Getting cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews: an AEO and GEO checklist

Ask an assistant for the best SEO company in Bangladesh, or the cheapest way to ship from Dhaka, and you get a short answer with a handful of sources. Being one of those sources is now a distinct channel, and it does not work exactly like ranking on page one.

মানুষ এখন সার্চের আগেই AI-কে প্রশ্ন করে। সেই উত্তরে আপনার নাম না থাকলে আপনি নেই।

Start by testing, not guessing

Write down the ten questions your buyers actually ask before choosing you. Ask each one in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Record who gets named, which pages get cited, and whether anything said about you is wrong.

Make your identity unambiguous

These systems work with entities, not keywords. They need to be confident about who you are before they will name you.

• One consistent business name, spelled identically on your site, profiles and listings.
• Organization structured data on your site, including name, URL, logo, contact details and social profiles.
• A real about page naming the people responsible, with their experience.
• Consistent descriptions of what you do across every platform. Contradictions create doubt.

Write answers a machine can lift

Answer engine optimisation is mostly structural. The information has to be extractable without interpretation.

• Put the direct answer in the first two sentences under the heading, then explain.
• Use the question itself as the heading, in the wording people use.
• Keep facts, prices, timelines and figures in plain text or simple tables, never inside images.
• Add FAQ sections with genuine questions, and mark them up with FAQPage where appropriate.
• Date your content and update it, because stale pages get passed over.

Be present where the answers come from

Generative engine optimisation is about the sources the model reaches for, which are often not your own site.

• Industry directories, association listings and reputable local publications.
• Comparison and review sites in your category, with accurate information about you.
• Genuine participation in communities where your topic is discussed, answering as an identified expert.
• Original data, surveys or documented case studies. Citable facts get cited.

Do not skip the technical basics

• Content must be server-rendered and readable without JavaScript execution.
• Do not block AI crawlers in robots.txt unless you have deliberately decided to.
• Fast pages, working canonicals and clean sitemaps still matter here.
• Valid structured data on every page type you care about.

What to measure

There is no ranking report for this yet. Track the share of your test prompts that name you, factual accuracy when you are mentioned, referral traffic from assistant domains, and branded search volume, which usually rises before referrals do.

Our AI search service runs this whole loop: prompt testing, entity work, answer content and monthly tracking alongside normal organic reporting.

A simple content pattern that AI engines quote

1. 1Put the question as a heading, using the words people actually ask.
2. 2Answer it in one or two plain sentences directly below.
3. 3Follow with detail: steps, examples, numbers with their source.
4. 4Add a short summary list or table when the topic has several options.

This pattern helps Google featured snippets and AI assistants alike, because the answer can be lifted without losing its meaning. It also helps human readers who skim.

What does not work

• Hidden text or keyword lists written only for AI crawlers.
• Mass-produced AI articles with no original information.
• Claiming awards, clients or numbers you cannot prove. AI engines cross-check sources, and wrong claims damage trust.