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The engines: six ways a buyer asks, and what each answer records

Six engines, reached the way a buyer reaches them where that is possible, and every answer stored whole so a later reading can be checked against it.

Oftheardproduct documentation ·Updated 26 September 2026

The six

EngineHow it is askedPlans
ChatGPTThe ChatGPT app for a prompt with no place, asked from India; the OpenAI API for a prompt pinned to a district, told the cityAll paid plans
GeminiThe Gemini app for a prompt with no place; the Gemini API with Google Search for a district promptAll plans; Free asks Gemini only
PerplexityIts API with search, told the country and the districtAll paid plans
Google AI OverviewsA real Google results page, read for the overview or the map packAll paid plans
Google AI ModeA real AI Mode answerAll paid plans
ClaudeAsked with web search, told the city for a district promptGrowth and Agency

Why the app and the API are different instruments

The ChatGPT app searches before it answers a buying question and reads a different index from the developer API. The two name different brands. A session records which one answered, as its own surface, and never pools an app answer with an API answer. The first session on a new instrument is a new baseline.

What every answer records

  • The engine, the surface and the exact model build that answered, where the reply names one.
  • Whether it searched, the queries it ran and up to six pages it cited.
  • Where it was asked from and in which language.
  • The full answer, the names it recommended, every name it mentioned, and the reasons it gave for each recommendation.
  • How it treated your brand: recommended, mentioned with a caveat, named among others, cautioned against, or absent, with the sentence that decided it.
  • Whether any fact it stated about you disagrees with the facts on your brief.

Claude, and why it is unticked

Claude costs several times any other answer to ask, so it is on Growth and Agency, unticked by default in the run dialog, and a Claude answer draws five from the month’s answers where any other draws one. Tick it when a client asks for it. A Claude answer that did not search is recorded as a failure, not a loss, because an answer from memory is not the instrument the session is on.

See it on your own brand.

The free plan runs the hundred checks on your homepage and puts ten buyer questions to an engine as a buyer in India. No card.

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