{"citations":{"source_mix":{"company_owned":22,"independent":24,"unclear":0},"sources_referenced_by_questions":0,"support_mix":{"direct":38,"partial":7},"total_sources":46,"unique_domain_count":30},"claims":[{"claim_id":"claim-001","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-18","platform_support":["anthropic","deepseek","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"predicate":"platforms_analyzed","qualifier":"valid included platform responses","subject":"Best AI Search Audits Before Hiring a GEO Agency","unit":"platforms","value":7},{"claim_id":"claim-002","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-18","platform_support":["deepseek","openai"],"predicate":"final_consensus_rank","qualifier":"AI Search Audits Before Hiring a GEO Agency","subject":"Ahrefs","unit":"rank","value":4},{"claim_id":"claim-003","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-18","platform_support":["deepseek","openai"],"predicate":"platform_mentions","qualifier":"out of 7","subject":"Ahrefs","unit":"platforms","value":2},{"claim_id":"claim-004","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-18","platform_support":["openai","anthropic","deepseek","grok","perplexity"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"good","subject":"Ahrefs","unit":"platforms","value":5},{"claim_id":"claim-005","confidence":"verified","observed_at":"2026-09-18","platform_support":["kimi","google"],"predicate":"fit_rating_count","qualifier":"mixed","subject":"Ahrefs","unit":"platforms","value":2}],"content_scope":"aggregated facts, computed metrics, and retrieval summaries","entities":[{"average_rank":3,"best_rank":2,"entity_id":"entity-001","entity_type":"company","final_rank":4,"name":"Ahrefs","platform_mentions":2,"platform_share":0.2857142857142857}],"identity":{"dataset_url":"https://aimarketingconsensusindex.com/datasets/ai-search-audits-market-intelligence/before-hiring-geo-agency/ahrefs.json","page_url":"https://aimarketingconsensusindex.com/ai-search-audits-market-intelligence/before-hiring-geo-agency/ahrefs","report_type":"fit_review","study_id":"AIMCI-STUDY-303006FCE0E0","title":"Ahrefs for AI Search Audits Before Hiring a GEO Agency: AI Consensus Fit Review"},"limitations":["Use the run researchdate as the study date. Platform-reported dates are provenance metadata and do not independently prove freshness.","All included platforms evaluated fit, but platformmentions counts only platforms that named the entity during ranking discovery.","Do not resolve conflicting product names, pricing, or capabilities by guessing; describe the conflict and tell buyers what to verify.","The supplied URLs were collected from platform responses and were not independently validated by the writer stage.","Platform-reported research dates differ from the authoritative run date; disclose this as a methodology limitation.","The deterministic identity audit contains qualification notes that must be disclosed where relevant.","Citations are platform-reported evidence, not independently verified facts. No-search model claims require explicit verification before being described as current facts."],"methodology":{"fit_rating_contract":["strong","good","mixed","weak","uncertain"],"included_valid_platform_count":7,"maximum_finalists":10,"minimum_mentions":2,"name":"AI Marketing Consensus Index cross-platform AI consensus analysis","platforms_included":["anthropic","deepseek","google","grok","kimi","openai","perplexity"],"platforms_queried":["openai","anthropic","deepseek","grok","perplexity","kimi","google"],"stages":["ranking_discovery","fit_assessment","normalization","editorial_synthesis"],"version":"alias-table-1"},"provenance":{"generated_at":"2026-09-18 12:55:35.536583+00","research_date":"2026-09-18","source_snapshot_sha256":"24f38fd9294cd7c55e941bfa223877b7679b3f96f655dfa1c818ab951e5c44dc","verification_scope":"public_verification"},"ranking":{"candidates_evaluated":52,"qualified_finalists":7,"ranking_unit":"Audit company, audit service, or advisory provider"},"schema_version":4,"summary":"Ahrefs is a good fit for establishing a documented AI search baseline before hiring a GEO agency, but it is not a complete audit solution. Two of the seven included platforms named Ahrefs during ranking discovery, and its Brand Radar product covers AI mentions, citations, estimated impressions, AI share of voice, competitor benchmarking, and custom prompt tracking across major AI surfaces. The strongest reason to consider it is a repeatable, search-backed baseline you can re-run against agency-reported results. The main limitation is that Ahrefs-owned documentation dominates the evidence,…","target_buyer":"Companies evaluating GEO agencies that want a baseline AI search audit before signing a contract","topic":{"base_category":"AI search audits and market intelligence","category_criteria":["Measure current AI recommendation visibility","citations","competitor performance","high-value prompts","citation architecture","and source gaps so it can evaluate future agency performance against a documented starting point"],"geography":"United States","slug":"best-ai-search-audits-before-hiring-a-geo-agency","title":"Best AI Search Audits Before Hiring a GEO Agency","use_case":"AI Search Audits Before Hiring a GEO Agency"}}