Before Starting
Check for product marketing context first: If.agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
1. Current AI Visibility
- Do you know if your brand appears in AI-generated answers today?
- Have you checked ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews for your key queries?
- What queries matter most to your business?
2. Content & Domain
- What type of content do you produce? (Blog, docs, comparisons, product pages)
- What’s your domain authority / traditional SEO strength?
- Do you have existing structured data (schema markup)?
3. Goals
- Get cited as a source in AI answers?
- Appear in Google AI Overviews for specific queries?
- Compete with specific brands already getting cited?
- Optimize existing content or create new AI-optimized content?
4. Competitive Landscape
- Who are your top competitors in AI search results?
- Are they being cited where you’re not?
How AI Search Works
The AI Search Landscape
| Platform | How It Works | Source Selection |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | Summarizes top-ranking pages | Strong correlation with traditional rankings |
| ChatGPT (with search) | Searches web, cites sources | Draws from wider range, not just top-ranked |
| Perplexity | Always cites sources with links | Favors authoritative, recent, well-structured content |
| Gemini | Google’s AI assistant | Pulls from Google index + Knowledge Graph |
| Copilot | Bing-powered AI search | Bing index + authoritative sources |
| Claude | Brave Search (when enabled) | Training data + Brave search results |
Key Difference from Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO gets you ranked. AI SEO gets you cited. In traditional search, you need to rank on page 1. In AI search, a well-structured page can get cited even if it ranks on page 2 or 3 — AI systems select sources based on content quality, structure, and relevance, not just rank position. Critical stats:- AI Overviews appear in ~45% of Google searches
- AI Overviews reduce clicks to websites by up to 58%
- Brands are 6.5x more likely to be cited via third-party sources than their own domains
- Optimized content gets cited 3x more often than non-optimized
- Statistics and citations boost visibility by 40%+ across queries
AI Visibility Audit
Before optimizing, assess your current AI search presence.Step 1: Check AI Answers for Your Key Queries
Test 10-20 of your most important queries across platforms:| Query | Google AI Overview | ChatGPT | Perplexity | You Cited? | Competitors Cited? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [query 1] | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | [who] |
| [query 2] | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | Yes/No | [who] |
- “What is [your product category]?”
- “Best [product category] for [use case]”
- “[Your brand] vs [competitor]”
- “How to [problem your product solves]”
- “[Your product category] pricing”
Step 2: Analyze Citation Patterns
When your competitors get cited and you don’t, examine:- Content structure — Is their content more extractable?
- Authority signals — Do they have more citations, stats, expert quotes?
- Freshness — Is their content more recently updated?
- Schema markup — Do they have structured data you’re missing?
- Third-party presence — Are they cited via Wikipedia, Reddit, review sites?
Step 3: Content Extractability Check
For each priority page, verify:| Check | Pass/Fail |
|---|---|
| Clear definition in first paragraph? | |
| Self-contained answer blocks (work without surrounding context)? | |
| Statistics with sources cited? | |
| Comparison tables for “[X] vs [Y]” queries? | |
| FAQ section with natural-language questions? | |
| Schema markup (FAQ, HowTo, Article, Product)? | |
| Expert attribution (author name, credentials)? | |
| Recently updated (within 6 months)? | |
| Heading structure matches query patterns? | |
| AI bots allowed in robots.txt? |
Step 4: AI Bot Access Check
Verify your robots.txt allows AI crawlers. Each AI platform has its own bot, and blocking it means that platform can’t cite you:- GPTBot and ChatGPT-User — OpenAI (ChatGPT)
- PerplexityBot — Perplexity
- ClaudeBot and anthropic-ai — Anthropic (Claude)
- Google-Extended — Google Gemini and AI Overviews
- Bingbot — Microsoft Copilot (via Bing)
Disallow rules targeting any of these. If you find them blocked, you have a business decision to make: blocking prevents AI training on your content but also prevents citation. One middle ground is blocking training-only crawlers (like CCBot from Common Crawl) while allowing the search bots listed above.
See references/platform-ranking-factors.md for the full robots.txt configuration.
Optimization Strategy
The Three Pillars
Pillar 1: Structure — Make Content Extractable
AI systems extract passages, not pages. Every key claim should work as a standalone statement. Content block patterns:- Definition blocks for “What is X?” queries
- Step-by-step blocks for “How to X” queries
- Comparison tables for “X vs Y” queries
- Pros/cons blocks for evaluation queries
- FAQ blocks for common questions
- Statistic blocks with cited sources
- Lead every section with a direct answer (don’t bury it)
- Keep key answer passages to 40-60 words (optimal for snippet extraction)
- Use H2/H3 headings that match how people phrase queries
- Tables beat prose for comparison content
- Numbered lists beat paragraphs for process content
- Each paragraph should convey one clear idea
Pillar 2: Authority — Make Content Citable
AI systems prefer sources they can trust. Build citation-worthiness. The Princeton GEO research (KDD 2024, studied across Perplexity.ai) ranked 9 optimization methods:| Method | Visibility Boost | How to Apply |
|---|---|---|
| Cite sources | +40% | Add authoritative references with links |
| Add statistics | +37% | Include specific numbers with sources |
| Add quotations | +30% | Expert quotes with name and title |
| Authoritative tone | +25% | Write with demonstrated expertise |
| Improve clarity | +20% | Simplify complex concepts |
| Technical terms | +18% | Use domain-specific terminology |
| Unique vocabulary | +15% | Increase word diversity |
| Fluency optimization | +15-30% | Improve readability and flow |
| -10% | Actively hurts AI visibility |
- Include specific numbers with sources
- Cite original research, not summaries of research
- Add dates to all statistics
- Original data beats aggregated data
- Named authors with credentials
- Expert quotes with titles and organizations
- “According to [Source]” framing for claims
- Author bios with relevant expertise
- “Last updated: [date]” prominently displayed
- Regular content refreshes (quarterly minimum for competitive topics)
- Current year references and recent statistics
- Remove or update outdated information
- First-hand experience demonstrated
- Specific, detailed information (not generic)
- Transparent sourcing and methodology
- Clear author expertise for the topic
Pillar 3: Presence — Be Where AI Looks
AI systems don’t just cite your website — they cite where you appear. Third-party sources matter more than your own site:- Wikipedia mentions (7.8% of all ChatGPT citations)
- Reddit discussions (1.8% of ChatGPT citations)
- Industry publications and guest posts
- Review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius for B2B SaaS)
- YouTube (frequently cited by Google AI Overviews)
- Quora answers
- Ensure your Wikipedia page is accurate and current
- Participate authentically in Reddit communities
- Get featured in industry roundups and comparison articles
- Maintain updated profiles on relevant review platforms
- Create YouTube content for key how-to queries
- Answer relevant Quora questions with depth
Schema Markup for AI
Structured data helps AI systems understand your content. Key schemas:| Content Type | Schema | Why It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Articles/Blog posts | Article, BlogPosting | Author, date, topic identification |
| How-to content | HowTo | Step extraction for process queries |
| FAQs | FAQPage | Direct Q&A extraction |
| Products | Product | Pricing, features, reviews |
| Comparisons | ItemList | Structured comparison data |
| Reviews | Review, AggregateRating | Trust signals |
| Organization | Organization | Entity recognition |
Content Types That Get Cited Most
Not all content is equally citable. Prioritize these formats:| Content Type | Citation Share | Why AI Cites It |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison articles | ~33% | Structured, balanced, high-intent |
| Definitive guides | ~15% | Comprehensive, authoritative |
| Original research/data | ~12% | Unique, citable statistics |
| Best-of/listicles | ~10% | Clear structure, entity-rich |
| Product pages | ~10% | Specific details AI can extract |
| How-to guides | ~8% | Step-by-step structure |
| Opinion/analysis | ~10% | Expert perspective, quotable |
- Generic blog posts without structure
- Thin product pages with marketing fluff
- Gated content (AI can’t access it)
- Content without dates or author attribution
- PDF-only content (harder for AI to parse)
Monitoring AI Visibility
What to Track
| Metric | What It Measures | How to Check |
|---|---|---|
| AI Overview presence | Do AI Overviews appear for your queries? | Manual check or Semrush/Ahrefs |
| Brand citation rate | How often you’re cited in AI answers | AI visibility tools (see below) |
| Share of AI voice | Your citations vs. competitors | Peec AI, Otterly, ZipTie |
| Citation sentiment | How AI describes your brand | Manual review + monitoring tools |
| Source attribution | Which of your pages get cited | Track referral traffic from AI sources |
AI Visibility Monitoring Tools
| Tool | Coverage | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Otterly AI | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews | Share of AI voice tracking |
| Peec AI | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot+ | Multi-platform monitoring at scale |
| ZipTie | Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity | Brand mention + sentiment tracking |
| LLMrefs | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini | SEO keyword → AI visibility mapping |
DIY Monitoring (No Tools)
Monthly manual check:- Pick your top 20 queries
- Run each through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google
- Record: Are you cited? Who is? What page?
- Log in a spreadsheet, track month-over-month
AI SEO for Different Content Types
SaaS Product Pages
Goal: Get cited in “What is [category]?” and “Best [category]” queries. Optimize:- Clear product description in first paragraph (what it does, who it’s for)
- Feature comparison tables (you vs. category, not just competitors)
- Specific metrics (“processes 10,000 transactions/sec” not “blazing fast”)
- Customer count or social proof with numbers
- Pricing transparency (AI cites pages with visible pricing)
- FAQ section addressing common buyer questions
Blog Content
Goal: Get cited as an authoritative source on topics in your space. Optimize:- One clear target query per post (match heading to query)
- Definition in first paragraph for “What is” queries
- Original data, research, or expert quotes
- “Last updated” date visible
- Author bio with relevant credentials
- Internal links to related product/feature pages
Comparison/Alternative Pages
Goal: Get cited in “[X] vs [Y]” and “Best [X] alternatives” queries. Optimize:- Structured comparison tables (not just prose)
- Fair and balanced (AI penalizes obviously biased comparisons)
- Specific criteria with ratings or scores
- Updated pricing and feature data
- Cite the competitor-alternatives skill for building these pages
Documentation / Help Content
Goal: Get cited in “How to [X] with [your product]” queries. Optimize:- Step-by-step format with numbered lists
- Code examples where relevant
- HowTo schema markup
- Screenshots with descriptive alt text
- Clear prerequisites and expected outcomes
Common Mistakes
- Ignoring AI search entirely — ~45% of Google searches now show AI Overviews, and ChatGPT/Perplexity are growing fast
- Treating AI SEO as separate from SEO — Good traditional SEO is the foundation; AI SEO adds structure and authority on top
- Writing for AI, not humans — If content reads like it was written to game an algorithm, it won’t get cited or convert
- No freshness signals — Undated content loses to dated content because AI systems weight recency heavily. Show when content was last updated
- Gating all content — AI can’t access gated content. Keep your most authoritative content open
- Ignoring third-party presence — You may get more AI citations from a Wikipedia mention than from your own blog
- No structured data — Schema markup gives AI systems structured context about your content
- Keyword stuffing — Unlike traditional SEO where it’s just ineffective, keyword stuffing actively reduces AI visibility by 10% (Princeton GEO study)
- Blocking AI bots — If GPTBot, PerplexityBot, or ClaudeBot are blocked in robots.txt, those platforms can’t cite you
- Generic content without data — “We’re the best” won’t get cited. “Our customers see 3x improvement in [metric]” will
- Forgetting to monitor — You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Check AI visibility monthly at minimum
Tool Integrations
For implementation, see the tools registry.| Tool | Use For |
|---|---|
semrush | AI Overview tracking, keyword research, content gap analysis |
ahrefs | Backlink analysis, content explorer, AI Overview data |
gsc | Search Console performance data, query tracking |
ga4 | Referral traffic from AI sources |
Task-Specific Questions
- What are your top 10-20 most important queries?
- Have you checked if AI answers exist for those queries today?
- Do you have structured data (schema markup) on your site?
- What content types do you publish? (Blog, docs, comparisons, etc.)
- Are competitors being cited by AI where you’re not?
- Do you have a Wikipedia page or presence on review sites?
Related Skills
- seo-audit: For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits
- schema-markup: For implementing structured data that helps AI understand your content
- content-strategy: For planning what content to create
- competitor-alternatives: For building comparison pages that get cited
- programmatic-seo: For building SEO pages at scale
- copywriting: For writing content that’s both human-readable and AI-extractable