Answer engine optimization: how to get cited by ChatGPT
Answer engine optimization (AEO), also called generative engine optimization (GEO), is the work of getting your company named and cited in the answers AI assistants write. To get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI, your site needs clear pages that answer the exact questions your buyers ask.
- Best for
- B2B companies that want to know whether AI assistants put them on the shortlist.
- Price
- Plans from $1,500/mo, month to month, no lock-in
For many buyers, the nod from AI is the shortlist.
Buyers ask an assistant which tools or vendors to compare. It writes one answer, names a few companies and links its sources. Being one of them is getting the nod. AI visibility is whether you get it.
If the assistant does not name you, you are not on the list. Your analytics will not show the conversation you missed.
Assistants that search the web lean on the same pages Google ranks, so we work on both at once.
What we check
Four checks behind your nod rate.
Your nod rate is the share of the buyer questions we track where AI recommends or cites you. We answer four questions for each one. Answers change from one run to the next, so we ask each question more than once and report patterns, never a single screenshot.
-
Are you named?
Whether the answer mentions your company when buyers ask about your category.
-
How are you described?
What the assistant says you do, and whether that is accurate today.
-
Is your site a source?
Whether the answer links to your pages, or to someone else's.
-
Who is named instead?
Which other companies appear for the same question.
What earns a citation
How to get cited by ChatGPT and other assistants.
There is no trick and no switch to flip. Assistants cite pages that are easy to find, easy to read and worth quoting.
-
Be findable
Pages that search engines have indexed and that AI crawlers are allowed to read. An assistant cannot cite a page it cannot fetch.
-
Answer the exact question
A plain answer near the top of the page, in the words buyers use, before the detail.
-
Be specific enough to quote
Real product detail, honest comparisons and clear facts. Vague claims give an assistant nothing to repeat.
-
Measure it, then improve
The same buyer questions asked on a schedule, so you can see which pages get cited and which do not.
Google vs AI answers
Related, but measured differently.
| Aspect | Ranking on Google | Being cited in AI answers |
|---|---|---|
| What you win | A position in a list of links | A mention or a link inside a written answer |
| What your analytics show | Clicks and impressions | Only visits from a cited link, never the answer itself |
| How we measure it | Rank tracking for your keywords | The same questions asked repeatedly, compared with your starting point |
| What earns it | Useful pages search engines trust | Clear pages that answer the exact question asked |
FAQ
Questions about AEO and GEO
What is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of making your company part of the answer an AI assistant gives. It means publishing pages that state clear, specific answers to the questions buyers ask, so that assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini name you and cite your site as a source.
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is another name for the same work, used for search tools that generate a written answer instead of a list of links. AEO, GEO, AI SEO and AI search optimization all describe one goal: being named and cited in AI answers. We call the result AI visibility.
How do you get cited by ChatGPT?
When ChatGPT searches the web for a question, it cites pages it can find and quote. To get cited by ChatGPT, a page has to be indexed, answer the exact question in plain words near the top, and be specific enough to quote: real product detail, honest comparisons and clear facts. The same pages tend to help in Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers.
Nobody can guarantee a citation, so we measure it on a fixed set of prompts every month and show you what moved.
How do you measure AI visibility?
We work from live search and AI answer data. We agree a set of prompts with you that your buyers would plausibly ask, then run them on a schedule across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers. For each answer we record whether you are named, how you are described, which sources are cited and which other companies appear.
Answers change from one run to the next, so we run each prompt more than once and report patterns, not single screenshots.
What is a nod rate?
Your nod rate is the share of the buyer questions we track where an AI assistant recommends or cites your company. We call that recommendation the nod. We measure it on the same set of questions every month in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers, and compare it with your starting point.
Can you guarantee we will be cited?
No, and nobody honestly can. No one controls what an AI assistant says. What we can do is publish content that gives assistants clear, quotable answers, measure the result carefully and show you every month what moved and what did not.
Related pages
See which buyer questions give you the nod.
Run the free check: in about two minutes, see whether AI assistants recommend your company when buyers ask, and who they name instead.