Everyone's asking the wrong question. "How do I optimize for AI?" Wrong frame. The better question: "How do I create content that deserves to be cited?"
From my experience running SEO and GEO campaigns for B2B companies, the best practices for search and AI visibility are converging. What ranks organically impacts what LLMs source and cite. The fundamentals never changed. They just matter more now.
LLMs have driven the marginal cost of commodity content to zero. Any organization with AI access can produce content that hits every traditional optimization checkbox. The floor has risen. The ceiling hasn't. For a deeper dive into how this shift impacts SEO strategy, see our guide on SEO After LLMs.
TL;DR
- Organic rankings directly influence AI citations. Rank well in search, get cited by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity.
- Commodity content is now table stakes. Differentiation requires proprietary data, expertise, or specific access.
- Each section must stand alone. If AI can't understand it without context, it won't cite it.
- Structure matters: FAQs, lists, steps, and tables are extraction-ready formats AI prefers.
- The bottleneck isn't writing. It's extraction. Getting unique insights out of your organization.
Audit Your Content
Before we dive into strategies, let's assess your content. Answer honestly. This is for you.
Most content audits score 3-4 out of 8. That's the gap. The strategies below help you push toward 6-8.
The Economic Shift: Why Old Playbooks Fail
What used to require a writer, an editor, and a week of work can now be simulated in seconds. The question shifted from "is this content optimized?" to "why can't a competitor produce this in 30 seconds?"
If the answer is "they can," the content provides coverage but not advantage.
Left side = table stakes for SEO coverage. Right side = source of competitive advantage.
The 15 Strategies That Work
These aren't theories. They're patterns from real campaigns. Each addresses how both search engines and AI systems evaluate content.
1. Make Your Content Genuinely Unique
Stop copying competitors. AI systems are trained on massive amounts of text. They know what generic content looks like. They have no reason to cite you over the original. This is why competitors getting cited instead of you is often a differentiation problem, not an optimization problem.
The bottleneck isn't writing. It's extraction. Getting unique insights out of your organization before the writing begins.
2. Cover the Full Picture
Half-baked content gets ignored. If someone asks AI about your topic and your page only covers 60% of what they need, AI will pull from a more complete source.
Does your content answer the follow-up questions before they're asked?
3. Include Expert Perspectives
Expert insights create trust. They signal experience. And they send powerful signals about authority and trustworthiness. This is a core component of entity optimization - making your brand recognizable as an authority.
Named practitioners with verifiable credentials. Contrarian takes backed by experience. Lessons from failures.
4. Show Real-World Examples
Nothing beats context from the real world. Abstract concepts get skimmed. Concrete examples get remembered and cited.
Could someone verify or replicate your example? If not, it's not specific enough.
5. Make Headings Actionable
Your headings do two jobs: help readers scan and help AI understand what each section covers. Passive headings fail at both.
Actionable headings tell readers what they'll learn. They create motivation and give AI clear signals about section content.
6. Link Strategically
Internal links help readers, crawlers, and AI understand relationships between your pages. External links boost credibility and provide context.
Connect your content. Help AI understand your site.
- Related topics: "Learn more about X"
- Go deeper: "See our full guide on Y"
- Prerequisites: "First, understand Z"
Back up claims. Build credibility with AI.
- Original research: Studies, reports
- Official docs: Vendor documentation
- Data sources: Stats, surveys, benchmarks
Every claim needs either internal evidence or external validation. AI systems can verify links, which builds trust.
7. Include Personal Experience
Learning from someone who's done the thing is infinitely more valuable than synthesized advice from someone who researched it for an afternoon.
"Best practice is..."
Generic, anyone could say
"We tried this for 3 months and it failed because..."
Specific, shows real experience
"In our testing," "From my experience," "We discovered," "What we learned." Use them authentically.
8. Use Simple Language
The skill is explaining something difficult in simple terms. Complex sentences are harder to parse and quote accurately.
B2B content works best when you focus on one channel at a time.
Start with organic search. It compounds. Then add email for nurturing. Social comes last - it's for amplification, not acquisition.
Each channel needs different messaging.
Can a smart 16-year-old understand this? If not, simplify. Short sentences. Clear structure. One idea at a time.
9. Use Clear Content Hierarchy
H2s, H3s, and H4s signal importance to both search engines and AI. They create scannable structure.
Never skip levels. Each heading should accurately describe what follows. AI uses this to understand structure.
10. Make Sections Self-Contained
This one is critical for AI visibility. Each section must be understandable on its own. If a section depends on context from earlier in the article, AI won't cite it.
"As mentioned above, it can help with the issues we discussed earlier..."
"SIEM integration reduces detection time by 67% according to Gartner."
Copy any section and paste it alone. Does it still make sense? If not, rewrite it.
11. Match Format to User Intent
If someone searches for "alternatives to [tool]," they want a list. Give them a list. Mismatched format kills performance.
| Query Intent | Best Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "Best [tool] for [use case]" | Comparison listicle | Users want options ranked |
| "How to [accomplish task]" | Step-by-step guide | Users want actionable process |
| "[Tool A] vs [Tool B]" | Head-to-head comparison | Users need decision support |
| "What is [concept]" | Definition + context | Users need foundation |
Read the intent behind the search, then deliver the format that matches. An opinion piece won't rank for a "best tools" query.
12. Support Claims with Data
Any claim that isn't backed by research or a specific source is not trustworthy. AI systems know this. They won't cite unsupported claims.
"This increases conversion"
Worthless. No evidence.
"This can increase conversion significantly"
Still vague. How much?
"This increased conversion 23% in our A/B test of 5,000 users"
Citable. Verifiable.
Fabricated stats are worse than no stats. AI cross-references claims. Stick to verifiable sources only.
13. Be Ruthlessly Specific
Generic paragraphs provide no value. They fill space without informing anyone. AI systems ignore them because they can't extract anything useful.
"This tool has many features that can help improve your workflow"
"This tool includes automated alert deduplication, which reduced alert fatigue by 40% for our mid-market clients"
Does every sentence add information the previous one didn't? Numbers, names, time frames, contexts, caveats.
14. Create Extraction-Ready Formats
Certain formats are designed to be lifted out of an article and quoted directly. AI systems love them because they're self-contained and answer-shaped. This is one reason why LLM sitemaps structure content specifically for AI extraction.
Extraction likelihood: How often AI quotes this format directly vs. paraphrasing
FAQs, numbered steps, comparison tables, key takeaway boxes. These break up text and make skimming productive.
15. Refresh Your Content Regularly
Content decays. Stats get outdated. Strategies stop working. AI systems weight freshness for fast-moving topics.
A piece that ranks #1 today can drop to page 2 within a year if competitors publish fresher takes. And AI systems actively check publication dates - they prefer recent sources for anything time-sensitive.
Citation value stays high
Becomes invisible to AI
Update stats, examples, and strategies every 3-6 months. If you can't commit to maintaining content, don't publish it.
Score Your Content Before Publishing
Before publishing, consider: could this content be generated by an LLM with a single prompt and access to public information? Here's a quick assessment:
| Dimension | Low Edge (0-1) | High Edge (2) |
|---|---|---|
| Information Source | ||
| Analysis Depth | ||
| Specificity | ||
| Point of View | ||
| Required Access |
The Real Takeaway
For most teams: Start with strategies 10, 12, and 14. Make sections self-contained, support claims with data, and add extraction-ready formats. These three changes have the highest impact for the least effort.
For established content programs: Audit existing content against this list. You probably have high-performing pages held back by fixable issues. Find them and fix them before creating new content.
For everyone: The bottleneck isn't writing. It's extraction. Pulling the differentiated insights out of your organization, turning them into content that stands out, and getting that content into the answers people actually see. Need help implementing these strategies? Explore our content strategy services or visit the GEO Hub for more tactical guides.
Gosia Podzorska
SEO Specialist at Growtika. Gosia focuses on content strategy that ranks in search and gets cited by AI systems. Specialized in B2B SaaS and tech content optimization.