GEO AUDIT  ·  BRAND-ONLY

Control Plane.

A look at how Control Plane is described, positioned, and quoted inside Google's AI Overviews, the AI answer box at the top of search results, and where the brand shows up versus goes missing.

Sitecontrolplane.com
Where we lookedGoogle AI Overviews, US
Questions tested39 brand, category, and competitor queries
PreparedJune 29, 2026  ·  by AUQ
AI Visibility Score
29
out of 100. Low band. Control Plane is cited in 3 of 38 AI answers. It shows up on Control Plane. It is absent on Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.
Verified AI Overview citations
3
Control Plane's brand is cited in 3 of the 38 AI-answer queries we tested.
AI answer trigger rate
97%
Google's AI answer box fires on 38 of 39 tracked queries.
Citation rate when AI answers
8%
Share of AI-answer queries where the brand is actually quoted.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Control Plane scores 29 of 100 for AI Overview visibility. The work is closing the citation and identity gaps.

Control Plane is cited in 3 of 38 AI answers. It shows up on Control Plane. It is absent on Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.

AI answers fire on 97% of tracked queries, yet Control Plane is quoted in only 8% of them. When it does appear, it sits as a listed provider, rarely the lead source.

AI Visibility Score
29
Low band
BarelyLowCompetitiveDominant
What's in the score
  • How often AI answers appear97 / 100
  • Inclusion in category answers39 / 100
  • Quality of placement when cited50 / 100
  • How AI describes the brand67 / 100
  • Topic coverage breadth17 / 100
  • Your pages being quoted8 / 100
Work with AUQ

We don't hand you a report and walk away. We execute it.

AUQ is an execution team, not a consultancy. We ship the fixes, content, and citations this audit calls for — and we work month-to-month, so we re-earn the engagement every 30 days.

Start with a month → No long-term contracts
CONTENT AND ENTITY COVERAGE

The topics that matter to the brand, and where it shows up in AI answers today.

See the full query-by-query breakdown →

TopicPresence in AI answersBuyer intent
Control PlaneOwnedcomparison
Container OrchestrationPartialpositioning
Multi-Cloud ManagementInvisiblepositioning
Kubernetes ManagementInvisiblepositioning
Cloud Cost OptimizationInvisiblepositioning
Platform EngineeringInvisiblepositioning
Buyer-journey coverage

Problem Aware. overview queries: Control Plane appears on 1 of 6 themes.

Solution Aware. Owned on Control Plane; absent on Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.

Alternatives. 12 themes name the brand without citing it; 23 queries answer without it at all.

AI OVERVIEW PERFORMANCE

Where the brand shows up in Google's AI, and the high-value queries it is missing.

See all queries we tested →

Tracked keywords
39
Brand, category, and comparison queries analyzed.
AI answers fired
38
97% of tracked queries trigger an AI Overview.
Times brand cited
3
8% citation rate when AI answers.
Total brand mentions
15
Across all observed AI responses.
Case Studies

This playbook has already worked. Here's the proof.

Executed by AUQ for B2B SaaS teams with the same gaps this audit found.

1,000+ Fraud.net AI citations earned in 6 months through GEO prompt research and content automation. Read the case study → +173% Microblink Organic traffic growth from technical SEO, content automation, and GEO-focused linkbuilding. Read the case study → +30,000 AKOOL Visits in 6 months via technical optimizations and content strategy we executed end-to-end. Read the case study → +200% DeepInfra Technical blog traffic growth from a blog redesign, author training, and SaaS linkbuilding. Read the case study →
Get results like these for Control Plane → See all case studies
QUERIES WE TESTED

Every query we ran against Google's AI Overview, and what we found.

39 queries across branded, positioning, and comparison intent. "Cited" means Control Plane's own domain is a source in the AI answer. "Named, not cited" means the brand is mentioned but is not the source. "Absent" means the AI answered without it.

QueryTypeControl Plane in the AI answerTop sources cited
best multi-cloud managementPositioningAbsentsedai.io, mirantis.com, eon.io
multi-cloud management vendorsPositioningAbsentnops.io, sedai.io, northflank.com
multi-cloud management solutionsPositioningAbsentsedai.io, northflank.com, cloudflare.com
multi-cloud management softwarePositioningNo AI answer
multi-cloud management platformPositioningAbsentsedai.io, nops.io, mirantis.com
top multi-cloud management providersPositioningAbsentsedai.io, northflank.com, eon.io
multi-cloud management comparisonPositioningAbsenteon.io, stackgen.com, gartner.com
best container orchestrationPositioningNamed, not citedportainer.io, domo.com, wiz.io
container orchestration vendorsPositioningNamed, not citedsysdig.com, portainer.io, suse.com
container orchestration solutionsPositioningNamed, not citedportainer.io, redhat.com, aws.amazon.com
container orchestration softwarePositioningNamed, not citedportainer.io, redhat.com, wiz.io
container orchestration platformPositioningNamed, not citedportainer.io, cloud.google.com, ibm.com
top container orchestration providersPositioningNamed, not citedportainer.io, domo.com, ibm.com
container orchestration comparisonPositioningAbsentopenmetal.io, portainer.io, wiz.io
best kubernetes managementPositioningNamed, not citedyoutube.com, octopus.com, portainer.io
kubernetes management vendorsPositioningAbsentrancher.com, rafay.co, portainer.io
kubernetes management solutionsPositioningAbsentoctopus.com, mirantis.com, rafay.co
kubernetes management softwarePositioningAbsentoctopus.com, mirantis.com, rancher.com
kubernetes management platformPositioningAbsentoctopus.com, rancher.com, mirantis.com
top kubernetes management providersPositioningNamed, not citedreddit.com, mirantis.com, octopus.com
kubernetes management comparisonPositioningAbsentyoutube.com, medium.com, sedai.io
best cloud cost optimizationPositioningAbsentusage.ai, flexential.com, costimizer.ai
cloud cost optimization vendorsPositioningAbsentcloudchipr.com, cloudzero.com, finout.io
cloud cost optimization solutionsPositioningAbsentwiz.io, flexera.com, youtube.com
cloud cost optimization softwarePositioningAbsentgartner.com, usage.ai, flexera.com
cloud cost optimization platformPositioningAbsentgartner.com, usage.ai, youtube.com
top cloud cost optimization providersPositioningAbsentusage.ai, nops.io, cloudaware.com
cloud cost optimization comparisonPositioningAbsentcast.ai, usage.ai, pointfive.co
best platform engineeringPositioningNamed, not citedyoutube.com, octopus.com, mirantis.com
platform engineering vendorsPositioningAbsentjellyfish.co, redhat.com, cdw.com
platform engineering solutionsPositioningAbsentdynatrace.com, platformengineering.org, qovery.com
platform engineering softwarePositioningNamed, not citedplatformengineering.org, learn.microsoft.com, redhat.com
platform engineering platformPositioningAbsentlearn.microsoft.com, humanitec.com, cloud.google.com
top platform engineering providersPositioningNamed, not citedplatformengineering.org, octopus.com, bunnyshell.com
platform engineering comparisonPositioningAbsentyoutube.com, cloud.google.com, redhat.com
alternatives to Control PlaneComparisonCitedreddit.com, softwareadvice.co.uk, konghq.com
Control Plane vs RenderComparisonNamed, not citedgithub.com, spectrocloud.com, konghq.com
Control Plane vs NorthflankComparisonCitednorthflank.com, docs.controlplane.com, controlplane.com
Control Plane vs QoveryComparisonCitedqovery.com, youtube.com, controlplane.com
THREE FINDINGS THAT MATTER
01

The brand is missing from 92% of AI-answer queries

Control Plane is cited in 3 of the 38 AI answers we triggered.

02

AI misreads the category

Control Plane presents as multi-cloud management, container orchestration, Kubernetes management, cloud cost optimization, platform engineering. AI Overviews cite it on Control Plane and it is absent on Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.

TOP THREE MOVES
01

Win presence on Multi-Cloud Management

Impact high · effort medium · 30 to 60 days

02

Convert named-not-cited queries into citations

Impact medium · effort low · 0 to 30 days

03

Earn placement in the third-party listicles AI cites

Impact high · effort medium · 30 to 90 days

IDENTITY IN AI OVERVIEWS

How the brand describes itself, and how Google's AI describes it.

What the brand says about itself

Multi-Cloud Management

Virtual cloud platform for scaling software without limits TM Solutions Your code runs anywhere Minimize compute spend Mix any AWS, GCP, Azure services Developer self-service Best-in-class observability Military-grade security Instant complcontrolplane.com, 2026

Differentiators it leads with: Global Virtual Cloud, Capacity AI, Multi-Cloud Management, Container Orchestration.

What Google's AI says

Recognized in AI answers for Control Plane

Cited as a provider on Control Plane queries.
Appears alongside reddit.com, youtube.com, northflank.com.
The core gap
Control Plane presents as multi-cloud management, container orchestration, Kubernetes management, cloud cost optimization, platform engineering. AI Overviews cite it on Control Plane and it is absent on Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.
Words AI uses for the brand
Control Plane
The brand's own pillars that AI omits
Multi-Cloud ManagementKubernetes ManagementCloud Cost OptimizationCited source on vendor and comparison queries
WHERE GOOGLE'S AI GETS ITS ANSWERS

The sources Google's AI cites in this category, and what it tells you about earning citations.

Domain AI citesPagesContext
reddit.com24Cited on 24 of the queries we tested.
youtube.com18Cited on 18 of the queries we tested.
northflank.com17Cited on 17 of the queries we tested.
mirantis.com16Cited on 16 of the queries we tested.
portainer.io13Cited on 13 of the queries we tested.
redhat.com12Cited on 12 of the queries we tested.
nops.io11Cited on 11 of the queries we tested.
medium.com11Cited on 11 of the queries we tested.
octopus.com11Cited on 11 of the queries we tested.
sedai.io9Cited on 9 of the queries we tested.
Reading
Independent listicles, communities, and rival explainers win the citations Control Plane is missing. Earning AI citation on the invisible themes means placement on those third-party pages, not only owning its own glossary.
AI-REVEALED PEERS

The competitive set drawn by Google's AI itself. Observed, not chosen.

See which queries each peer won →

Brands and domains Google's AI cites in place of Control Plane on the queries where it is absent. Observed, not chosen.

PeerHow AI frames it
reddit.comCited on 24 of the tested queries.
youtube.comCited on 18 of the tested queries.
northflank.comCited on 17 of the tested queries.
mirantis.comCited on 16 of the tested queries.
portainer.ioCited on 13 of the tested queries.
redhat.comCited on 12 of the tested queries.
nops.ioCited on 11 of the tested queries.
medium.comCited on 11 of the tested queries.
Key observation
reddit.com is the most-cited source across the queries Control Plane is missing.
90-DAY ROADMAP

Three sprints from first wins to compounding category presence.

Month 1  ·  Days 1 to 30
  • Publish solution and comparison pages for Multi-Cloud Management, Kubernetes Management, Cloud Cost Optimization.
  • Build linkable comparison assets so AI Overviews can cite the brand's own domain.
Month 2  ·  Days 31 to 60
  • Earn placement in third-party best-of listicles and review sites the AI cites.
  • Seed community and review presence where AI Overviews pull trust signals.
Month 3  ·  Days 61 to 90
  • Expand owned comparison content across decision-stage queries.
  • Re-audit to confirm invisible themes move to cited and track citation share.