AEO and GEO: How to Get Cited by AI Search

What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?

The three overlap heavily. AI search tools often retrieve candidate pages from a search index and then summarise them, so a page that is invisible to search is usually invisible to AI answers too. AEO and GEO add an emphasis on extractable answers, unambiguous facts and demonstrated expertise.

How do AI assistants choose which websites to cite?

Providers do not publish exact ranking rules, but the retrieval process is broadly understood. When an assistant searches the web, it sends one or more queries to a search index, fetches some of the results, extracts passages relevant to the question and writes an answer, often linking the pages it used.

• Retrievability: the page must be indexed and fetchable without JavaScript, logins or blocking rules.
• Relevance: a passage must answer the specific question, not just mention the topic.
• Extractability: short, self-contained paragraphs, lists and tables are easier to quote accurately.
• Trust: clear authorship, dates, consistent facts and references to real experience make a source safer to cite.

How should I write content for answer engines?

Write headings as the questions people actually ask, then answer in the first sentence beneath them. The answer should make sense on its own if it were quoted without the rest of the page. Follow it with detail, examples and caveats.

1. Start the page with a summary that answers the main question in about 50 words.
2. Use question-led H2 headings, one idea per section.
3. Define terms explicitly: 'X is…' sentences are easy for models to extract.
4. Use tables for comparisons and numbered lists for processes.
5. Add a visible FAQ for follow-up questions, and mark it up with FAQPage schema.
6. Show the author, their relevant experience, and when the page was published and updated.

Why do consistent business facts matter for AI search?

Language models answer questions about your company by combining what they find across many sources. If your website, social profiles and directory listings describe your services, founders or location differently, answers become vague or wrong. Publish one clear description and reuse it.

• Add Organization JSON-LD with your legal name, logo, URL, founders and contact point.
• Use sameAs to link your official profiles, such as LinkedIn and your Google Business Profile.
• Write an About page that states plainly what you do, for whom, and who is behind it.
• Keep service names identical across navigation, page titles and structured data.

Should I allow AI crawlers in robots.txt?

If you want to appear in AI answers, allow the crawlers that power them. Most providers separate crawlers used for model training from those used for search and user-requested fetches, so you can make different choices for each.

User agents and policies change, so check each provider's documentation before relying on this list. Robots rules are voluntary; they are respected by reputable crawlers but are not access control.

What is llms.txt and do I need one?

llms.txt is a proposed convention: a Markdown file at /llms.txt that summarises a site and links to its most useful pages, written for language models rather than browsers. It is cheap to add and helps tools that do read it, but it is not an official standard and major providers have not confirmed they use it for ranking or citation.

# Example Co

> Example Co builds web and mobile apps and provides IT recruitment.

## Services
- [Web development](https://example.com/services/web-development): Next.js and WordPress sites
- [IT recruitment](https://example.com/services/it-recruitment): developers and DevOps hiring

Treat llms.txt as a helpful extra, not a replacement for crawlable pages, a sitemap and structured data. We publish one at /llms.txt.

How can I measure AI search visibility?

• Watch referral traffic from domains such as chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in your analytics.
• Check server logs for AI crawler user agents to confirm your pages are being fetched.
• Regularly ask assistants the questions your customers ask and note whether, and how, you are cited.
• Track inquiries that mention finding you through an AI assistant.

Expect variation: the same question can produce different answers and sources on different days. Look for trends over time rather than single results.

Frequently asked questions