Short answer: To be cited, an assistant first has to be able to open your page (let AI search crawlers in and put the text in the HTML), then find an answer worth quoting (a direct first sentence, with specific numbers and names), on a page that matches the question (pricing, FAQ, comparison, how-to). Make your details consistent everywhere, and get described well on the third-party sites assistants also read. Nobody can guarantee a citation, but each step removes a reason not to be cited. Unvibe checks the on-site steps on your live site.
How assistants pick pages
Not every answer involves a citation. Sometimes an assistant answers from what it learned in training, and names nothing. But many assistants can search the web: they turn the question into searches, open some of the pages, and write the answer from what they read, often with links. Those are the answers you can be cited in.
So the job is simple to state: be a page that is easy to open, easy to understand, and contains a sentence worth quoting.
Seven things that decide it
1. Let the search crawlers in
If an assistant’s search crawler is blocked by robots.txt or turned away by your firewall, you cannot be cited. Block AI training if you want to, but keep the search crawlers allowed. The how-to is in Let AI search in, keep AI training out.
2. Put the text in the HTML
Crawlers often read the raw HTML and do not run JavaScript. If your content appears only after a script runs, there is nothing to quote. The 30-second test is to view the page source and search for a sentence from your page.
3. Answer the question in the first sentence
Assistants lift sentences. A sentence that can stand alone is a sentence that can be quoted. Write the question as a heading, and answer it directly underneath.
| Hard to quote | Easy to quote | |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | Our approach | How much does it cost to replace a water heater? |
| First sentence | Every home is different, so we like to have a conversation about your needs. | Replacing a standard tank water heater usually costs $1,200 to $2,400 installed, depending on size and fuel type. We give a fixed price before we start. |
That is an illustration for a made-up plumbing company, not real pricing. The point is the shape: a number, a condition and a promise, in one sentence.
4. Publish the pages buyers’ questions point to
A question about price is answered by a pricing page. “X vs Y” is answered by a comparison. “How do I…” by a how-to. “Do you…” by an FAQ. If you do not have the page, the assistant uses someone else’s. Start with the four that matter most: pricing, an FAQ, one comparison with the alternative buyers mention most, and an About page that says who is behind the business.
5. Be specific
“Fast, reliable and affordable” gives an assistant nothing to repeat. “Invoices in 30 seconds”, “integrates with Stripe and PayPal”, “free for up to 3 clients” do. Numbers, names, conditions and guarantees are the things that get quoted.
6. Make your details agree
If your homepage, pricing page and profiles give different prices or descriptions, an assistant has to pick one, or skip you. Keep one source of truth and render it everywhere. Your name, what you do and what you charge should read the same on every page and profile you control.
7. Get described well elsewhere
Assistants do not use only your pages. Reviews, directories, communities and comparison articles are also pages they may open. If those describe you wrongly or not at all, your own page has to carry the argument alone. Find which pages show up for your questions, and ask to be listed or corrected where it is honest to do so.
What you cannot control
- Whether the assistant searches at all. Sometimes it answers from memory.
- Which pages it picks. You can make yours easier to choose. You cannot make it choose.
- Run-to-run variation. The same question can give a different answer next time, so one result proves little.
Be wary of anyone who promises guaranteed citations. A fair claim is: these steps remove the reasons you would not be cited.
How to check whether it is working
Ask the question the way a buyer would, without naming your business, in a fresh chat. Look at the sources it shows, and whether you are among them. Write the result down, repeat weekly, and look at the trend rather than a single run. The full method is in How to check if ChatGPT recommends your business.
Where Unvibe fits
Steps 1 to 6 happen on your own site, and Unvibe checks them for you. Step 7 is about other sites, and Unvibe helps you see it.
See what AI can open, and where it looks
- Crawler access: reads robots.txt rule by rule and visits your homepage as GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot, to catch firewalls that turn them away.
- Readable HTML: counts the words a crawler receives without JavaScript, and flags pages that are empty without it.
- Buyer questions: lists the questions people in your market ask and shows which of them your pages answer, with the sentence that does.
- Where AI gets its answers (Pro and Agency): shows the pages a web-searching AI reads and cites for your questions, and drafts a message to get listed on them.
None of this guarantees a citation. It shows what stands in the way, and the next checkup confirms what you fixed. See the checkup docs and AI visibility.
Questions
Can I pay to be cited by ChatGPT?
Not for the answers an assistant writes. What you can do is make your pages easy to open and worth quoting, and make sure you are described accurately elsewhere. Be cautious of services that promise guaranteed citations.
Does structured data help me get cited?
It helps an assistant understand what your page is about and state facts like price without guessing, but it must match the visible page. It is one step, not a trick.
How long does it take to start being cited?
Nobody can say. Fixes to access and readability apply as soon as crawlers revisit your pages, but whether you are cited depends on the question, the assistant and the competition. Track it weekly and look at the trend.