How to Get Cited by AI: GEO for B2B Marketers

Let’s be honest: how many times this week have you opened ChatGPT, Copilot, or Perplexity to look something up? A definition, an idea, a product comparison, a strategy plan? You are not alone. And your clients are doing the same.

According to a Forrester Research study, 95% of B2B buyers expect to use generative AI in their buying process this year, and a majority start their searches directly in AI tools rather than on Google.

We are at a turning point. We are witnessing the biggest shift in information search since search engines were invented. AI no longer just points toward content: it summarizes, rephrases, and delivers it in place of your visitors.

So the question is no longer: Are you well-positioned on Google?
But rather: Does AI cite your brand when it answers your clients?

The Web Traffic Tipping Point… Even for SEO Pillars

For years, the strategy was simple: optimize for search engines, drive organic traffic, and prove value by visits. But today things have changed. AI‐powered search engines and Google’s AI Overviews are changing how users find information.

For example, recent data shows that 80% of consumers already use “zero‐click” results for almost half of their searches. Result: organic traffic dropped by 15% to 25%, sometimes more.
Even giants like HubSpot, pioneers of inbound marketing, have seen their organic traffic decline.

The takeaway? Traffic alone is no longer enough. What matters now is visibility, credibility, and presence in AI‐generated answers.

SEO, AEO, GEO: Understanding the Differences

Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

Should you choose between SEO, AEO, and GEO? No. These approaches are complementary. SEO builds your technical foundation. AEO optimizes your immediate visibility in search engines. GEO builds your long‐term authority in a world driven by artificial intelligence. The ideal strategy? Adopt a hybrid called AI Optimization (AIO), where GEO guides the approach, supported by SEO and AEO.

How Does AI Decide to Cite Your Content?

Generative AIs like ChatGPT cite content when they judge it credible, relevant, and perfectly aligned with the question asked. They analyze the query, context, and available sources to build a concise response.

Take Bobby, Director of Operations. He is looking for a CRM for his SME. Here’s how the AI structures its answer:

• Understand the intention: The AI recognizes Bobby is not seeking a technical definition but a usable, concrete, personalized response.
• Explore variants: The AI mentally reformulates the query to cover all relevant angles: ERP compatibility, affordability, automation.
• Organize the information: The AI plans the elements to address: selection criteria > relevant options > clear recommendation.
• Analyze the context: The AI deduces Bobby works at a Quebec SME of 50 employees already equipped with SAP; it therefore values solutions that are simple to integrate, bilingual, and affordable.
• Select the sources: The AI relies on credible data: case studies, expert comparisons, and user reviews.
• Generate the answer: The AI assembles the information into a clear synthesis. Example: “For an SME of 50 employees, Zoho CRM integrates well with SAP and remains affordable. Salesforce is more robust but more expensive.”

Result: Bobby receives a tailored, satisfying answer… without even visiting your website.

What Type of Content Do AIs Like to Cite?

AI systems favor original, clear, and structured content sourced from reliable data. They more readily cite concrete analyses than vague opinion pieces.

A good example: our 2024 study on B2B marketing in Quebec, conducted by Bang. It was picked up by other experts thanks to its exclusive data and local relevance. Additionally, we will publish a new edition in December 2025, providing another opportunity to generate fresh, actionable data.

Other effective formats include:

• an in‐house survey
• a comparative infographic
• a technical analysis written by an in‐house specialist

These content formats tick all the boxes: targeted, credible, contextualized… and above all, designed to be cited.

Which Questions Are Your Clients (and AIs) Really Asking?

AI systems rely on the real questions your clients ask at every stage of their buying journey. To become the reference, your content must answer them clearly and precisely.

Here are the major phases and associated information needs:

• Awareness: Discover the topic, recognize a problem or need.
• Consideration: Explore available options, understand criteria.
• Evaluation: Compare solutions, analyze features, review use cases.
• Decision: Validate final choices, ensure feasibility, estimate cost/time.
• Retention / Loyalty: Maximize value, plan next steps (optional in B2B context).

Your objective? Build a complete reservoir of genuine questions, covering each phase and each persona’s specific needs. By preparing content that addresses those questions, you become the reference that both your prospects and AI systems will consult and cite.

Let Others Speak for You

In the AI era, your credibility also grows via external recognition. Articles in specialist media, inbound links from trusted sites, expert mentions, and having your data republished—these all boost your authority. And the more you are cited elsewhere, the more likely AI systems will recognize you as a reliable source.

The Schemas Most Useful for AEO and GEO

A schema is like a tag you attach to a web page to explicitly describe its content to search engines and AI systems. With structured data tags, your pages become easier to interpret and more likely to be reused by automated systems.

There are many schema types, each adapted to specific content types (article, product, service, etc.). The aim is not to apply them everywhere, but to pick the ones truly relevant for the page.

How to integrate them on your website? You have two options:

• Manually, using JSON‑LD code (Google’s recommended method).
• Automatically, using plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath (for WordPress), which let you set parameters and handle schema insertion.

Once installed, it’s essential to validate your markup with tools like the Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. This ensures your pages are correctly understood.

Why does it matter? Even a simple markup on your key pages can significantly impact your visibility and influence in the AI ecosystem. More structure and precision = better algorithm exploitation = higher chance of appearing in enriched results, being cited as a reliable source, and being included in AI‐generated answers.

Example: On a services page featuring a FAQ and blog articles, you can combine schemas—Service + FAQPage + Article. Each tag signals a specific content type.

Schemas to prioritize:

• FAQPage → for clear questions and answers.
• HowTo → for step‐by‐step guides.
• Article → for your blog posts or long-form content.
• LocalBusiness → for company practical info (address, hours).
• Organization → for institutional or corporate details.
• Product or Service → for describing your offerings and features.
• Review → for customer reviews and ratings.

Good to know: 88% of websites still ignore Schema.org markup… while 73% of first‑page Google sites already use it. That’s a great opportunity to take the lead.

How to Know if Your Brand Is Cited by AI?

With generative AI technologies shaking up the early part of the funnel, you can’t rely on the old metrics alone. It’s no longer just about your ranking on Google. What matters now is your ability to be mentioned, cited, and reused in AI‐generated responses.

There are two major indicator categories to track:

Visibility & Authority (AI focus):

• Citation Frequency
• Prompt‐Triggered Inclusion
• Share of Voice – AEO & GEO
• Semantic relevance & brand mention accuracy

Engagement & Trust (User focus):

• Click‐through rate on rich results
• Brand sentiment (positive/neutral/negative)
• Readability and perceived content quality

But before you jump into automation tools, start with a simpler method: play detective.

Playing Detective with AI (manual tests)
Here’s how you can test your content in AI settings like ChatGPT’s Browse feature:

• Citation Frequency: Ask your key queries in ChatGPT Browse. Does your brand appear? Is it cited as a source? Note frequency and compare to rivals.
• Prompt‑Triggered Inclusion: Try a specific prompt such as “best PTAC units for hotels in Canada”. Check whether ChatGPT mentions your brand spontaneously.
• Share of Voice (AI): Do the same for your major competitors. Build a small weekly or monthly dataset to track your share of voice.
• Brand accuracy & sentiment: When your brand is mentioned, check if the information is correct and the tone is favorable or not.

These manual tests are essential to validate your KPI set and guide your next steps before full automation.

Which Tools to Use to Track Your GEO/AEO Performance?

Once your manual tests are underway, you can reinforce your tracking setup with specialized tools. The idea is not to use dozens of tools but to enrich your existing reporting with indicators that matter in the AI‑driven era.

For AEO (conversational search & engine):

• Google Search Console – still valuable for impressions and clicks on rich results.
• Semrush – AI SEO Toolkit – for analysing featured snippets, “People Also Ask”, topic coverage.
• Screaming Frog / Sitebulb – for verifying schema markup and page structure.

For GEO (visibility in generative AI):

• ChatGPT Browse (with a clean account) – for realistic manual tests.
• Perplexity Pro Analytics – for tracking citations, brand mentions and AI share of voice.

For user engagement & readability:

• Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Looker Studio – for tracking behaviour.
• Hemingway Editor, Grammarly, SEOlyzer – for ensuring content clarity and readability, both important for AI interpretation.

In short: don’t rely only on traffic metrics. Today, your true digital notoriety may well be measured by your ability to appear in AI answers.

Are your contents ready for the AI era?

AI is rewriting the rules. It’s not just about being found anymore—it’s about being cited. And it starts now. At Bang, we help you assess if your content has what it takes to be recognized, understood… and cited by AI.

Let’s talk about your challenges or request a free mini‐analysis of your key content.

FAQ (FAQPage)

What is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing your content so it can be cited in responses from generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Does GEO replace SEO?
No, it adds to it. SEO remains essential for technical foundation and discoverability.

What kind of content do AIs prefer?
Original, clear, data‑rich, and structured content (e.g., studies, FAQs, expert analyses) that is properly tagged with schema.

How do I know if I am being cited by AI?
Perform manual tests (e.g., ask ChatGPT) or use tools like Perplexity Analytics to see citations and brand mentions.

Where should I start?
Begin with your best‐performing content, structure it in Q&A format, enrich it with original data, apply schema markup (FAQPage, etc.,) and test whether it’s being cited by AI.