Which Things Are Actually Working for AIO, AEO & GEO Citations in LLMs?

iazeemsays

iazeemsays

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I’ve been researching AI search optimization lately including AIO (AI Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) & GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

I’m curious what tactics people here are actually using to get cited or mentioned inside LLMs, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, etc.

Are you focusing on:

  • branded mentions?
  • entity building?
  • topical authority?
  • PR links?
  • schema?
  • Reddit/forum mentions?
  • semantic SEO?
  • high-authority citations?
  • UGC signals?
  • knowledge graph optimization?
Would love to hear real-world experiences, tests, failures, or strategies that are currently moving the needle because traditional SEO alone doesn’t seem enough anymore.
 
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Thanks for the reply @tiiberius & I agree with your point of view. Mostly new bies are confused with the new terms which are coming up daily & they get confused. I still believe in old school SEO still works. Thanks for the input.
 
from what i’ve noticed structured content and strong topical authority are helping the most right now.
mentions on trusted websites and consistent brand signals also seem to improve visibility in LLM results.
clear answers and well organized content matter more than keyword stuffing.


iazeemsays said:
I’ve been researching AI search optimization lately including AIO (AI Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) & GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

I’m curious what tactics people here are actually using to get cited or mentioned inside LLMs, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, etc.

Are you focusing on:

  • branded mentions?
  • entity building?
  • topical authority?
  • PR links?
  • schema?
  • Reddit/forum mentions?
  • semantic SEO?
  • high-authority citations?
  • UGC signals?
  • knowledge graph optimization?
Would love to hear real-world experiences, tests, failures, or strategies that are currently moving the needle because traditional SEO alone doesn’t seem enough anymore.
Click to expand...
 
parasite seo and info based content and its distribution is making a huge difference.
 
Optimizing for AI is the new game, and the strategies that work are based on common sense, what matters most to AI when citing your content is its deep quality, generative search engines reward well structured content that cites reliable sources and is coherent in its argumentation, pages that AI digests best tend to be longer and contain extractable evidence such as definitions, data, and step by step instructions.

Another thing that performs incredibly well is a clear structure and structured data, AI reads your page's code, so using outlines like FAQs or articles helps the bot understand what you're talking about without guessing, it's like putting up a giant sign for the AI that says, here's the answer, having an identifiable author with clear credentials and dates also provides trust signals that models use to decide whether or not to cite you.

External validation is becoming more important than ever, brand mentions in media outlets, forums, or reddit act as a seal of approval for AI, if you're the only one claiming to be the best, and no one else mentions it, the system considers you high risk, the strategy is to combine good technical content with an active web presence so that the AI has ample evidence that you're a reliable source.
 
AI search is no longer just about rankings it’s about building trust and strong entity signals across the web.What’s working best now is topical authority, branded mentions, Reddit/forum visibility, and high-authority PR citations.Schema, semantic SEO, and consistent knowledge graph signals also help AI systems understand and mention your brand.
Sites publishing generic AI content without real authority may rank on Google, but rarely get cited inside LLMs or AI Overviews.
 
iazeemsays said:
I’ve been researching AI search optimization lately including AIO (AI Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) & GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

I’m curious what tactics people here are actually using to get cited or mentioned inside LLMs, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, etc.

Are you focusing on:

  • branded mentions?
  • entity building?
  • topical authority?
  • PR links?
  • schema?
  • Reddit/forum mentions?
  • semantic SEO?
  • high-authority citations?
  • UGC signals?
  • knowledge graph optimization?
Would love to hear real-world experiences, tests, failures, or strategies that are currently moving the needle because traditional SEO alone doesn’t seem enough anymore.
Click to expand...
Honestly I’ve been testing and reading around this too and it feels like it’s not just one thing that’s working.


From what I’m seeing so far, it’s more like a mix of signals:


  • Branded mentions seem to matter a lot (not just links, even plain text mentions across Reddit/forums/blogs)
  • Topical authority definitely plays a role — sites going deep in one niche are getting picked up more in AI answers
  • PR/editorial links still help, especially when the brand is mentioned naturally in context
  • Reddit + forum discussions are showing up more and more in AI responses
  • Entity consistency across the web (same brand description everywhere) seems important
  • Semantic SEO / covering full topics instead of just keywords still feels like a base requirement
  • Schema helps but I’d say it’s more “supporting” than a game changer on its own

What doesn’t seem to work anymore (at least alone) is just pushing generic backlinks without context or relevance.


Overall it feels less like traditional SEO and more like “building an entity that the systems trust and understand.”


Still early though — would be interesting to hear what others are actually seeing in live tests.
 
Traditional keyword density is completely dead for LLMs; everything now revolves around Entity Building and Semantic Alignment. Models like ChatGPT and Gemini rely heavily on the Knowledge Graph. To get cited, you need to structure your content using natural language that directly answers complex queries in a 'claim-and-proof' format. Implementing advanced Schema markup (like Product, Organization, and SameAs tags) explicitly connects your brand to trusted entities that LLMs already recognize. If your site isn't mathematically mapped as an authority within its entity node, generative engines will simply ignore your data.
 
Original data, branded mentions, niche authority, and getting cited on trusted sites/forums seem to move the needle most for AIO, AEO & GEO visibility in LLMs right now.
 
One thing I've been paying more attention to is content refreshes rather than constantly publishing new pages. After updating older articles with recent examples, clearer answers, and stronger internal links, I noticed they were referenced more often in AI Overviews than before. I can't say it was the only factor, but keeping content current seems to matter more now because AI systems appear to favor information that stays relevant over time. For me, maintaining trusted content has produced better results than chasing every new AIO/GEO tactic.
Click to expand...
 
iazeemsays said:
I’ve been researching AI search optimization lately including AIO (AI Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) & GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

I’m curious what tactics people here are actually using to get cited or mentioned inside LLMs, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, etc.

Are you focusing on:

  • branded mentions?
  • entity building?
  • topical authority?
  • PR links?
  • schema?
  • Reddit/forum mentions?
  • semantic SEO?
  • high-authority citations?
  • UGC signals?
  • knowledge graph optimization?
Would love to hear real-world experiences, tests, failures, or strategies that are currently moving the needle because traditional SEO alone doesn’t seem enough anymore.
Click to expand...
Topical authority + brand mentions + trusted citations are giving the best AI search results so far.
 
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