AEO A sample monthly report.
What you get each month: the buyer questions we track, what four engines answered, and what we changed. Tallyroom is invented, and so is every number, to show the format.
AEO report · Tallyroom · October 2026
12 buyer questions · 4 engines · answers captured 28–30 Oct 2026
Sample. Tallyroom is an invented payroll tool for companies of 20 to 200 people. The questions, answers and numbers are invented to show the format.
7/12
▲ +3 vs Sep
Buyer questions where cited
32%
▲ +8 pts vs Sep
Share of citations vs. the top 3 competitors
4
Pages shipped this month
2
New third-party mentions
| Buyer question | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Gemini | AI Overviews | First cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “best payroll software for a 50-person startup” | Cited | Cited | Mentioned | Absent | 2 Oct 2026 |
| “payroll software that files PF and ESI automatically” | Cited | Cited | Cited | Mentioned | 11 Sep 2026 |
| “alternatives to the market-leading payroll tool” | Mentioned | Cited | Absent | Absent | 16 Oct 2026 |
| “how much does payroll software cost for 100 employees” | Cited | Mentioned | Absent | Cited | 23 Oct 2026 |
| “how to run payroll for employees and contractors together” | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Not yet |
| “payroll software for a team hired across two states” | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Not yet |
| “easiest payroll software to set up” | Mentioned | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Not yet |
| “how to switch payroll providers mid-year” | Absent | Cited | Absent | Absent | 9 Oct 2026 |
| “payroll software with a payslip app for employees” | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Not yet |
| “is Tallyroom good for a remote team” | Cited | Cited | Mentioned | Cited | 11 Sep 2026 |
| “Tallyroom pricing” | Cited | Cited | Cited | Cited | 6 Aug 2026 |
| “payroll software that works with our accounting tool” | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Not yet |
Baseline captured 6 Aug 2026. The question set stays fixed for the quarter so months compare. Every answer is logged with its engine and date, and the screenshots come with the report as an appendix.
What we changed in October
Pages shipped
- Pricing page, rewritten answer first
- The price per employee is now in the first line, with schema.
- A PF and ESI filing FAQ
- Six questions, each answered in two sentences, with FAQ schema.
- A comparison page against the market leader
- Plain facts in a table: price, setup time, filings covered.
- A guide to switching payroll mid-year
- Cited by Perplexity nine days after it went live.
New mentions
- A payroll comparison article on an HR blog
- Lists Tallyroom with its price and team size.
- A completed software-directory profile
- Same price, category and customer size as the site.
Next month
- Answer the contractor and two-state questions on the payroll guide page.
- Add the payslip app to the features page, with a screenshot and its own heading.
- Pitch the comparison data to two more “best payroll tools” articles.
How to read it
Cited, Mentioned, Absent
Cited means the answer names you and links your page as a source. Mentioned means it names you without a link. Absent means you are not in the answer.
Buyer questions where cited
How many of the tracked questions cite you on at least one of the four engines this month.
Share of citations
Your citations as a share of all citations for you and the three competitors the answers name most often, across the same questions.
First cited
The date of the first captured answer that cited you for that question. A question that has never cited you says “Not yet”.
Why the questions stay fixed
So one month compares with the next. New questions join only at the start of a quarter.
Get your own baseline.
The 90-day Pink List Pilot starts with this report for your real buyer questions.