, and organic traffic. BEACON measures AI recommendations: whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity mention your brand when users ask relevant questions. These are completely different systems with different signals. An SEO tool has zero visibility into what happens inside an AI model's response.

BEACON audits 6 platforms: ChatGPT (GPT-4o mini), Claude (claude-haiku), Gemini (gemini-flash), Perplexity (llama-3.1-sonar), Microsoft Copilot (GPT-4.1-mini via Azure), and Google AI Overview (via SerpAPI). These cover the 6 highest-traffic AI surfaces used for discovery and research today.

BEACON runs 20+ category queries across each AI platform: discovery queries ('best CRM for startups'), comparison queries ('HubSpot vs Salesforce'), task queries ('how do I track leads'), persona queries ('best tool for a solo founder'), and loyalty queries ('should I keep using [Brand]'). It captures the AI responses, extracts brand mentions, rank positions, and sentiment using an LLM-based extraction engine, then computes your AEIQ score across 5 dimensions.

Most audits complete in 2–4 minutes. Queries run in parallel across all 6 platforms simultaneously, with real-time streaming so you see each platform respond as it finishes. The full report (score, competitors, insights, agent.json) is ready when streaming ends.

One credit runs a full audit: 20+ queries across 6 AI platforms, AI Visibility Score™ (0–100), Share of Voice analysis, competitor leaderboard, hallucination detection with claim-level risk flags, source attribution (which URLs AI cites about you), customer journey framing (Awareness → Comparison → Endorsement → Loyalty), agent.json generation, llms.txt, and a prioritised fix plan with estimated score impact per recommendation.

Run a baseline audit first, then implement the recommended fixes. Re-audit every 2–4 weeks to track score changes. AI model updates can shift scores even without any action on your part, so regular monitoring catches regressions. Brands actively optimizing typically see measurable score movement within 4–6 weeks of implementing content recommendations.

agent.json is a machine-readable brand identity file you deploy to your domain root (yoursite.com/agent.json). It tells AI systems who you are, your category, differentiators, pricing model, and ideal customer, similar to how robots.txt communicates with search crawlers. BEACON automatically generates an agent.json with every audit, tailored to your brand's live scores and category context.

Yes. AI systems that support structured brand data use it to form more accurate brand descriptions. It also functions as an authoritative source that reduces hallucination risk. When AI systems have a reliable machine-readable brief, they're less likely to invent claims about your brand. BEACON is the only AEO tool that generates agent.json automatically.

Upload the file to your web server so it's accessible at yoursite.com/agent.json. That's it. It's a static JSON file with no server logic required. For most brands it's a 30-second task: download from your dashboard, upload via FTP, Netlify drag-and-drop, or your CMS's asset manager.

Your first audit is ₹199, a one-time discounted cost that covers the AI platform usage to generate your full report. After that, credit packs start at ₹399 for 1 audit. Monthly plans (Starter ₹1,999/month, Pro ₹4,999/month) are launching soon. The agent.json generator is always free. A rate limit of 3 audits/IP/day prevents abuse.

Credits are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase. They never auto-renew and there's no subscription required unless you want one.

All major Indian payment methods are supported via Razorpay: UPI, debit/credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, Amex), net banking, and popular wallets (Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Pay).

Yes. You can run audits on any brand in any category. Most customers start with their own brand, then run competitor audits to benchmark AI Share of Voice and understand why a competitor outranks them.