How to get cited by AI
When a shopper asks AI what to buy, it cites a few sources. These six steps make your product page one the AI surfaces in its answer.
We measured 40 stores: more than half (52%) were not cited by AI for their own product's buyer queries. (Our own measurement.)
Answer the buyer's question in one quotable sentence.
Open the product page with a clear definitional or claim sentence (who needs this, what it is, why). AI lifts exactly this kind of sentence into its answer.
Add concrete facts.
Specs, origin, dimensions, use, compatibility. AI cites specific and verifiable detail, not marketing words.
Add an FAQ: real buyer questions with clear answers.
Write the questions a customer actually asks, and answer briefly. These question-answer pairs are easy for AI to cite.
Add structured data (schema.org).
Product + Offer + FAQPage JSON-LD in the page code. It tells the machine what the page contains and makes it easier to cite.
Do this for each language on its own page.
AI answers in the asker's language and cites that language's pages. Content and schema must be in each language page's own language.
Measure, don't guess.
Run the real buyer queries in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI and see who they cite. Fix the page accordingly and measure again.
Glossary
- GEO
- Generative Engine Optimization — shaping content and data so AI answers cite you.
- AEO
- Answer Engine Optimization — nearly the same as GEO, framed around answer engines.
- AI Overviews
- Google's AI answer above the results; already answers over 2 billion users a month (Google, 2025).
- Sitaatti / citation
- When AI names or links a source in its answer. The goal: to be among the cited.
- schema.org / JSON-LD
- Machine-readable structured data in the page code (e.g. Product, FAQPage) that tells machines what the page contains.
- hreflang
- A tag that declares a page's language versions. AI cites the version in the asker's language.
FAQ
What are GEO and AEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means shaping content and data so AI answers (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI) surface and cite you. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is nearly the same, framed around answer engines. Both aim at the same thing: getting named in the AI's answer, not just the results list.
Is classic SEO enough?
Not on its own. Ranking in results doesn't mean you get cited in the AI's answer — they are different machinery. AI surfaces sources by how clearly and structurally a page answers the question, not by ranking alone.
What's the difference between monitoring and fixing?
A monitoring tool shows a dashboard: where you rank and who gets mentioned. It changes nothing on your page. A fix gives you a concrete deliverable — better page copy and schema code — that you add to your page so AI starts citing you.
Does each language need separate optimization?
Yes. AI answers in the language it's asked and cites that language's pages. The JSON-LD and content must be in each language page's own language to be cited in each market.
Do these work on WooCommerce and Shopify?
Some tools are platform-agnostic, some are locked to a stack. Structured data (schema.org) itself works on every platform; the difference is whether the tool gives you the finished code and steps for your platform, or just a metric.