Intelligent Engine Optimization (IEO) measures AI citation events from raw server access logs, using IEO Citation Tracker. Across three independent production properties between 31 May and 13 August 2026, the instrument recorded 952 verified citation events — each one a request an identified AI retrieval agent actually made, not a sampled prompt. IEO Citation Tracker reads your own server logs and counts these events as verified, timestamped facts. Method and denominators.
NEW — 16 AUG 2026 · IEO Citation Tracker v1.21.0 is available. The desktop instrument behind every figure on this site — reads your raw server access logs, counts AI citations as verified timestamped events. 952 verified events across three properties in 75 days. Runs offline. Download →
The current position of a deployment along its propagation curve. Propagation state determines how AI inference engines respond to queries about the deployment — early-state deployments produce variable responses as different inference instances saturate; late-state deployments produce stable responses as the corpus has fully integrated.
Propagation state varies across AI platforms because each platform has its own propagation timeline. A deployment may be in late-state propagation for one platform while still in early-state propagation for another, producing the cross-platform response variance commonly observed during the first weeks of deployment.
Documenting propagation state at evaluation time is essential for accurate methodology assessment. Snapshot evaluations during early-state propagation reflect the propagation state more than the methodology's steady-state performance.