LLM-powered search tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT are growing in popularity. Even Google is integrating conversational AI interfaces into its web search experience, in the form of AI Overviews and AI Mode.
These solutions “read” through multiple web pages relevant to your query, and give you the gist — only the information you need. Additionally, they mention or cite the pages and posts that the LLMs referred to to generate that answer to aid further research.
This has shifted the fundamental rules of content marketing.
Now, the goal isn’t just to rank higher on the SERPs; it is also to get cited by LLMs in AI-generated search results. You’re no longer looking to acquire low-intent traffic via clickthroughs from search results. Now it’s about appearing as a source of information and being mentioned as an authority in your niche when people ask questions of AI engines.
In this article, let’s look at how to create a content publishing mix that increases the chances of your brand being cited by LLMs across the board.
What It Means for an LLM to “Cite” You
An LLM citation is different from a traditional backlink or an academic reference. When an AI model “cites” your work, it simply means that it crawled through your content to provide an answer to the user.
The cited content can be an exact quote or a paraphrased snippet from your website’s pages, or it might be a summary of a third-party article or social post mentioning your brand. You can see this whenever you search for something educational, such as the following example (the arrows represent the citations):
Sometimes, the AI model may use fragments of your content with other sites’ content to deliver the best possible answer to the user.
These citations can be more valuable than ranking on the first page of the SERPs. Typically, these mentions surface when people receive a specific answer to a specific problem, which signals urgency and significance.
As a result, the traffic gained or leads earned through AI answers is more valuable than traffic referred by other sources.
There is no specific rule or predictability in what the LLM might choose to quote directly, paraphrase, or embed in parts. This depends on various factors, such as the relevance to the query, the central focus of the article, and the credibility of the publication, media platform or business website in which it appears.
The tricky part is, you may get different citations for the same query each time you hit “search” on these AI research platforms. At the same time, you can certainly take some steps to increase your chances of getting chosen by LLMs when they generate a comprehensive answer for users. This is the emerging world of GEO, or generative engine optimization.
Related article: What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
Foundational Principles of Content That Tends to Get Cited
You can focus on these four principles while creating content for your audience to maximize LLM visibility:
- Identify high-intent, LLM-referenced queries in your niche: Spot the most common questions and problems of your audience that will lead them to you (or your competitors). Run queries relevant to them in various AI search tools to discover what kind of citations pop up.
- Reverse-engineer prompts: Put your brand and its offerings at the center. Think of what your buyer, ideally, needs to query on an LLM to end up on your website. These include the questions to your answers and the problems to your solution.
- Share first-hand information: Survey results, research data, case studies, and personal insights are unique. They can’t be generated by LLMs or mimicked by your competitors, helping you stand out. Of course, share proprietary information around the relevant context to ensure your audience can find it easily.
- Use credible external references: If you leverage data from other sources to make a point, ensure it’s trustworthy. This will make your opinions, insights, suggestions, or predictions more logical and believable. Moreover, LLMs will interpret it as a positive authority signal, increasing the chances of getting cited in AI-generated search results.
Now let’s dive into how you can put the above principles into practice.
How to Structure Your Content for Maximum Extractability
Keep these four tips in mind to earn more AI citations in search:
1. Prefer Bullets, Lists, and Numbered Steps
Bullets, lists, and numbered steps simplify your message. These elements help break complex concepts or logical flows into digestible chunks. This ensures your readers understand you well, which is pivotal for engagement, and ultimately, conversion.
LLMs love this approach as well.
When these AI models scan through text, simpler sentences and bullet sections are identified and tokenized effectively. Consequently, they can search through the whole article or blog post faster to find the relevant information.
That relevant information, then, is instantly served as an AI-generated answer in a conversational format.
Use this approach to answer your customers’ or potential buyers’ questions. The topical relevance will ensure semantic and vernacular congruence, increasing AI visibility.
Ben Jacobson, chief content officer at InboundJunction, explains the logic behind this advice a bit further: “AI engines can process and summarize information more easily from ordered lists, definitions, charts, bullet sections and FAQs, and they like content that answers real questions that users ask.”
To put this into practice for content on your website, start with a clear outline before diving into the drafts. Edit the outline to remove fluff as much as possible. While writing the sentences, keep them short and use consistent phrasing for maximum engagement. List items read better if they begin with an action verb.
And as with all aspects of a strong content media strategy, especially on optimized for AI search visibility, make sure that when you’re putting together your PR plan, the publications you target favor articles that include these elements. “It’s important to work with PR pros who know how to select the right publications for GEO success,” continues Jacobson, “and can work with contacts at those publications to maximize GEO impact.”
2. Use Answer-First Writing
Answer-first writing can be applied in two ways.
First, leverage the Bottom Line Upfront (BLUF) technique while writing articles. This is where you start the piece with the conclusion, saving your readers and AI bots time.
Second, minimize fluff. Each paragraph or section of the article should be lean and have a higher knowledge density. This will help LLMs crawl through the piece more effectively as there will be fewer tokens to process.
A general rule of thumb is to provide the conclusion in a sentence, then elaborate it if it demands explanation, and finally, present the reasoning. The reasoning could be concepts, data, or facts from reliable sources.
3. Use Semantic Headings that Mirror Questions
LLM and AI users search with a question at the end. Designing your article’s H2s and H3s as questions makes it easier for AI search bots to parse through and find the snippet relevant to the user. As a result, they can quickly cite your content over others.
An effective way to do it is by including words in regular subheadings. For instance, if an H2 reads, “Steps to Make a Monthly Content Calendar,” you can turn it into “How to Make a Monthly Content Calendar” for higher LLM visibility.
Manoj Palanikumar, co-founder of Triple Dart, explains the role of these questions: “Your content should answer these directly, conversationally, and with depth. Add FAQ sections, write naturally, and anticipate follow-up questions. If you want to know how such content is written, think of yourself as Master Oogway—helpful, wise, approachable, and calm.”
Note that not every H2 or H3 can be turned into a question, and that’s okay. Forcefully turning them into questions might affect readability and can confuse AI crawlers when they go through your articles and pages.
Instead, add an FAQ section at the bottom. You can include the questions that couldn’t be naturally written as subheadings. This is also a great opportunity to use semantically relevant keywords.
4. Use Short, Focused Paragraphs
Ideally, the paragraphs in your articles should be 2-3 sentences long, ranging between 35 and 45 words. Each of them should convey one idea, concept, or argument to maintain simplicity. This is, of course, a great practice in general as it improves readability for human readers.
At the same time, short and focused paragraphs are effectively scanned by AI models. LLMs can easily isolate the topic of discussion in a paragraph. Consequently, when looking for specific sentences that answer a user’s query, they can immediately find and cite them.
Caroline Shelby, principal SEO at Yoast, highlights the importance of this tip: “Every paragraph should communicate one idea clearly. Walls of text don’t just intimidate human readers; they also increase the likelihood that an AI model will extract the wrong part of the answer or skip your content altogether.”
By understanding more about how the AI engines’ agents operate, we’re better positioned to publish content that is more likely to be cited in answers. “This isn’t about the limits of AI comprehension. It’s about the precision of retrieval,” Shelby adds. “Language models are incredibly capable of interpreting nuanced content, but when they’re acting as search agents, they still rely on the specificity of the queries they’re given.”
This is also partly helped by the newline character (/n) between two paragraphs. Whenever LLMs encounter this while reading your article, they can “understand” that a new concept is explained ahead.
5. Highlight Key Takeaways
Explicitly highlighting summaries or actionable takeaways helps AI models immediately know what the overall page or post is about. A “TL;DR” section at the start of a long-form guide, for instance, will act as a quick index for LLMs, increasing crawlability.
Moreover, you can do it for every section. A common way of summarizing sections, especially the ones with multiple paragraphs, is to write a concluding paragraph. You can highlight it semantically by using phrases like “to put it simply” and “in other words.”
When publishing, you can add it in a quote box or use different text formatting options, such as bold and italics. This will not only improve readability for humans but also for AI search bots that can detect these changes on a character level.
6. Optimize Metadata
Metadata, such as titles, meta descriptions, and alt text, describe your content to crawl and search bots. These elements provide LLMs a concise summary of what a reader can expect from this page or post.
Consequently, when searching through the piece to find something specific, AI models look for relevant terminology and phrases, isolating relevant bits quickly.
On top of that, you can leverage schema markup (like FAQs and How-tos) to create structured semantic associations that help LLMs to parse through your content more efficiently. This also enhances snippet extraction accuracy.
Related article: What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
How to Signal Authority and Accuracy
Apart from the content structure, AI search tools also prioritize websites that are more trustworthy and credible within that niche. Here are four ways you can achieve it:
- Cite authoritative sources: Linking to respected domains, such as .gov or .edu, LLMs give your content more importance. It’s key to mention the original sources when sharing facts or stats rather than secondary summaries.
- Diversify your media mix: AI search engine citations favor niche-relevant authority publications (such as trade blogs and mainstream online business magazines) and platforms that favor the authentic voice of the customer (such as reviews on G2 or recommendations on Reddit). Use PR outreach and UGC platforms to amplify your AI engine visibility.
- Add bios, credentials, and original research: Let these AI tools know about your background, professional experience, and proprietary data sources. This distinguishes your content from others and boosts perceived authority.
- Mention publication or update dates: Search tools prioritize recently published content pieces to ensure users get the latest information.
- Improve domain authority: You can achieve this by earning backlinks from reputable websites relevant to your industry. Guest posting, digital PR, and organic content distribution are some effective ways to boost domain authority over time.
Wrapping Up
LLM-powered search platforms are now being commonly used for learning and finding products and services. Hence, it’s crucial for brands to capitalize on this opportunity by optimizing their content for these models to get cited in AI-generated answers.
Fundamentally, write clear and concise sentences to ensure crawl efficiency. Mention facts and stats from reliable resources. Share your proprietary data as well, as it’s key for building a unique identity.
Managing this evolved content production and optimization process can get hectic. Multiple tools, diverse formats of content, and a busy content calendar can make it challenging for content marketing teams.
StoryChief solves this by providing a comprehensive platform for writers, editors, and marketers, where they can manage their entire creative workflow in one place.
Everything from ideation to publication is done in one tab while elevating collaboration. Teams can even leverage their preferred AI models right in StoryChief.
Ready to build a future-proof content production process?
Sign up for free and get started today.
