How to get cited by AI.
An AI assistant cites the pages it read to write its answer. Studies of millions of AI answers point to the same few things: pages it can read, that answer the question with evidence, that are recent, and that other sites back up.
4 findings, with their sources.
None of these is a guarantee. Each is a pattern measured across many answers, and the assistants change how they work.
Where each one finds its sources.
| Assistant | Where its sources come from | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Its own web search; few of its sources are Google's top results | 8% of its cited pages are in Google's top 10 (Ahrefs) |
| Perplexity | Its own search, the closest of the assistants to Google's results | 28.6% in Google's top 10 (Ahrefs); Reddit is its most cited site (Profound) |
| Google Gemini | Google Search, when grounding is on | Google-Extended decides whether it may use your pages (Google's page on Google-Extended) |
| Google AI Mode | Google Search, with several related searches per question | No special files needed; a page has to be in Google Search (Google's guide to AI features) |
| Google AI Overviews | Google Search | Brands mentioned on more sites appear more often (Ahrefs) |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing | Shares only 9.8% of its cited sites with AI Overviews (SE Ranking) |
| Claude | Its web search tool | Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User fetch the pages (Anthropic's page on its programs) |
The work that gets a page cited.
Readable
Let each assistant's search agent read your pages, and write the facts in the page's text, where an assistant can read them.
Answer first
A direct answer under each heading, then the detail, so the passage an assistant needs is easy to lift.
Evidence
Numbers, quotations and named sources. In the 2024 GEO study, that is what raised visibility; keyword stuffing did not.
Backed by others
Mentions on review sites, in the trade press and in forums. Off-site mentions were the strongest factor in Ahrefs' study.
Recent
Update the pages that matter and show the date. Assistants cited newer pages than Google's results did.
Measured
Check which questions cite you, on which assistant, and which page won when you lost.
See every page each answer cites.
Visibian asks 7 assistants your buyers' questions and keeps every answer with the pages it cited, so you see where you are cited, where a competitor is, and the sources each assistant trusts. Our GEO guide sets out the full method in 7 steps.
Asked before you ask.
How do I get cited by AI?
Make your pages readable to the assistants, answer the question at the top with evidence, keep the page current, and be mentioned on the sites the assistants read.
How do I get cited by ChatGPT?
Let OAI-SearchBot read your site and be named where ChatGPT looks. In Ahrefs' study, only 8% of the pages ChatGPT cited were in Google's top 10, so a Google position alone is not enough.
How do I get cited in Google's AI Overviews?
Be in Google Search with pages that answer the question, and be mentioned on other sites. Ahrefs found off-site brand mentions had the strongest link to AI Overview visibility. Visibian tracks Google AI Mode, not AI Overviews.
Do LLMs cite sources at random?
No, but they vary. The same question can cite different pages on different days and in different assistants, which is why one check is not enough.
See what AI tells your buyers about you.
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