Off-Page
Why it matters: Ahrefs found that branded web mentions were one of the most highly correlated factors with being recommended by AI assistants. The more mentions of your brand online, the more frequently you’ll be recommended in AI search engines.
Why it matters: AI assistants rely heavily on “best-of” lists to recommend products. Being featured in these articles can heavily increase your chances of being cited in AI answers.
Why it matters: Reddit and Quora are some of the most cited domains by AI assistants. Engaging in conversations on these platforms can help shape their answers around your products.
Why it matters: AI search engines rely heavily on external review sites to judge credibility. Having limited or poor reviews will make it difficult for AI assistants to trust and recommend your brand.
Why it matters: AI assistants need to see consistent information about a brand on multiple sources to establish consensus and trust. Having a clear company description on major social media sites, review sites, and major business listings can assist with this.
Why it matters: Ahrefs found that YouTube mentions were the #1 highest-correlated factor with getting recommended by AI assistants. The more often your brand name appears on YouTube (video titles, descriptions, transcripts), the more frequently you’ll be recommended in AI search engines.
Product Pages
Why it matters: Clearly stating all applicable product specifications (weight, dimensions, color, material, etc.) can help AI assistants understand what you sell. Without them, they may not match your product to customer needs and prompts.
Why it matters: AI needs to understand what makes your product unique and why it should be recommended. Clear differentiators can make your product more likely to be cited.
Why it matters: AI relies on clearly stated use cases to better understand who your product is for. If you don’t make it clear, AI assistants may not match your product to user needs.
Why it matters: Having an FAQ section on product pages can increase the chances of your products getting recommended by AI search engines, especially for very specific prompts.
Why it matters: AI search engines are more likely to recommend products with strong customer ratings over those without any reviews or ratings.
Why it matters: Structured data makes your product details clear to AI assistants, ensuring the accuracy of prices, ratings, availability, and other key information.
Why it matters: AI assistants like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews/AI Mode rely on product feeds when recommending products. It’s very difficult for products to be recommended if a feed has not been submitted to these platforms.
Content Strategy
Why it matters: AI bots act like personal shoppers, and buyer’s guides can help them match products to specific needs. Creating buyer’s guides can shape the conversation around your products, so AI tools are more likely to recommend your products instead of your competitors’.
Why it matters: Creating “Best of” lists that get cited can influence AI search engines to recommend your products over your competitors.
Why it matters: 64% of consumers now trust AI tools for gifting advice. Gift guides can help AI recommend your products for specific recipients or occasions.
Why it matters: Detailed pricing info and guides help AI search engines understand cost differences. Pricing conversations are lower in the funnel, and exposure in these conversations can drive sales.
Why it matters: ChatGPT commonly cites competitor comparison articles. Publishing these articles explaining your advantages over competitors can influence ChatGPT’s response.
Blog Posts
Why it matters: AI tools prioritize the beginning of a document more than the middle sections. Putting a succinct answer first makes it easier for your content to be understood, retrieved, and cited by AI search tools.
Why it matters: AI reads your headings to understand how your content is organized. A clear H1→H2→H3 structure helps AI find key answers faster and represent your content accurately.
Why it matters: Shorter, concise paragraphs are easier for AI search engines to read and summarize, allowing them to understand your content more accurately.
Why it matters: Structured tables and lists make it easier for AI to read and interpret the data. This clear formatting helps AI quickly pull your key points into answers when cited.
Why it matters: Simple language helps both people and AI understand your content more easily, making it more “citable” for AI search engines.
Why it matters: Concise answers are more likely to be used by AI than long, wordy content. AI looks for clear, direct answers and skips fluff.
Why it matters: Articles that include quotes from experts are 30% more likely to be cited by AI search engines.
Why it matters: Including statistics in articles increases the probability of being cited by 27%.
Why it matters: Articles that include sources are 20% more likely to be cited by AI search engines.
Why it matters: Structured data makes your content easier for AI systems to understand, and significantly improves the chance of being cited.
Why it matters: AI search engines heavily favor content that was recently published or at least recently updated. On average, articles cited in AI assistants were published 26% more recently than traditional Google search results.
Brand Signals
Why it matters: AI assistants trust brands with clear identities. Ahrefs found that strong E-E-A-T signals (experience, expertise, authority, and trust) likely matter for LLMs like Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Why it matters: Having a clear FAQ page can help AI assistants understand your brand and surface the correct information when customers ask about your brand and products.
Why it matters: It’s important to make your reviews and testimonials easily visible to AI assistants so they have a favorable impression of your brand.
Technical Factors
Why it matters: AI tools like ChatGPT pull information from websites to shape their answers. If you block AI crawlers, they can’t read your content and may rely on your competitors’ content instead.
Why it matters: Slow pages can cause AI tools to time out and skip your content. Faster sites are more likely to be included in AI answers.
Why it matters: Semantic HTML helps AI understand the structure of your web pages. Websites built with just <div> tags can make it harder for AI crawlers to extract your content.
Why it matters: AI tools can only read real, crawlable text. If key information is hidden in images or heavy JavaScript, AI crawlers may skip it, meaning your content won’t be used.
Reporting & Analytics
Why it matters: This AI referral dashboard pulls in your Google Analytics data to show you exactly how much referral traffic your website receives from AI search.
Why it matters: Referral traffic from AI assistants like ChatGPT is underreported in Google Analytics since many AI searchers will Google the brand before visiting the website. Asking customers directly how they heard about you can help you understand how many sales can be attributed to AI assistants.