AI SEO · In depth
How an engine decides who to cite.
For the people who want the mechanism: the four things that have to hold before ChatGPT, Google or Perplexity will name you, each one with the engine’s own documentation.
What decides it
Four links in the chain. Break one and you’re out.
Whether an engine will cite you comes down to four links: it has to reach your page, extract something quotable, find it corroborated, and retrieve it for the buyer’s question. Fix the broken links below and watch the answer change.
The engine can reach your pages
Its crawler has to be allowed in, and your pages have to load for it.
We fix Crawler access, rendering, speed and broken paths.
| Crawler | Owner | What it does | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBotFinds pages for ChatGPT search | OpenAI | Finds pages for ChatGPT search | Blocked |
| GPTBotCollects pages for model training | OpenAI | Collects pages for model training | Blocked |
| Claude-SearchBotIndexes pages for Claude’s search | Anthropic | Indexes pages for Claude’s search | Allowed |
| PerplexityBotIndexes pages for Perplexity’s answers | Perplexity | Indexes pages for Perplexity’s answers | Allowed |
| GooglebotSearch, including AI Overviews and AI Mode | Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode | Allowed | |
| Google-ExtendedControls use in Gemini; not AI Overviews | Controls use in Gemini; not AI Overviews | Allowed |
ChatGPT’s search crawler is blocked by a 2023 rule meant for training crawlers. ChatGPT can’t read your pages, so it answers from other sources.
It finds something quotable
Engines quote whole sentences. Slogans give them nothing to use.
We fix Plain claims, page structure and structured data.
yourco.com/about
About us
Quality solutions since 1987. We are committed to excellence, innovation and partnership, delivering value to every customer we serve.
What the engine can quote
Nothing. No product, no place, no claim it can repeat.
Others say the same about you
Engines trust what reviews, communities, the press and directories agree on.
We fix Listings, reviews, press, communities and video.
Your claim“We’re a manufacturer”
Your sitemanufacturer
Trade directorydistributor (2019)
Trade pressno coverage
The sources disagree, and the engine sides with the directory.
A page answers the buyer’s question
No page for the buyer’s question, no citation.
We fix Pages built around the questions in your buyer-question map.
The buyer asksWhich coatings suppliers publish salt-spray test data?
Your pages
- Home
- Products
- About us
- Contact
No page answers the question, so the engine cites one that does: a rival’s.
Will ChatGPT cite you?
0 of 4 links hold · No
None of this is a guarantee. Answers change by engine, model, place and day, and nobody can promise a citation. We tell you what we can influence, and what we can’t.
Start here