Two years ago, when your page sat in the top 10 of Google search, it got referenced or clicked roughly 67% of the time. In my own tracking that number has fallen to closer to 38%. The page did not get worse. The way people search changed. They stopped scrolling links and started talking to Google AI mode and to assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, which read the page and answer for you.

So the goal is no longer only to rank. The goal is to be the source the AI quotes. I made a short video walking through exactly how I do this for my clients, and the full method is written out below it.

Watch: getting quoted by AI search with AEO and GEO

The short answer

To get quoted by Google AI mode and large language models, address two things beyond traditional SEO. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) gives quick, direct, concise answers to the exact questions people ask. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) optimizes your entire digital footprint so AI models will synthesize, trust, and recommend your brand. In practice that means AI instruction pages, quotable statements backed by your own statistics, full author bios, FAQs on every key page, and measuring which pages get quoted instead of where they rank.

67% citation rate from a top-10 ranking, two years ago
38% citation rate from that same position today
2 to 3 sentences is the length AI engines quote most cleanly
Monthly how often I re-audit client sites for AI visibility

AEO and GEO, Defined

Both AEO and GEO are derivatives of the SEO you already know. They do not replace it, they sit on top of it. The difference is what each one optimizes for.

AEO, Answer Engine Optimization: this focuses on the answer. You structure your content so that when an answer engine looks up a specific question, it can find and lift a clean, direct response from your page. Short, factual, unambiguous.

GEO, Generative Engine Optimization: this focuses on the whole footprint. It optimizes everything a large language model sees about you, across your site and the web, so the model will synthesize your information, trust it, and recommend your brand inside a longer conversational answer. AEO wins the snippet. GEO wins the recommendation.

"Ranking gets you on the page. Being quotable gets you into the answer. Those are now two different jobs."

The Five Things That Get My Clients Quoted

Google AI mode works differently from the live search index, so you have to adjust your website accordingly. These are the five moves that have been working, in the order I usually apply them.

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1. AI instruction pages

Add pages that state plainly who you are and how you should be described. Do not make the model guess. Tell it your name, what you do, who you serve, and the exact phrasing you want it to use when it talks about you.

✓

2. Write so AI can quote you

Make your key points two to three sentences long, self-contained, and built around your own original statistics. The numbers have to be correct, so double-check them. A clean, sourced, quotable statement is what gets lifted into an answer.

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3. Full author bios

When you describe the author, give the full bio. Models attribute trust to identifiable, credentialed people. A named expert with a real history is far more quotable than anonymous copy.

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4. FAQs on every key page

I add FAQs across all my clients' pages, and this genuinely helps with AEO and GEO. A question followed by a concise answer is the exact shape an answer engine is looking for, so give it that shape on purpose.

The fifth move is about measurement, and it is where most people are still looking in the wrong place. Stop focusing on rankings the way you used to. Start looking at which pages are getting quoted. Then audit and refresh the site frequently so the gaps get filled before they cost you visibility.

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5. Audit and refresh monthly

I built an agent for my clients that checks each site for SEO, AEO, and GEO on a monthly basis. It searches and audits the entire website and tells me where the gaps are, so when a page needs an extra statistic, a quotable statement, or an FAQ to get cited, that is exactly what we add. AI search rewards freshness, so this is not a one-time project.

Measure Citations, Not Rankings

The old scoreboard was position one through ten. The new scoreboard is whether your brand shows up when someone asks the AI a real question. Here is the shift in plain terms.

The Old Scoreboard
  • Keyword ranking position
  • Total organic impressions
  • Clicks from the blue links
  • One page optimized per keyword
  • Updated when traffic drops
The New Scoreboard
  • How often you are quoted in AI answers
  • Which exact sentences get lifted
  • Whether the model recommends you by name
  • Quotable statements and FAQs per page
  • Refreshed on a monthly audit cycle

The practical test takes ten minutes. Open Google AI mode and the major assistants, ask the questions your customers actually ask, and write down whether you appear, what gets quoted, and who gets recommended instead of you. That gap is your roadmap.

Key Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) focuses on providing quick, direct, concise answers to the specific questions people ask, so an answer engine can lift your response cleanly. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) focuses on optimizing your entire digital footprint so large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini will synthesize, trust, and recommend your brand inside their longer conversational answers. Both are extensions of traditional SEO. AEO targets the answer, GEO targets the whole footprint and the trust signals around it.

Two years ago a top-10 organic ranking translated into being referenced or clicked a large share of the time. As people shifted to asking Google AI mode and chat assistants directly, the answer is now synthesized on the results page, so a high ranking no longer guarantees a visit or a citation. In my own tracking the share has fallen from roughly 67% to closer to 38%. Ranking still helps, but being structured so an AI can quote you is now the deciding factor.

Five things work for my clients. First, add AI instruction pages that state plainly who you are and how to describe you. Second, write quotable two to three sentence statements backed by your own original, verified statistics. Third, include a full author bio so the model can attribute expertise. Fourth, add FAQs to every key page. Fifth, stop measuring keyword rankings and start measuring which pages get quoted, then audit and refresh the site on a monthly basis to fill the gaps.

Track citations, not positions. Ask the major AI engines the questions your customers ask, and record which of your pages get named, quoted, or linked. Watch how often your brand appears in AI answers for your core topics, and note which exact sentences get lifted. I run this as a monthly audit with an agent that checks each client site for SEO, AEO, and GEO coverage and flags where a quotable statement, statistic, or FAQ is missing.

Sources

The 67% and 38% figures reflect citation and engagement shifts I track across my own client work as search moved from blue links to AI answers. Treat them as directional from practitioner observation, alongside the published research above.

Dahlia Imanbay

Dahlia Imanbay

AI Strategist and Fractional CMO. I build AI systems for small businesses and mission-driven organizations, including agents that keep their websites visible in AI search. I write honestly about what works, what does not, and what the research actually shows. Based in the US, working globally.

Want your site quoted by AI, not skipped?

I help small businesses and mission-driven teams get found in AI search with AEO and GEO, including a monthly audit agent that keeps your pages quotable. If your traffic is slipping while AI answers take over, let's look at where you are losing citations and fix it.

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