One monthly fee.
Three levels of how hard we work.

You are buying senior solo capacity plus a repeatable system for helping your brand get mentioned in AI answers while staying visible on Google. The setup is one operator, Thomas Howcroft, supported by six AI-assisted workflows. Every month you get the agreed page and evidence improvements, technical work that makes the brand easier to understand, competitor tracking, and a signed report showing what changed.

Every month Citation Engine ships 4 priority page builds, upgrades or evidence assets, fixes the technical signals that help search and AI systems understand you, and sends a signed report showing what changed. It suits B2B brands with flat or falling organic visibility that want a managed search improvement programme. Six-month minimum.

What ships

• 4 priority pages or evidence assets shipped around agreed buyer questions.
• Up to 120 official-API answer checks a week when all four providers are available (30 queries x 4 APIs). Completed observations and unavailable checks are recorded separately.
• 8 to 15 technical AEO changes or developer-ready tickets.
• 1 signed monthly PDF report on the 1st, and 1 quarterly strategy session (call or async).

Included, in detail

• Citation tracking. Up to 30 priority buyer questions checked weekly through the agreed Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini API routes where access is available. Provider, model, answer mode, date, brand mentions and source citations are recorded separately. API answers do not reproduce every consumer assistant answer. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are outside this API panel; available first-party Search Console AI impressions can be reviewed separately where agreed.
• Brand Alignment Profile. Voice rules, proof points, banned phrases, approved examples and sign-off rules locked before the first draft. Every article is checked against it before publishing.
• Priority page delivery. 4 substantial page builds, upgrades or evidence assets per month. Length follows the buyer question and evidence, not a word quota. Schema is added only where it matches the visible page.
• Technical AEO. Review accurate business facts, crawl access, indexing evidence, sitemaps and useful internal links. Check structured data against visible content and supported features. If maintained, llms.txt is optional documentation, not a Google Search visibility requirement. Implemented directly where access allows, otherwise delivered as developer-ready tickets.
• Signed monthly PDF. Five sections: executive summary, citation index, what shipped this month, what is shipping next, signed by Thomas Howcroft. Lands in your inbox by 09:00 on the 1st.
• Strategy review. Quarterly call (or written report and screen recording if you prefer pure async). Active read of your data plus the citation index, next quarter locked in writing.

Not included

Paid media, PR, social media management, email marketing and custom automation builds.

Same as Citation Engine, but we ship 8 priority page or evidence improvements every month and track up to 3 direct competitors. You get more delivery capacity and a clearer picture of where the market is moving ahead of you. It suits B2B brands with clear competitors and enough internal evidence to support a broader search and AI-answer programme. Six-month minimum.

What ships

• 8 priority pages or evidence assets shipped around agreed buyer questions.
• A broader answer-checking and competitor scope, with questions, providers, frequency, period and usage limits agreed before work starts. Competitor mentions within captured answers are distinct from separate provider requests.
• 15 to 25 technical AEO changes or developer-ready tickets per month.
• 1 signed monthly PDF, 1 mid-month strategy update and 1 monthly strategy session (call or async).

Included, in detail

• Everything in Citation Engine, with Atlas, Forge, Compass and Scribe running at a higher cadence.
• Higher delivery cadence. 8 substantial page builds, upgrades or evidence assets per month, prioritised by demand, proof gaps and competitor evidence.
• Technical AEO sprint. Monthly schema sprint across the whole site. Internal link graph rebuilt every month. Entity disambiguation pass. Platform-specific implementation route agreed before work starts.
• Competitor monitoring. Up to 3 named competitors tracked in parallel. Monthly competitor watch: where they are pulling ahead, where they are slipping, where the gap is open.
• Monthly strategy review. Active read of GA4, Search Console and the citation index. Mid-month update if anything material moves. Next month locked in writing.

Not included

Paid media, PR, social media management and custom automation builds (talk to Search Lab).

Same as AEO Stack, but with dedicated delivery capacity and scoped AI-assisted tools inside your own systems. Your in-house team can get dashboards, CMS automation, data-pipeline work or a scoped marketing agent once the technical route is agreed. You are buying capacity plus clear technical delivery, not an open-ended software build. It suits B2B brands with an in-house marketing or engineering team. Twelve-month minimum.

What ships

• A dedicated monthly backlog across pages, technical fixes, evidence and workflows.
• Expanded answer checking within an agreed question set, provider coverage, schedule and usage limit. Unavailable checks remain visible in the report.
• Continuous technical AEO and scoped bespoke workflow builds.
• 1 signed monthly PDF, weekly strategy access and a quarterly in-person working session (London) if useful.

Included, in detail

• Everything in AEO Stack, plus dedicated capacity. Your work moves to the front of the queue.
• Brand system hand-off. The Brand Alignment Profile becomes a reusable system for your in-house team: voice rules, claim rules, example prompts and editorial checks documented in writing.
• Dedicated delivery capacity. A larger monthly backlog across page builds, evidence assets, technical fixes and scoped workflows. Output is measured by completed buyer and search jobs, not word count.
• Bespoke workflow builds. Scoped tools built into your stack where access and platform limits allow: CMS, data pipelines, dashboards or CRM. Documented, maintained and transferred to you in writing on contract end.
• Client dashboard beta. Private dashboard for citation timelines, content health, shipped work and report archive. Introduced after the PDF reporting loop has produced clean source rows.
• Marketing agent add-on route. Distribution workflow for LinkedIn, newsletter, content repurposing and proof-led publishing can be scoped here as a paid add-on. Not a free public tool and not included in lower tiers.
• Weekly strategy access. Direct line to Thomas Howcroft on Slack or a shared channel. Reply within 4 hours during UK working days.
• On-site or off-site. Quarterly working sessions in person if useful (London or remote). Hand-off rituals, knowledge transfer and in-house team training.

Not included

Paid media, PR and full social media management outside a scoped marketing agent add-on.

Before anything is published, I build a working brand profile for your account so the content sounds like you, not like an AI tool. It captures how you want to sound, what you never want to say, which proof points are safe to use, and what a finished piece must pass before it goes live.

• Voice rules. Formal or blunt. Technical or simple. Founder-led or corporate.
• Proof points. Claims, examples, categories, client language and evidence are separated from guesses.
• Banned language. No filler, no off-brand phrases, no words your team hates, no generic agency polish.
• Approval loop. The first pieces are checked harder, then the profile gets sharper every month.

The method is platform-agnostic; the implementation is not guessed. WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Squarespace, Wix, HubSpot CMS, custom React, Next, Astro and headless builds all need the same AEO logic, but they do not expose it in the same way. The first technical sprint starts by identifying the stack and choosing the safest route.

• Universal layer. Crawl access, indexing, canonicals, useful internal links, accurate business facts and relevant structured data. llms.txt is optional documentation. Start with the free Schema Generator where markup fits the page.
• Platform route. Direct implementation where access is clean. Developer-ready tickets where the CMS, theme or app stack needs your team.
• No fake coverage. Platform limits are stated in the report before work starts.
• Search Lab only. Dashboards, CMS automations and deeper stack integration belong in Search Lab after scoped approval.

Month one establishes the baseline and begins the agreed page, technical and evidence backlog. The report records completed changes and what still needs checking. It does not promise a ranking or citation gain by a fixed date.

• Week 1, baseline. Agree the buyer questions, provider routes, checking schedule and limits. Record available answer observations alongside usable search data and a crawl. Build the Brand Alignment Profile from approved business facts, copy, proof points and sign-off rules.
• Week 2, foundation. Repair confirmed access, page and internal-link issues in priority order. Check relevant structured data against visible facts. Maintain optional llms.txt documentation only where useful.
• Week 3, first delivery. Improve a priority page or evidence asset using the agreed scope. Thomas reviews the work and records what changed before publication is authorised.
• Week 4, review and report. Complete the agreed first-month backlog and assemble the signed report for the next month's 1st delivery. Separate completed work, observed movement, unavailable evidence and the next priorities.

Citation share commitment. Measurable progress on your priority query set. If we cannot show movement at your first quarterly strategy review, you can cancel and walk away (the 6-month minimum is suspended for failure to deliver). A specific time-bound target will only be published once one full campaign cycle of TomHow brand data is documented. Before work starts, we agree the baseline, tracked questions, markets, provider access and observation metric used at that review. Brand mentions, linked citations and confirmed enquiries are recorded separately. A mention is not counted as a citation, and a contact click is not counted as an enquiry. This commitment does not guarantee leads, sales or revenue.

Audit credit-back. The GBP 2,250 paid audit fee credits back in full against your first month's retainer when you sign within 30 days. Net cost of testing fit: zero if you sign.

Honest cancel terms. Cancel any month after the minimum with 30 days written notice. No auto-renewal traps. No exit fees. If the work is not landing, the right move is to leave.

No surprises invoicing. Monthly invoice in advance. Same fee every month. Tools, sub-processors and API costs all bundled. No "expenses charged at cost" line items.

The retainer is not citation tracking alone. It covers the agreed page, technical and evidence backlog; measurement then shows what changed. Compare alternatives on the same scope, access and limits rather than adding unrelated headline rates together. External software and internal staff time remain separate choices.

You are not just choosing between TomHow tiers. You are choosing between five routes to the same outcome.

The fee covers the agreed page, technical and evidence work, plus senior review and reporting. Delivery records show what was completed. Repeated search and answer observations show what changed; they do not prove that one intervention caused the change. Confirmed enquiries and qualified opportunities need their own evidence.

An in-house route gives you dedicated ownership, but it also needs recruitment, management, tools and enough work for a permanent role. TomHow is the external option when you want senior operator ownership and a defined delivery scope without building that team first.

No. TomHow is async-first. Email tom@tomhow.co.uk with your website, the service you are considering and one buyer question you need the site to answer. Tom will reply in writing with whether the brief fits, what information is missing and the lowest-friction next step. If a call would genuinely resolve something that cannot be settled in writing, Tom will suggest one after reading the brief.

Senior solo operator. No account manager layer. I oversee every tier. Higher tiers buy more capacity and access, not a different standard of care. The workflow is structured and AI-assisted, with Thomas retaining review responsibility.

The implementation route depends on your stack and access. The review covers crawl access, indexing, canonicals, useful page content, internal links and accurate business facts. Structured data is used where it fits visible content; llms.txt is optional documentation. Where direct access is appropriate, I implement the agreed changes. Otherwise you receive developer-ready tickets.

Because visible pricing filters the wrong buyers out. This is not a cheap SEO retainer hiding behind a sales process. The price says who this is for: serious brands that want senior attention, measurable output and no agency theatre.

Some buyers now use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google before they shortlist a provider, but the scale varies by market. Traditional SEO is bundled in the retainer, so the work still supports ordinary search when an AI answer surface is not material for your buyers.

Yes. Citation Engine and AEO Stack: 6-month minimum, then cancel any month with 30 days written notice. Search Lab Retainer: 12-month minimum, then the same. No auto-renewal traps. No retention fees. If the work is not landing, the right move is to leave.

Yes. The beginner recovery route shows the checks behind the retainer: tracking, prompts, schema, internal links, reports and monthly evidence.