Connector Framework

Overview

The Connector Framework lets you integrate AEO Optima with external tools and services. Connectors are organized into categories:

• SERP Data Providers — Search engine results APIs for SERP tracking (Serper.dev, DataForSEO)
• Messaging & Alerts — Push notifications to team channels (Slack)
• Analytics & Automation — Dashboards and event-driven workflows (Looker Studio, Zapier/Make)
• E-commerce — Product catalogs and shopping visibility (Shopify)

Each connector is registered per organization, can be enabled or disabled independently, and stores its credentials securely using encrypted storage.

Google AI Overview & AI Mode — captured natively

AEO Optima captures Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode for your tracked questions natively — our own headless browser through a residential proxy, no external SERP vendor required. Presence, answer text, and cited sources flow into the same analytics as every other engine, and each appears as its own engine in Performance by LLM. Your Analytics page shows the AI Overview Visibility funnel:

• Coverage — for the questions you track, how often Google shows an AI Overview at all.
• Inclusion — when it does, how often your brand is in it.

Native capture has no per-query vendor fee (the only marginal cost is proxy bandwidth), so it's on by default for eligible projects with no connector to configure.

SERP Data Providers (optional — bring your own)

A SERP connector is optional. Connect one only if you already subscribe to it and want an alternative to native capture, or to also track Bing Copilot (not covered by native capture — Microsoft retired the direct Bing Web Search API in 2025). Configure providers in Settings → Connectors, then manage source toggles in Settings → SERP Tracking.

When you connect your own SERP provider, it takes precedence over native capture for that organization — your data, your account, your billing. The two providers are not interchangeable for AI surfaces, so the pipeline prefers DataForSEO for AI Overview / AI Mode automatically when both are connected:

DataForSEO (preferred for AI surfaces)

Full-featured SERP data provider. Returns the complete AI Overview citation list (every source Google's AI Overview references) via its Advanced endpoint, plus a dedicated AI Mode endpoint. Also provides keyword volumes, backlink data, and domain authority enrichment.

Required credentials:

• API login
• API password

Supported SERP sources:

• Google AI Overview — full citation list
• Google AI Mode — dedicated endpoint
• Bing organic SERP

Cost note: AI Overview / AI Mode use DataForSEO's Advanced endpoint, which costs roughly double a standard SERP task (≈$0.006 vs ≈$0.003 per query). These captures are metered per request and deducted from your credit pool like any other capture.

Use cases:

• Track which sources Google's AI Overview cites — including whether it cites your pages.
• Track brand visibility in Google AI Mode results.
• Enrich citation sources with backlink, keyword volume, and domain authority metrics.

Serper.dev (best-effort AI Overview, organic SERP)

Fast, low-cost Google SERP API. Serper's standard /search response does not include a native AI Overview block and has no AI Mode endpoint, so AEO Optima treats Serper's AI Overview as best-effort: when Google surfaces an answer box, it's captured as a single best-effort citation; otherwise no AI Overview citation is recorded. For full AI Overview citations and AI Mode, use DataForSEO.

Required credentials:

• API key

Supported SERP sources:

• Google AI Overview — best-effort (answer-box fallback, single citation)
• Organic search positions

Use cases:

• Monitor organic search positions and AI-generated citations at low cost.
• Best value for organic SERP tracking: 50K searches for $50/mo.

Note: Both providers implement the same SerpProvider interface, so the capture pipeline switches between them transparently. For AI Overview and AI Mode it resolves DataForSEO first (richer data); for plain organic it uses whichever is configured.

Integration Connectors

Slack

Push alerts, reports, and notifications to Slack channels.

Required credentials:

• Bot token (for direct API access)
• Webhook URL (for incoming webhooks)

Configuration:

• Default channel for notifications

Use cases:

• Receive real-time alerts when visibility drops or anomalies are detected.
• Post weekly digest summaries to a team channel.
• Notify when snapshot captures complete.

Looker Studio

Connect AEO Optima analytics data to Google Looker Studio dashboards.

Required credentials: None (uses data export).

Configuration:

• Data source selection: visibility scores, citations, snapshots, or all data.

Use cases:

• Build custom executive dashboards combining AEO data with other business metrics.
• Create scheduled reports with Looker Studio's built-in distribution.
• Share interactive visibility dashboards with stakeholders who do not use AEO Optima directly.

Zapier / Make

Trigger automations from AEO Optima events via webhooks.

Required credentials: None (uses webhook URL).

Configuration:

• Webhook URL — The Zapier/Make webhook endpoint to receive events.
• Events — Select which event types to forward: snapshot.completed, alert.triggered, visibility.changed, geo_audit.completed, report.generated.

Use cases:

• Automatically create Jira tickets when critical alerts fire.
• Post visibility changes to a Google Sheet for historical tracking.
• Trigger email sequences when GEO audits complete.
• Chain AEO events with hundreds of other tools via Zapier/Make workflows.

Shopify

Sync product catalogs and track AI visibility for e-commerce brands.

Required credentials:

• Shopify access token

Configuration:

• Shop domain (e.g., my-store.myshopify.com)

Use cases:

• Automatically import products as tracking targets.
• Monitor how AI models describe and recommend your products.
• Track shopping-related AI visibility alongside your product catalog.

Setting Up a Connector

1. Navigate to Settings then Connectors in the sidebar.
2. Select the connector type you want to add.
3. Enter the required credentials and configuration fields.
4. Save the connector. It will be registered as active by default.
5. Test the connection using the built-in test function (if available for the connector type).

Managing Connectors

Enable / Disable

Toggle a connector's active status without deleting it. Disabled connectors retain their credentials and configuration for easy re-activation.

Sync Logs

Each connector maintains a log of sync operations showing:

• Sync type (push, pull, test)
• Status (success, failed)
• Records synced
• Error messages (if any)
• Start and completion timestamps

Deleting a Connector

Deleting a connector removes it permanently along with all stored credentials. Sync logs are retained for audit purposes.

Security

• All credentials are encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption via the credential store.
• Credentials are never exposed in API responses — only existence is confirmed.
• Each connector's credentials are isolated and cannot be accessed by other connectors.
• Deletion of a connector cascades to all its stored credentials.

Plan Requirements

The Connector Framework is available on Pro-SME and above (up to 3 connectors) and Enterprise-Brand / Enterprise-Agency plans (unlimited). Free, Starter, and Pro-Individual plans do not include connector access.