GEO / AEO: How to get cited in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity

Search is changing. Where Google once decided who got 10 blue links, now ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity decide whose content gets quoted inside generated answers. The metric matters: 60–80% of an AI's response on a topic is composed of direct passage extractions from indexed sources. If your content isn't structured for extraction, you don't appear.

What AI engines actually look for

Research from Princeton & Georgia Tech (2024) tested over 100K queries against generative engines and found four consistent signals for citation:

• Length 134–167 words — long enough to be self-contained, short enough to fit a single response slot.
• Definition pattern — opens with "X is...", "X refers to...", or "X means...".
• Fact density — numbers, dates, named entities, statistics in the first two sentences.
• Self-contained — understandable without the surrounding article context.

Concrete fix recipe

Take any product or feature page. For each H2 section:

1. Rewrite the first paragraph to match the pattern: "[Term] is [definition]. [Concrete fact with number/date]. [Why it matters in one line]."
2. Keep that paragraph between 134 and 167 words. Tools like wc -w help.
3. Add at least one named entity (standard, study, vendor) and one quantitative fact per paragraph.
4. Avoid pronouns referring outside the paragraph — every "it" or "this" must resolve internally.

llms.txt and bot allowlists

Beyond content shape, AI crawlers need access. Add an llms.txt at root with curated entry points (similar to robots.txt but for LLM training/retrieval). Don't block GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, GoogleOther unless you have a specific legal reason — blocking equals invisibility in 2026.

Measuring it

You can't measure what you can't query. Run an Auditope GEO audit — it scores answer-block quality 0–100, counts definition patterns, computes fact density, and flags missing signals. Combined with manual ChatGPT/ Claude/Perplexity prompts ("how does X compare to Y?"), you get a clear picture of whether your content extracts cleanly.