Which AEO tool fits you: doing it yourself, running marketing, or handing it off.

Most AEO tool comparisons rank features. The more useful question is who will use the results. The same tool can be perfect for a marketer and useless for an owner with an hour a week.

If you do your own SEO

You need a diagnosis and a to-do list, not a dashboard. Look for a tool that tests real AI answers, audits your site and gives fixes in plain English with the exact text to paste.

• Run a full audit (AEO Armory is free) and do the top three fixes first
• Use free generators for robots.txt and llms.txt rather than editing files by hand
• Re-run monthly; skip paid tracking until you have done the basics

If you are a marketer

You need a baseline, then tracking you can report on. Run a full audit to find the gaps and the prompts that matter, then track those prompts monthly in a monitoring tool such as Otterly.AI or Ahrefs Brand Radar.

• Agree the prompt list with sales; it should match how buyers actually ask
• Report the trend, not single scores, because answers vary run to run
• Use a brand-perception tool like HubSpot's grader when leadership asks how AI describes you

If you want someone else to do it

You still need to see your visibility, so you can judge the work. Run a free audit, download the PDF and give it to your SEO company, marketer or us. The fix list doubles as a brief.

• Ask them which fixes they will do first and by when
• Run the audit again after the work; the fix checker confirms changes are live
• Be wary of anyone who reports AI visibility without showing the actual answers

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest AEO tool for a small business owner?

One that gives a plain-English fix list rather than a dashboard. A free full audit such as AEO Armory is the simplest place to start.

Do I need a paid AEO tool?

Not to start. Paid tools add ongoing tracking, which matters once you have fixed the basics and want to report progress.