How to Get Cited by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews

By Osama Naseer, SEO consultant · Last updated: 1 November 2026

To get cited by AI answer engines, first make sure the crawlers can read your site and that it is indexed. Then publish clear, sourced answers to specific questions and build a consistent identity and outside mentions. Google says AI Overviews need no special markup, so this is mostly good SEO with more emphasis on evidence. Nobody can guarantee a citation.

What does Google say about AI Overviews?

Google's guidance on AI features is more plain-spoken than most of the advice written about it. It says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. The page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet, and that is the technical bar. The guidance also says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special schema. AI Overviews have been available across the Middle East and North Africa and in Arabic since May 2025, so this already affects Saudi searchers.

Be careful with anyone selling a secret AI optimization technique for Google. The practical advice from Google is the familiar list: allow crawling, link internally, offer a good page experience, keep important content in text, and make sure any structured data matches what is visible on the page.

What about ChatGPT and other assistants?

Each system has its own crawlers and sources. OpenAI's crawler documentation separates OAI-SearchBot, which controls appearing in ChatGPT search answers, from GPTBot, which relates to model training. So you can opt out of training and still allow search. Blocking OAI-SearchBot by accident removes you from those answers. Check your robots.txt and any firewall or CDN rules, since a security setting can block a bot without anyone noticing.

What makes a page more likely to be cited?

The best-known research is the GEO paper from Princeton and collaborators, published at KDD 2024. Its authors tested rewriting content for generative engines and report visibility improvements of up to 40% in their benchmark, with results varying by subject. Adding citations, quotations and statistics were among the stronger methods, and keyword stuffing was not. It is a lab benchmark and not a promise about any particular engine, but it matches what you would expect from a system looking for reliable, quotable passages. In practice:

• Answer first. Put a complete, direct answer in the first paragraph, then explain. A passage that stands on its own is easier to quote.
• Use specific questions as headings. AI systems break broad questions into smaller ones, which Google calls query fan-out. Pages that answer those smaller questions have more chances to be used.
• Add evidence. Link to primary sources, give specific numbers, and say where they came from. Publish first-hand data if you have it, because it is hard for anyone else to copy.
• Be specific about who and where. “Cost of a dental implant in Riyadh” is easier to match than “dental services” and gives a system something concrete to cite.
• Keep pages up to date. Show a real last-reviewed date and only change it when you actually revise the content.

What does a quotable passage look like?

Compare two ways of answering the same question on a clinic's website. The figures here are placeholders to show the format, so use your own real ones.

The second version names who, where, how much and how long, and it says when the information was checked. A system can lift that passage and attribute it, and a customer can act on it. The first says nothing that could not be claimed by any clinic anywhere. Repeat that test on your important pages: if a sentence could appear on a competitor's site unchanged, it is unlikely to earn you a citation.

Why do outside mentions matter so much?

A site can describe itself perfectly and still not be recommended. When someone asks an assistant to name the best provider in a category, the answer tends to draw on what other sources say. Comparison articles, directories, reviews, press and forums all feed that picture. For most businesses this is the slowest part of the work, and the part that on-site changes cannot replace. Aim for:

• A Google Business Profile with genuine reviews, since Google recommends keeping that information current
• The same business name, services and location on your website, profiles and listings
• Mentions in credible Saudi and regional industry publications
• Inclusion in third-party comparison lists on merit, with accurate details
• Named authors with real, checkable profiles. Never invent credentials, because a system or a customer can check them

Does schema markup or llms.txt get you cited?

Schema helps machines understand who you are and what a page covers, and I add it on every project. Google is clear, though, that no special schema is needed for its AI features, and the markup must match visible text. Treat it as good hygiene, not a ranking trick. llms.txt is similar: it is cheap to maintain, but Google says you do not need it, so do not expect it to change the result.

Is Arabic a real opportunity?

I think so, with a caveat. There is less well-sourced Arabic content than English on many commercial questions, so a thorough Arabic answer may have fewer rivals. I cannot give you a reliable figure for how much easier that makes citations, and I would distrust anyone who claims one. Test it in your own category. Ask the same question in Arabic and English and compare the sources each answer uses. Thin or English-only sources in the Arabic answer suggest a real gap. Getting the Arabic right matters here too, as I explain in why translated keywords fail.

How do you measure AI visibility?

AI answers vary from one run to the next, so a single check proves little. A simple monthly routine works better:

1. Write 15 to 30 questions your customers would really ask, in Arabic and English.
2. Run each one in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google, ideally several times and from a clean session.
3. Record whether you are mentioned, whether you are linked, whether the facts are right, and which competitors and sources appear.
4. Note the third-party sources that keep appearing, since those are your best outreach targets.
5. Check Search Console too. Google reports AI feature traffic within the regular Web search data and not as a separate line.

Look for a trend over several months. Expect citations on specific long-tail questions well before broad ones like “best company in Riyadh”.

What should you do first?

Start with crawl access and indexing, because everything else depends on them. Next, rewrite your five most commercially important pages so that each one answers clearly and cites evidence. Then begin the slow work of earning mentions. My AI search optimization service follows that order, and content and link building handles the outside mentions.

Want a starting baseline? Send your site through the free audit form and I will include a check of how AI assistants currently describe your category and whether you appear.

About the author: Osama Naseer is an independent SEO consultant working with Saudi businesses in Arabic and English. How I work · LinkedIn