How to get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews

A practical technical checklist for making your site accessible, understandable and quotable by AI search systems.

AI assistants answer questions by reading the web, or by reading a copy of it. If your pages cannot be reached, understood or trusted, they will not be cited. This is the checklist I work through, in order.

1. Let the right crawlers in

Check your robots.txt and any firewall or CDN bot rules. The main user agents to know are GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), PerplexityBot (Perplexity) and Google-Extended (a control token for Google’s AI products). Several vendors separate the crawler used for model training from the one used for search, so you can often allow search visibility while blocking training. Decide this on purpose instead of by accident.

2. Serve content as real HTML

Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript the way a browser does. If your headings, copy and links only appear after client-side rendering, they may be invisible. Use server-side or static rendering so the important content is in the first HTML response.

3. Make pages easy to quote

Assistants prefer passages that answer a question directly. Put the answer first, then the detail. Use clear headings that match how people ask, short paragraphs, and lists or tables where they genuinely help. Name things consistently: your brand, products and authors.

4. Add structured data that removes ambiguity

Organization, Product, Article, FAQPage and Person schema help systems understand who you are and what a page is about. Structured data does not guarantee a citation, but it reduces guesswork. Validate it and keep it consistent with the visible page.

5. Build entity signals

Consistent names, a clear About page, author pages, and profiles on trusted sites help systems connect your brand across the web. Third-party mentions matter, so earn them where your customers actually look.

6. Add llms.txt if you like, but do not rely on it

A short llms.txt that summarizes your site is harmless and easy. Treat it as a bonus, not a strategy.

7. Measure it

Track referral traffic from AI sources in GA4, check which of your pages get cited by asking the assistants your customers’ questions, and repeat monthly. Progress is easier to keep when it is measured.

Technical SEO still comes first: a page that cannot be crawled or indexed cannot be cited. If you want a review of where your site stands, get in touch.

FAQ

Does llms.txt guarantee AI citations?

No. llms.txt is a proposed convention and no major AI system has confirmed relying on it. It is cheap to add, but crawler access, clear content and structured data matter far more.

Do I need special markup for Google AI Overviews?

Google says there is no special markup required. Pages need to be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet, and be genuinely helpful.

Can I block AI training but still appear in AI search?

Often yes, because several vendors use separate crawlers for training and for search. Check each vendor's documentation and set robots.txt rules per user agent.

Related glossary terms

Generative engine optimization (GEO)