What actually works for getting cited by AI?

I'm trying to increase my brand's AI citations and visibility. I've heard a few different approaches: some say write in-depth posts that answer a topic thoroughly, others suggest making Reddit posts and answering as many related questions as possible, and some say just stick to solid SEO. Which of these actually works? Or am I overcomplicating it?

Interested! Same question in my head, I heard listicles/forums should work

Same question here; SEO is slowly being replaced with GEO so I am curious if anyone is willing to share what has worked for them.

First, you need to identify the sources LLMs use for queries related to your topic, such as "best accounting CRM," "best accounting software," etc.

Once you have those sources, you can either buy guest posts or publish articles like "My ranking of the 10 best CRMs in 2026" or "Best accounting CRM in 2026."

=> You can use APIs for this process, and it is important to include the year in the article titles ( LLMs like fresh and recent content )

From what I've seen it's a mix. Strong topical content helps, but being mentioned on trusted sites like Reddit and other authoritative sources seems to increase your chances too

I would not chase AI citations directly. Focus on becoming a source that is actually worth citing

Reddit and deep posts both work

Like any SEO practice, visibility for AI requires publishing original, experiential content which thoroughly covers the topic, then getting links to it on credible websites. Using Reddit for exposure is good, but spamming it is a bad idea since contributions from genuine members get noticed far more often..

Bit of both honestly, but the thing most people miss is that your own domain almost never shows up for the money queries. Run "best accounting crm" 20 times across gpt/gemini/perplexity and log what actually gets cited... it's mostly roundups, comparison pages, g2/capterra type stuff and reddit threads. Almost never the vendor site. So writing a 4000 word pillar on your own blog feels productive but it's not what gets pulled.

what worked for me was building that citation list first (just a dumb script hitting the apis, logging the source urls, running it weekly), then going after the domains that keep repeating. Getting added to an existing listicle that already ranks is way cheaper than getting a new one indexed and picked up.

reddit works but it decays fast, threads get buried and the models seem to favour ones with actual discussion, not a comment sitting at 1 upvote. one solid thread where people argue about your product beats 30 driveby mentions imo.

Also don't sleep on just making sure your basic entity info is consistent everywhere. pricing, category, who its for. models hallucinate your positioning if your g2 page says one thing and your homepage says another, and then you're getting cited for the wrong queries which is arguably worse than nothing.

not overcomplicating it, but the order matters. measure, then decide where to push.

While there are no guarantees, these are the exact things I check and fix for clients:

1. Google Business Profile​

• Don't just claim your profile, fill it all out. EVERY DAMN LINE! and keep it up-to-date.
• If yours was done half-assed 5 years ago, AI will assume you are no longer in business.
• Upload real pictures of things customers would want to see or things you are proud of, including yourself and your employees.

2. Technical Stuff​

Check your robots.txt.

• In your browser, type your domain + /robots.txt
• If it loads, that’s your file. If it doesn’t, you don’t have one.
• If you see "Disallow: /—", that’s bad. That blocks everything.
• Check that your sitemap is listed You want a line like Sitemap: https://yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml

Ensure your site loads fast and is mobile-responsive.

• Run it through PageSpeed Insights Go to pagespeed.web.dev and paste your URL. It’ll show you mobile and desktop speed scores instantly.
• Check mobile issues right there Scroll down — it tells you if text is too small, buttons are too close, or anything isn’t mobile‑friendly.

Implement Schema Markup​

• Schema is just extra code you add to your site so Google and AI know exactly what your business does.
• Every business is different, and so are schemas, so use an AI to tell you what types you need and how to implement them for your specific website setup.

If a bot can't access your page, understand what you offer, or if the site breaks on mobile, it won't be cited. Period.

3. No walls of text and proper formating​

• AI's don't read all the BS on webpages anymore than people do, so make it a quickie!
• Use short paragraphs, clear H2/H3 headers, and bulleted lists.
• AI looks for self-contained blocks of information.
• A bot should be able to extract one paragraph, and it should make sense as a standalone answer to questions users are asking.

which leads to the next step

4. Think like your customers do​

• Build pages that answer blunt, specific questions customers actually ask, such as:
• "Who has the best nuts in Vegas?
• Who sells horseshoes or who does magic acts in my area?
• "How much does it cost to get my ears cleaned out in Yosemite?"
• "What is the difference between water-based lubricants and silicone-based lubricants?"
• AI loves the Q&A format because the work of summarizing is already done.
• Give the bot the question and the answer on a silver platter.

5. NAP Consistency & Trust Signals​

• This sounds like a no shit thing to do, but shit happens, so:
• Ensure your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) are identical across your website, Facebook, Yelp, and industry directories.
• Also check your hours of operation, menus, services, inventory, etc., etc., etc., across all your pages.
• You have to look like you have your shit together even if you don't.

6. BE YOU!!​

• There is not another one of you out there, so use that shit and be original!
• If your site just repeats Wikipedia, generic manufacturer descriptions, or the same boring ass blah blah blah thing that 200 other people copied from 1 original source, the AI will cite the original source.
• It will be more likely to cite you when you post things the way you see them or do them or offer them. Flaunt what your mama gave you and give them something to talk about!!

7. High-Detail Reviews​

Encourage customers to leave reviews that describe specific services, costs, and timelines rather than just give star ratings.
Make sure you give customers an easy way to leave you a review, People are lazy AF and will rarely go out of their way to even do a review unless they are pissed off.

• AI systems increasingly use detailed customer feedback as reputation signals to determine which businesses are trustworthy enough to recommend.

At the end of the day, none of this guarantees AI will cite you — and anyone claiming they can “get you cited” is full of shit. What these steps do is stack the odds heavily in your favor. You’re basically removing every excuse a bot has to ignore you.

Do the fundamentals right, keep your info clean and consistent, make your content easy to understand, and show the world (and the algorithms) who you actually are. That’s the real game.

Hope this helps — and seriously, if you’ve got questions or want me to look at something specific, I’m happy to help. Cheers and good luck with your business ventures!

GEO has many requirements, including 1) authoritative domain name, 2) structure and confidence of article content

I think it's a combination rather than one magic tactic. Strong SEO is still the foundation, but I've found that publishing original, in-depth content and building a presence where your audience is active (including communities like Reddit when you're genuinely contributing) helps increase visibility.

IMO, but GEO = SEO in most cases, there is NO WAY you get AI citations without proper SEO or real hype around your site.

Usually I just build and build useful content for users in the first place, and then I care about GEO, adding more facts, personal experience, and structure. (AI loves that)

We are starting to forget that a page must be useful for humans in the first place, rather than AI-focused.

honestly most people are overthinking the technical side of this... LLMs are lazy. they just scrape the top index results, reddit, and big authority roundups over and over again. trying to optimize your own site to get cited directly for competitive terms is mostly a waste of time and money.

what actually works is finding the exact pages perplexity or gemini are already citing for your keywords, and then hijacking those pages. if it's a reddit thread, get some aged accounts and insert your brand into the discussion naturally. if it's some random listicle, email the owner and pay them to add you. it's way faster and cheaper than trying to build enough authority on your own domain to get noticed by the bots.

AI citations aren't just about SEO anymore The biggest wins Ive seen come from publishing original insights answering specific questions clearly and building authority across multiple platforms

I don’t think there’s one magic strategy. Reddit, SEO, content - all of it can work if you’re not doing it just for the algorithms. People quickly notice content that’s just made "to tick a box"

Gerald2 said:

AI citations aren't just about SEO anymore The biggest wins Ive seen come from publishing original insights answering specific questions clearly and building authority across multiple platforms

Click to expand...

In the second point, you're right, but not in the first one, simply bcuz (as said, Sudden Money), LLM's are lazy pricks, and they're just crawling top-10 sites from Google/Bing/etc. And if you don't rank high enough, AI doesn't know about your exceptional top content (Of course you can try to post your content on LinkedIn or Reddit and then hope for some crawling, but odds are low.)