Searchstack: Open-source SEO Tech Stack for the AI Era, One-stop Monitoring of Search Visibility Across Multiple Platforms

Searchstack is an open-source SEO/AEO/GEO tech stack for AI-native entrepreneurs, enabling website visibility monitoring across Google, AI Overview, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other platforms via a single command-line tool.

Search engines are undergoing a profound transformation. According to the latest data, 60% of search queries on Google now directly display AI Overview, providing answers at the top of the search results page without users needing to click any links. Meanwhile, AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are rapidly becoming the preferred search entry points for millions of users.

Traditional SEO tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush cost $100 to $400 per month but fail to track these emerging AI search channels. For AI-native entrepreneurs, this means a huge blind spot—you have no idea if your website is cited by AI models or how to measure its exposure in AI Overview.

Searchstack was born to address this pain point. It is an open-source SEO/AEO/GEO tech stack that allows founders to comprehensively monitor their website's performance across three search layers at a cost of approximately $5 per month.

Searchstack divides the modern search ecosystem into three tiers, each with corresponding monitoring capabilities:

SEO Tier (Traditional Search)：Monitors Google organic search rankings, including keyword positions, competitor analysis, technical audits, etc. This functionality is implemented via integration with Google Search Console and DataForSEO.

AEO Tier (AI Conversation Citations)：Checks if AI conversation tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude cite your website when answering relevant questions. This is an area completely untouched by traditional SEO tools.

GEO Tier (Google AI Overview)：Monitors whether Google's AI Overview feature cites your website content when answering your target keywords.

Using the searchstack ai command, you can check your website's citation status across three major AI platforms with one click. The system queries each question in the preset list and generates a clear citation statistics report.

AI citation monitoring is Searchstack's most distinctive feature. By integrating APIs from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic, Searchstack can simulate real user queries and check if AI models cite the target website in their answers.

For example, after running searchstack ai, you might see results like:

• ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini): 2 out of 3 questions cited your website
• Perplexity (sonar): All 3 questions cited your website and returned specific source URLs
• Claude (haiku): None of the 3 questions cited your website

This granular monitoring allows founders to clearly understand their position in the AI search ecosystem and optimize their content strategy accordingly.

The searchstack geo command checks Google AI Overview's citation of your target keywords. You can monitor all preset keywords or perform a quick check for a single keyword. This is crucial for understanding how Google's AI comprehends and cites your content.

In addition to AI-related innovative features, Searchstack also provides a complete set of traditional SEO tools:

• Google Search Console Integration: Query rankings, clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position
• Keyword Research: Obtain keyword suggestions and search volume data
• Competitor Analysis: Compare your ranked keywords with competitors to identify traffic gaps
• Real-time SERP Monitoring: Get the top 10 results for any query
• Backlink Analysis: View backlink profiles of your own and competitors' websites
• Technical Audit: Check meta tags, structured data, internal links, and orphaned pages

The searchstack report command can generate a complete Markdown report with 14 sections, covering traffic, search queries, AI Overview visibility, AI citations, rankings, competitors, index status, backlinks, keyword gaps, position changes, meta tag issues, orphaned pages, and automatically generated optimization suggestions.

Searchstack adopts a modular architecture with clearly organized core code:

• CLI Entry (cli.py): Command-line interface based on argparse
• Configuration Management (config.py): Supports .toml configuration files and environment variables
• Snapshot System (snapshots.py): JSON-formatted data saving, loading, and comparison
• Service Providers (providers/): Each external service has an independent API client
• Command Modules (commands/): Each CLI command corresponds to an independent file

Currently, Searchstack supports integration with 8 external services:

1. Google Search Console (Free): Rankings, clicks, index status
2. DataForSEO ($50 prepay): Keywords, SERP, AI Overview, backlinks
3. OpenAI (~$0.001 per query): ChatGPT citation check
4. Perplexity (~$0.005 per query): Perplexity citation check
5. Anthropic (~$0.001 per query): Claude citation check
6. Plausible ($9/month): Traffic analysis and AI referral tracking
7. Bing Webmaster (Free): Bing statistics and URL submission
8. IndexNow (Free): Instant notifications for Bing and Yandex

It's worth noting that Bing plays a key role in the AI search ecosystem. ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot all use Bing as their search backend. If your website is not in the Bing index, it will be completely invisible in these three major AI search products.