AI assistants now answer questions your customers used to type into Google. When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity “who’s the best SEO agency in Brisbane?”, the assistant names a handful of businesses and cites a handful of sources. You either get cited or you don’t.

The good news: getting cited is not a black box. AI assistants pull from the open web, from third-party sites, and from sources they already trust. Make yourself easy to find, easy to quote and clearly credible, and you sharply improve your odds. Below are the concrete steps.

This post is the tactical how-to for the AI assistants themselves. For the strategy that ties it all together, read our guide to AI search optimisation.

1. Publish clear question-and-answer content

AI assistants are built to answer questions, so they favour content that already reads like an answer. Give them the raw material.

Pose a real question as a heading, then answer it plainly in the first sentence or two before you elaborate. Skip the throat-clearing intro. A page structured as “What does an SEO audit cost in Brisbane?” followed by a direct answer is far easier for an assistant to lift and cite than three paragraphs of preamble.

This is the single fastest lever for how to get cited by ChatGPT, because it matches the exact shape of the output the assistant is trying to produce.

2. Earn mentions and citations on third-party sites

This is the big one, and most businesses under-invest in it. AI assistants do not just read your website. They read what other people say about you, and they lean heavily on lists.

When someone asks Perplexity for “the top digital marketing agencies in Brisbane,” it very often pulls from a listicle: “10 Best SEO Agencies in Brisbane,” a directory page, a roundup on an industry blog. If your name is on those lists, you get surfaced. If it isn’t, you’re invisible no matter how good your own site is.

To get mentioned in Perplexity and cited by other assistants, actively pursue:

  • Inclusion in “best of” and “top X” listicles in your industry and city.
  • Reputable business directories relevant to your sector.
  • Guest contributions, quotes and mentions in industry publications.

Third-party citations are how AI decides you’re a real, credible option worth naming.

3. Get and maintain reviews

Reviews are trust signals that AI reads directly. Google reviews, industry-specific review platforms and reputable aggregators all feed the picture an assistant builds of your business.

Volume, recency and rating all matter. A business with 120 recent four- and five-star reviews reads as a safe recommendation. Six reviews from three years ago does not. Ask satisfied clients as a standing habit, respond to what you get, and keep the flow steady rather than doing one panicked push a year.

4. Strengthen your brand as a recognisable entity

AI assistants think in terms of entities: distinct, identifiable things they can be confident about. The clearer and more consistent your business looks across the web, the more confidently an assistant will name you.

Tighten these:

  • Consistent NAP. Your business name, address and phone number should match exactly everywhere they appear, from your site to your Google Business Profile to every directory.
  • Author credentials. Put real, named authors on your content with genuine bios and expertise. AI increasingly weighs who is saying something, not just what is said.
  • Structured data. Add Organization and About schema so machines can read your identity without guessing. FAQPage schema on your answer content helps assistants parse the questions you answer.

Consistency compounds. Every matching signal makes you a more trustworthy entity to get cited by AI.

5. Make sure AI crawlers can access your site

None of the above matters if the assistants can’t read your pages. Several AI systems use their own crawlers (for example GPTBot and PerplexityBot), and some site owners block them by accident through an overzealous robots.txt, a firewall rule, or a security plugin set too aggressively.

Check that your robots.txt does not disallow the AI user agents you want to reach you, and that your hosting or CDN isn’t quietly returning errors to them. If you want to be cited, let the crawlers in. The same technical hygiene that helps you optimise for Google AI Overviews pays off twice here, since clean crawlability and schema serve both.

6. Keep information factual, current and easy to quote

Assistants prefer sources they can trust to be right and won’t be embarrassed to cite. Stale or vague content works against you.

Keep prices, statistics, service lists and claims current, and date your content so freshness is visible. State facts plainly and specifically. “We’ve delivered SEO for Brisbane businesses since 2004” is quotable. “We have years of experience” is not. Where you can, back claims with a source. The more you read like a reliable reference, the more you get treated as one.

7. Be present on the sources AI leans on

AI assistants have favourite wells. Reddit, YouTube and established industry roundups come up again and again in their citations because they’re rich, current and community-vetted.

You don’t need to be everywhere, just present and genuinely helpful where your buyers ask questions and where AI goes looking. If there’s an active subreddit in your niche, contribute real value there. If your topic suits video, a helpful YouTube presence can be cited directly. Pick the two or three sources that fit your business and show up properly.

8. Understand what you can and can’t buy

An honest note: you cannot buy a ChatGPT ranking. There’s no ad slot, no “sponsored citation,” no button that puts you in the answer. Anyone selling you a guaranteed spot is selling smoke.

The ability to rank in ChatGPT and other assistants is earned through exactly the trust and citation signals above. That’s actually good news, because it means the work is durable and can’t be outbid overnight. Do the steps, build the trust, and the citations follow.

Where to start

If you do only three things this quarter: publish genuine Q&A content, get onto the listicles and directories that already rank for your key queries, and keep your reviews fresh. Those cover the fastest-moving levers.

For the full picture, including how AEO and GEO fit together, see our AEO and GEO services overview. If AI still isn’t citing you once the basics are in place, that usually points to weak entity signals or thin third-party presence, which is exactly where a focused engagement helps.

FAQ

How do I get my business cited by ChatGPT?

Publish clear question-and-answer content on your site, earn mentions on third-party sites and listicles that AI already reads, keep your reviews current, and make sure AI crawlers can access your pages. Citation is earned through trust signals, not bought.

How long does it take to get mentioned in Perplexity?

There’s no fixed timeline. Getting added to a well-ranked listicle or directory can surface you within weeks, while building broad entity trust across reviews, mentions and consistent data takes months. The more third-party sources name you, the faster it compounds.

Can I pay to rank in ChatGPT or Perplexity?

No. There’s currently no way to buy a citation or ranking in these assistants. Visibility is earned through credible content, third-party mentions, reviews and a strong, consistent brand entity. Treat any “guaranteed placement” offer with suspicion.

Is getting cited by AI the same as SEO?

It overlaps heavily. Strong traditional SEO, clean technical hygiene and quality content all help you get cited by AI, but AI assistants add extra weight to third-party citations, entity clarity and quotable, answer-first formatting.