N-3 Releases "AIO Trace," a Free Tool to Visualize AI Search Behavior—Track What ChatGPT and Gemini See to Answer Questions

N-3 LLC (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Kosuke Kurimoto) has released "AIO Trace," a free tool that visualizes and tracks in real-time which websites AI search engines search, refer to, and cite when answering user questions.

AI search engines such as ChatGPT and Gemini perform web searches in response to user questions and generate answers based on the information obtained.

However, it is usually invisible to users which keywords the AI uses to search, which websites it refers to, and ultimately which sources it cites. AIO Trace liberates this AI "search behavior" from the black box, making it a tool that anyone can visualize for free.

Public URL: https://n-3.ai/apps/aio-trace

Features of AIO Trace

Easy operation by simply entering a question: No technical knowledge required. Just enter what you want to investigate, and it immediately traces the search behavior of major AI providers (ChatGPT and Google Gemini).

Side-by-side comparison of AI search engine answers: Compare how ChatGPT and Google Gemini generate answers to the same question, displayed side-by-side. You can grasp the differences in answers and biases in information sources between AIs at a glance.

Visualization of search keywords: Displays a list of search keywords used by each AI search engine during web searches. This shows how the AI interprets user questions and what keywords it uses to find information.

Detailed analysis of cited and hit URLs: Distinguishes and displays URLs directly cited by AI in answers (Cited URLs) and URLs accessed during the search process (Hit URLs). A grouped list by site allows you to understand which domains are frequently referenced by AI.

Ranking display of frequently referenced sites: Aggregates trace results from all users and displays a ranking of the most frequently referenced websites by AI. This can be used as a reference indicator to understand your position in the industry.

Background: The "Black Box" Problem of AI Search

With the spread of AI search engines, more companies are asking, "Is our site being referenced by AI?" and "To what extent are our competitors cited by AI?" However, the AI's search and citation process is difficult to see from the outside and was an area that traditional SEO tools could not analyze.

AIO Trace visualizes this "invisible search behavior," enabling companies to understand the exposure of their content in AI search engines and formulate data-driven AIO strategies.

Anticipated Use Cases

Corporate marketing managers: Check which sites AI cites for questions about their company's products or services. Use to compare citation status with competitor sites.

Web production companies/SEO consultants: Quantitatively grasp whether client sites are cited by AI search engines. Use as supporting data for AIO-compatible proposals.

Content marketers: Analyze what keywords AI is searching for and use this to design content that is easily referenced by AI.

Public relations/PR managers: Monitor the extent to which press releases and company information are cited by AI search engines.

Representative Comment (Kosuke Kurimoto)

"As AI search engines rapidly spread, many companies are concerned, 'Is our site being found by AI?' With traditional SEO, the effectiveness of measures could be gauged by checking search rankings, but there was no such metric for AI search.

AIO Trace is a tool that directly addresses this challenge by visualizing AI's search behavior itself. While AIO Inspector, which we recently released, is a 'tool to diagnose the AI optimization status of your site,' AIO Trace is a 'tool to track how AI actually searches and where it gets information from.' By combining these two, it becomes possible to formulate a comprehensive website strategy in the era of AI search."

Details of Analysis Items

Integration with AIO Inspector

Our previously released "AIO Inspector" (https://n-3.ai/apps/aio-inspector) is a tool that diagnoses the AI crawler compatibility of websites.

By combining it with AIO Trace, it becomes possible to promote AIO measures from both aspects: "diagnosing site optimization status" and "confirming actual AI search reference status."

Future Developments

Future plans include developing a fixed-point observation function for the citation status of specific URLs, AI citation trend reports by industry/category, and an integrated dashboard with AIO Inspector.

Notes on Use

・This tool is available for free.

・Trace results are based on real-time AI search results, so results may vary depending on the execution timing.

Service Information

Service Name: AIO Trace

Public URL: https://n-3.ai/apps/aio-trace

Usage Fee: Free

Supported Browsers: Major browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox

Company Profile

N-3 LLC

Representative: Kosuke Kurimoto

Location: 1-25-24-303 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Business Activities: Generative AI system planning, development, and implementation support; AI agent platform development

URL: https://n-3.ai

Contact for this matter

N-3 LLC Public Relations

E-mail: contact@n-3.ai