Citation-source mapping
We identify which pages each engine actually cites for your category prompts — then target those publications and pages specifically.
GEO · Citation building for AI engines
Generative engine optimization, done for you
When a generative engine writes an answer about your category, it builds that answer from a handful of sources. GEO is how you become one of them — and on a RankCited plan, we do that work for you every month.
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of increasing how often generative AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini — cite or mention a brand when composing answers. Where SEO optimizes a page to rank, GEO builds the evidence trail an engine follows when it decides which sources to quote.
The term came out of academic work — a Princeton-led study presented at KDD 2024 tested nine optimization methods across thousands of queries and measured which ones actually changed citation rates. The findings shape how we work. Content that cites sources gained about 40% more visibility. Statistics gained 37%. Keyword stuffing? It lost visibility. The engines penalize exactly the tricks old SEO rewarded.
GEO is one half of our AI SEO services; the other half, answer engine optimization, targets specific questions rather than broad citation share.
What a GEO plan covers
Answer-ready content placement
Each month we spend your plan's capacity on placements written the way engines like to quote — direct claims, sourced statistics, expert attribution — on publications the engines already cite. You set the goals; we handle outreach, editing, and publication.
Citation share reporting
Monthly, per engine, per prompt group: your mentions, your competitors' mentions, and the sources driving both — your share of voice, measured where it now matters.
The research this is built on
Most GEO advice is guesswork. We anchor the work to the measured findings from the KDD 2024 GEO study and follow-up industry research:
- +40% answer visibility for content that cites authoritative sources
- +37% for content carrying specific, dated statistics
- +30% for expert quotations with a name and title attached
- -10% for keyword stuffing — it actively hurts in generative engines
Every placement we produce carries sources, statistics, and named expertise. Not because it reads better (it does) — because it measurably changes whether an engine quotes the page.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO in simple terms?
GEO makes AI engines more likely to mention your brand when they write answers. It works by placing well-sourced coverage of your brand on the pages those engines already pull from, formatted the way they like to quote.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
They are siblings. GEO grows your overall citation share across generative engines. AEO (answer engine optimization) targets specific high-value questions so the answer to each one includes you. Most clients run both; the placements feed each other.
Do we need new content on our own site for GEO?
Sometimes, but it is rarely the main lever. Research shows brands are several times more likely to be cited through third-party coverage than their own domain. We focus there first, then fix your own pages where they block extraction — structure, statistics, freshness.
How do you measure GEO results?
We track a fixed prompt set per engine every month: how often you are mentioned, how often you are cited as a source, and which placements drove the change. You see the raw prompt-level data, not just a score.
Which industries does this work for?
Anywhere buyers ask AI for recommendations — software, services, e-commerce, finance, travel. The pattern is the same; only the source pages differ. If engines answer questions in your category, citation share is winnable.
How do we increase brand citations in AI engines?
Four levers, in order of impact: earn coverage on the third-party pages engines already cite for your category; make that coverage quotable (direct claims, dated statistics, named experts — the factors the KDD 2024 GEO research measured); convert existing unlinked mentions so engines connect the coverage to you; and keep it fresh, because stale sources fall out of answers. Publishing more on your own site is the weakest lever of the four.
What our clients say
We went from zero Perplexity citations to being sourced on 4 of our 12 tracked prompts in one quarter. The prompt-level reporting made it easy to defend the budget internally.
Finally an agency that read the GEO research instead of rebranding old link packages. The placements all had sourced stats and named authors, exactly like the study says.
Good results on ChatGPT and Perplexity. Google AI Overviews moved slower for us — they were upfront that it would, to be fair.
From the blog
Find out who the engines cite instead of you
The free report lists the exact sources ChatGPT and Perplexity use for your category — the pages a plan would target first.
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