Terms of Service

1. Agreement & who we are

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Clear Cited website, free resources (including the AI-visibility teardown), and our paid services. "Clear Cited" ("we", "us", "our") is a sole proprietorship based in Ontario, Canada. By using the site or engaging our services, you ("you", "Client") agree to these Terms. If you are using the services for an organization, you confirm you are authorized to bind that organization.

For a specific paid engagement we may also sign a separate written services agreement, order form, or proposal ("Engagement Agreement"). If anything in an Engagement Agreement conflicts with these Terms, the Engagement Agreement controls for that engagement.

2. The services & scope

We provide AI-search-visibility ("answer-engine optimization" / AEO) services, including: a free AI-visibility teardown; one-time audits offered at published tiers (currently US$500, US$2,000, and US$3,500); and done-for-you retainers (currently from US$1,500 per month). Exact scope, deliverables, and price for any engagement are those stated in your Engagement Agreement, proposal, or at checkout. Work is performed remotely and asynchronously ("async"). The free teardown and any articles or resources are provided for general information only.

No guaranteed outcomes. AI answer engines, search engines, and large language models are operated by third parties and change continuously and unpredictably; whether, when, and how any brand is surfaced, cited, ranked, or recommended is outside our control. Accordingly, we do not and cannot guarantee any particular ranking, citation, mention, visibility, traffic, lead, revenue, or other outcome. Our deliverables reflect point-in-time measurements and professional analysis and recommendations; they are not a promise of results.

3. Fees, billing & refunds

Fees are stated in US dollars unless otherwise agreed and are exclusive of any applicable taxes, which you are responsible for. Audits typically require a deposit to begin; retainers are billed monthly in advance. Payments are processed by Stripe; by paying, you also agree to Stripe's terms. Retainers continue until cancelled and may be cancelled at any time, effective at the end of the current paid month. Failed payments may be retried, and we may pause or suspend work for unpaid amounts. Refunds, deposits, the accuracy guarantee, and cancellation are governed by our Refunds & Cancellations policy, which forms part of these Terms.

4. Client responsibilities & acceptable use

You agree to provide accurate information and the access, materials, and timely responses we reasonably need to perform the work, and to have the rights to anything you give us. You are responsible for your own website, content, products, and business decisions, including whether and how to implement our recommendations.

You agree not to: misuse, disrupt, overload, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site or our systems; scrape or harvest the site at scale; reverse-engineer our tools or methods; use the services to publish unlawful, infringing, deceptive, or harmful content, or to manipulate platforms in violation of their terms; or use the services in violation of applicable law or sanctions/export controls. We may suspend or terminate access for breach of this section.

5. Intellectual property & license to deliverables

As between the parties, our pre-existing materials, methodologies, frameworks, know-how, software, tools, prompts, scoring systems, and templates (the "Clear Cited IP") remain our exclusive property, including any improvements to them. Upon full payment for an engagement, we grant you a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license to use the specific deliverables we produce for you (for example, the audit report and recommendations) for your internal business purposes. You may share and quote our public website content with attribution, but you may not republish it wholesale or resell our materials. We may use general, non-confidential learnings and anonymized, aggregated data to improve our services, and may reference that we worked with you unless you ask us not to.

6. Confidentiality

Each party may receive non-public information from the other that is marked or reasonably understood to be confidential ("Confidential Information"). The receiving party will use it only to perform under these Terms, protect it with reasonable care, and not disclose it to third parties except to its service providers or advisers who are bound to confidentiality, or as required by law (with notice where lawful). Confidential Information does not include information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiver, was already known, or is independently developed. We handle your data as described in our Privacy Policy.

7. Warranties & disclaimer

We will perform the services in a professional and workmanlike manner. Except for that express commitment, the site, free resources, and services are provided "as is" and "as available", and we disclaim all other warranties, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty regarding results, accuracy of third-party data, or the behaviour of AI/search engines, to the maximum extent permitted by law.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunities, arising out of or relating to the site, the services, or these Terms, even if advised of the possibility. Our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to an engagement will not exceed the fees you actually paid us for that engagement in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim (or, for use of the free resources, CA$100). Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law (such as for fraud, or death or personal injury caused by negligence).

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Clear Cited from third-party claims, damages, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your content or materials, your use of the deliverables, or your violation of law or third-party rights. We will give you prompt notice of any such claim and reasonable cooperation in its defence.

10. Term & termination

These Terms apply while you use the site or services. Either party may terminate an engagement as set out in the Engagement Agreement and our Refunds & Cancellations policy — retainers may be cancelled effective at the end of the current paid month. We may suspend or terminate access immediately for breach, non-payment, or to comply with law. On termination, you will pay for work performed up to the effective date, we will deliver in-progress work and export your data where applicable, and the sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive (including IP, confidentiality, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, and governing law) will survive.

11. Governing law & dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The parties will first try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally by contacting hello@clearcited.com. If unresolved, the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Ontario, Canada, and waive any objection to that venue, except that either party may seek injunctive relief to protect its IP or Confidential Information in any court of competent jurisdiction. Any claim must be brought within one (1) year after it arises, to the extent permitted by law.

12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date above, and material changes take effect on posting. Your continued use of the site or services after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

13. General & entire agreement

These Terms, together with any Engagement Agreement, our Refunds & Cancellations policy, and our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Clear Cited regarding their subject matter and supersede prior discussions. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control (force majeure). Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship.

14. Contact

hello@clearcited.com · Clear Cited, 570 Hood Road, Unit 14, #1584, Markham, ON L3R 4G7, Canada. See also our Privacy Policy, Refunds & Cancellations, and Data Deletion Instructions.