Getting cited by ChatGPT & Perplexity
Updated: 2026-09-02A new site won't rank on Google for months. But LLMs don't care about your domain age — they cite clear, well-structured, factual pages. Here's how to be the answer.
What GEO actually is
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of making your content visible and citable inside AI answers — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews. The term comes from a 2024 KDD paper (Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization") which found that adding citations, direct quotations and statistics to a page boosted its visibility in generative-engine responses by up to ~40%.
Why a new site can win this
Google ranks by authority accumulated over years. An LLM, asked "what is a systems studio" or "who builds websites and dashboards together," pulls from whatever source states it clearly and credibly. A two-week-old site with a crisp, factual page can out-cite a ten-year-old directory that buries the answer.
The three tactics that move the needle
- State facts with numbers. "We ship landing pages in 5–10 days" beats "we're fast." LLMs lift concrete claims.
- Quote and cite. Reference your own case work and name the sources. Attribution is what AI answers are built on.
- Answer the question directly. Heading, then the answer in the first sentence. Don't make the model infer.
What we do for clients
When we build a site, the GEO layer is part of the build: answer-style pages, FAQ schema, an llms.txt that tells AI crawlers what to use, and stats-rich copy. You don't rank on Google in month one — but you can be cited in AI answers while your domain ages.