Start here: if AEO, GEO and AIO are new terms, read SEO vs AIO vs AEO vs GEO: What Actually Changes first. This guide is the practical follow-up.
Getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews means working with three engines, each with its own way of choosing sources, all sitting on the same foundation: content that is crawlable, clear, and backed by evidence. This guide explains how each engine decides, where the citations actually go, and a checklist you can work through on your own site.
The short version
- Be reachable. If an engine cannot crawl or show your page, nothing else matters.
- Be quotable. Put a direct, self-contained answer near the top of the page, then support it.
- Be corroborated. Engines lean on sources that other places also mention, including forums, video and review sites.
How each engine picks sources
| Engine | What decides whether you can appear | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google says a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet. There are no extra technical requirements or special optimizations. It uses query fan-out, running several related searches across subtopics, so it can surface a wider range of supporting pages. | Get the SEO fundamentals right, keep pages indexable, and do not block snippets (nosnippet, max-snippet, noindex) on pages you want cited. Cover the related sub-questions around the head term. |
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI uses OAI-SearchBot to surface sites in ChatGPT search. Sites that disallow it will not appear in search answers. GPTBot is a separate crawler for model training, and ChatGPT-User handles visits triggered directly by a person. | Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt. Blocking GPTBot only signals that you do not want content used for training. Changes can take about 24 hours to apply. |
| Perplexity | Perplexity runs its own crawler and retrieves live sources for each answer, leaning heavily on community discussions and video, as the citation data below shows. | Make sure robots.txt and any firewall or CDN bot rules do not block its crawler, and build presence where its answers look: forums and video. |
Sources for the table: Google Search Central and OpenAI.
Where the citations actually go
A large citation study (680 million citations, August 2024 to June 2025, by Profound) shows that each engine has a different taste. ChatGPT leans on Wikipedia and established media, while Perplexity relies heavily on Reddit. Google AI Overviews spreads citations across Reddit, YouTube, Quora and LinkedIn. Across all three, .com domains account for more than 80% of citations.
Top cited sources as a share of all citations
Share of total citations per platform, from a study of 680 million citations (Aug 2024 to Jun 2025). Shares are of each platform’s total, so they look small.
- ChatGPT: Wikipedia
- 7.8% of citations
- ChatGPT: Reddit
- 1.8% of citations
- AI Overviews: Reddit
- 2.2% of citations
- AI Overviews: YouTube
- 1.9% of citations
- Perplexity: Reddit
- 6.6% of citations
- Perplexity: YouTube
- 2.0% of citations
Source: Profound, AI Platform Citation Patterns. One study, one time window; engines change, so recheck before you build a strategy on it.
The takeaway: being cited often depends on being discussed, reviewed and referenced away from your own site, in places these engines already trust. Details in the Profound study.
A checklist you can run this week
1. Access
- Check robots.txt for OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot. Do not block the ones that bring you visibility.
- Check your CDN or firewall: some security rules quietly block AI crawlers even when robots.txt allows them.
- Confirm key pages are indexable and have no stray
noindexornosnippet.
2. Answer-first content
- Open each key page with a one- or two-sentence direct answer, then expand.
- Turn common questions into clear headings and give each a self-contained answer.
- Cover the follow-up questions a searcher would ask next, since engines fan out into sub-queries.
3. Structure and evidence
- Use clean headings, short paragraphs, lists and tables so passages can be lifted cleanly.
- Back claims with named sources, dates and, where you can, your own data.
- Add structured data such as FAQ, Article and Organization where it truthfully applies. Google says no special markup is required, but clear structure helps every engine read your page.
4. Entity clarity
- Keep your brand name, description and services consistent across your site and profiles.
- Make an About page and author pages that say who is behind the content and why they are qualified.
5. Presence beyond your site
- Take part honestly in the forums, communities and video platforms your customers use. Useful answers first.
- Earn mentions in publications and directories relevant to your niche, and keep reviews current.
6. Freshness and measurement
- Update key pages regularly and show the date.
- Every month, ask the engines the questions your customers ask, and record whether you are cited, by whom, and for which pages.
Common mistakes
- Blocking AI crawlers by default and then wondering why no assistant mentions you.
- Publishing thin “AI-optimized” pages with no original information.
- Promising or buying guaranteed citations. Nobody controls what a model quotes.
- Ignoring off-site signals and expecting your own blog to do all the work.
Where North Blue fits
This is the work behind our AEO and GEO services: making sure engines can reach your content, restructuring it into clear answers, and building the signals that make it worth citing. If you want an honest read on where your site stands today, get in touch. For budgeting, see what these programs cost in our pricing breakdown, and for definitions, the GEO glossary entry.
Sources: Google Search Central: AI features and your website, OpenAI: overview of OpenAI crawlers and Profound: AI platform citation patterns, reviewed in September 2026. Engine behavior changes often; verify against current documentation.
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