AI SEO is the work of making your website easy for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and similar tools to find, understand and cite. It sits on top of regular SEO instead of replacing it, and most of what works is less exotic than the advice you see on LinkedIn.
If you have been reading about AI and SEO lately, you have probably met a long list of tricks: llms.txt files, special markup, pages written only for bots. Some have real evidence behind them and some have almost none. This guide sorts the AI SEO advice into what works and what does not, so you spend your time on the parts that matter.
One point to settle first. Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond the normal SEO fundamentals, and no special optimization is needed see Google’s guidance on AI features. So for Google, AI SEO is mostly regular SEO done properly. Other assistants behave differently, which is why the AI SEO steps below cover both.
You will also see this work called generative engine optimization (GEO) or answer engine optimization (AEO). The bigger picture for Pakistani businesses is in our guide to the future of SEO in Pakistan. This post is the practical AI SEO checklist.
Why normal SEO still comes first
An AI tool can only cite a page it can fetch. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode use query fan-out, which means one question triggers several related searches behind the scenes. A page that is not indexed never enters that pool.
Rankings are the entry ticket, not the prize. Ahrefs found that 76% of AI Overview citations came from top 10 pages in an earlier study, but when it looked across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity, only about 12% of cited URLs also ranked in Google’s top 10 for the original prompt Ahrefs study. Studies disagree on the exact numbers, and they measure different things. The safe reading is simple: page one does not guarantee a citation, a page outside page one can still get cited, but a blocked or unindexed page has no chance at all. That is why basic SEO comes first in any AI SEO plan.
If your site struggles to get pages indexed or ranked, fix that before anything below. We covered the common causes in why your website is not ranking on Google.
10 ways to get cited in AI search
1. Get your pages indexed and crawlable
Open Search Console and check the Pages report. Look at “Crawled, currently not indexed” and “Discovered, currently not indexed”. These usually point to thin pages, duplicates or pages with no internal links. Submit your sitemap there and in Bing Webmaster Tools too, since some assistants lean on Bing’s index. A quick AI SEO audit really starts here, before any AI-specific work. Many AI SEO problems turn out to be plain indexing problems.
2. Let the AI search bots in
This is the most common silent mistake in AI SEO. AI companies run separate crawlers for separate jobs. OpenAI uses GPTBot for training, OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search and ChatGPT-User for fetches triggered by a user. Anthropic uses ClaudeBot for training, Claude-SearchBot for search and Claude-User for user requests. Perplexity uses PerplexityBot. OpenAI’s documentation says sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers.
If you want citations, allow the search bots:
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /Whether you also allow the training bots (GPTBot and ClaudeBot) is a business decision. Blocking them does not remove you from search answers. Google-Extended works the same way for Gemini training, and it does not affect Google Search or AI Overviews.
Also check your firewall, CDN and security plugins. Some block unfamiliar bots by default, and that happens before robots.txt is even read.
3. Put the answer first
AI tools pull passages, not whole articles. If the answer to a heading sits in the first two sentences under it, it is easy to lift. If it is buried under a warm-up paragraph, it is not. This is the easiest AI SEO change to make on an existing page.
Weak: “Choosing a hosting provider is an important decision for any business owner.”
Better: “If most of your visitors are in Pakistan and your site is a simple brochure site, shared hosting is usually enough. Move to a VPS when traffic or plugins start slowing the site down.”
Then add the detail, the exceptions and the reasoning after the direct answer.
4. Cover the follow-up questions
Because of query fan-out, a page that answers the main question and the three or four questions that naturally come next is a stronger candidate than a page that answers only one. Pull those from People Also Ask, Google autocomplete and the question lists in your keyword tool. Give each its own heading or FAQ entry. Do not add questions you cannot answer well just to look complete.
5. Add something only you can say
Generic summaries give an AI tool no reason to prefer your page over the ten others saying the same thing. The 2023 Princeton research that introduced the term GEO found that adding statistics and quotes from credible sources improved visibility in generative answers by up to roughly 40% in its tests. Treat that as a direction, not a promise.
In practice, AI SEO content means your own test results, real prices with the date you checked them, screenshots, client numbers you have permission to share and honest notes on what did not work.
6. Make it clear who is behind the content
Use a named author with a short bio. Have a proper About page with real business details. Keep your brand name written the same way everywhere, including your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn page and directory listings. Nobody outside Google and OpenAI knows exactly how trust is weighed, but both search engines and AI tools need to decide whether a source is real, and consistent signals make that decision easier. They help AI SEO and regular SEO alike.
7. Use schema where it fits
Google says no special markup is needed for AI features. Schema still helps machines read a page correctly, so Article, FAQPage, Organization and Product markup are worth having when they match what is visible on the page. Plugins like Rank Math handle the basics. Schema is a small part of AI SEO. Do not expect a citation jump from schema alone.
8. Get mentioned on other sites
Muck Rack’s analysis of more than a million AI-cited links reported that most came from earned media rather than brand-owned pages, and a separate study found ChatGPT leaning heavily on directories and listicles. Both are single studies, so hold the exact figures loosely, but the direction is consistent: AI tools lean on what others say about you.
For a Pakistani business that means industry directories, review platforms, local business publications, partner sites and genuine expert contributions on forums. Paying for mass guest posts is not the same thing and usually does not help. Real mentions are one of the few AI SEO tactics a competitor cannot copy overnight.
9. Keep important pages current
Fees, tax rates, platform policies and prices change. Update the pages that depend on them, and show the real update date. Changing the date without changing the content does not fool anyone, and it can make a page less trustworthy, not more. Fresh facts are a cheap AI SEO win.
10. Track whether you are being cited
There is no single dashboard yet, so use three simple checks:
- Make a list of 15 to 20 questions your customers actually ask. Once a month, run them in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and note whether you are cited and who is cited instead. Answers vary between runs, so watch the trend, not one result.
- In GA4, look at referral traffic from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai.
- Google began rolling out a generative AI performance report in Search Console in June 2026, starting with a subset of properties and grouping AI Overviews and AI Mode together. If you cannot see it yet, that is why.
Tools like Ubersuggest also have AI search visibility reports if you want to track AI SEO results automatically.
Where llms.txt fits
llms.txt is a plain Markdown file at the root of your site that lists your key pages for AI tools. It is not robots.txt, and it does not control access. It is a small part of AI SEO, not the core of it.
The evidence for citations is weak. SE Ranking analyzed about 300,000 domains, found the file on roughly 10% of them, and saw no measurable link between having it and being cited (SEJ coverage). Google says Search does not use llms.txt, including for AI features. As far as public documentation goes, the major AI companies have not confirmed that their answer systems read it either.
So it is harmless, takes about twenty minutes and may help tools that read documentation, but it should come after steps 1 to 5, not before. Treat it as housekeeping, not as a way to rank in ChatGPT. If you decide to make one, here is how to create an llms.txt file and what to include.
Using AI to write your content
AI SEO writing is where many sites go wrong. Google does not penalize content only because AI helped write it. Its spam policies target mass-produced pages made to manipulate rankings. The practical risk is different: a generic AI draft has nothing in it worth citing.
Use AI for outlines and first drafts if it saves time, as long as the AI SEO result still reads like a person wrote it. Then add your own data, check every number and name against a source, and remove anything that sounds like it could appear on any website. If a paragraph could be pasted into a competitor’s page without changing a word, rewrite it.
FAQs
Q1. What is a citation in AI search?
A citation is the link or source reference an AI tool shows next to its answer, pointing to the page the information came from. When ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews lists your page as a source, that is a citation. Getting cited is the main goal of AI SEO, because that link is how a reader reaches your site from an AI answer. A mention is different: the tool names your brand in the answer but does not link to you.
Q2. What is query fan-out?
Query fan-out means an AI search tool takes one question and splits it into several smaller searches behind the scenes, then combines the results into a single answer. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may do this. For example, someone asking about the best hosting for an online store may trigger separate searches on hosting prices, speed, support and payment gateway compatibility. For AI SEO, it means a page that covers the main question and its related questions has more chances of being picked up.
Q3. What is llms.txt?
llms.txt is a plain text file written in Markdown and placed at the root of your site, for example yourdomain.com/llms.txt. It lists your important pages with a short description of each, so AI tools can quickly see what your site covers. It is not a ranking factor and it cannot block bots, which is the job of robots.txt. Studies so far show no clear effect on citations, so treat it as an optional part of AI SEO.
Q4. What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is optimizing your website so AI search tools can find, understand and cite it, alongside normal ranking in Google. It is closely related to generative engine optimization.
Q5. Is AI SEO different from regular SEO?
Mostly it is the same foundation: indexable pages, helpful content, trust signals. The additions are letting AI search bots in, answering questions directly, earning mentions on other sites and tracking citations.
Q6. Does Google penalize AI-generated content?
Not for being AI-generated by itself. Content made at scale to manipulate rankings is against its spam policies, whoever or whatever wrote it.
Q7. Is it risky to rely too heavily on AI for SEO?
Yes. The main risks are invented facts, generic pages that add nothing and outdated information repeated with confidence. A human check on facts and numbers is not optional.
Q8. Can a small local business in Pakistan get cited by AI?
Yes. AI SEO is not only for big brands, especially for local and niche questions where few strong pages exist. Start with a complete Google Business Profile and clear service-area pages, as covered in our local SEO guide.
Q9. How do I rank in ChatGPT?
There is no ranking formula, and AI SEO for ChatGPT comes down to a few basics. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, publish pages that answer questions directly and earn mentions on other sites.
Q10. Do I need llms.txt to appear in AI answers?
No. Google says it does not use it, and studies show no clear link to citations.
If you would rather have this handled for you, our AI SEO services cover the work from indexing to citation tracking.
