Get recommended in AI search

When a buyer asks ChatGPT which product to use in your category, one brand gets named first. That brand gets the click, the trial and often the sale. This guide is the full playbook for becoming that brand, and how to run it in GetIntel.

TL;DR

1. Find out where you stand on the questions that matter.
2. Find the sources making AI recommend your rivals.
3. Get your brand onto those sources: the fast track.
4. Publish pages AI wants to cite: the slow track.
5. Join the Reddit threads AI already cites, early.
6. Make sure engines can read your site.
7. Watch the leading indicators.
8. Measure the business impact.

Why AI recommendations work differently

Google ranks pages. AI engines read sources and write an answer. The brands that get recommended are the ones named repeatedly, and favourably, across the pages the engine reads while forming that answer: comparison articles, review sites, Reddit threads and the brands’ own pages.

Those sources aren’t random. For each question, engines return to a fairly stable set of pages they trust. Getting your brand into those pages, or publishing a better one, is how you move from absent to recommended. It helps in Google too: the same comparison article and the same Reddit thread often rank there as well.

Step 1 — Find out where you stand

Open Topics. Every buyer question is grouped into a topic and scored on its own, so you can see where you win and where a rival does.

Make sure your questions cover two kinds of intent:

• Buying questions: “best [category] tool”, “[category] for agencies”, “alternative to [rival]”. Being named first here is a direct lead.
• Research questions: “how do I…”, “what is…”. These shape which sources engines trust, even when no product is named.

What to look for: topics with the status Not found, and losing or Found, but losing to rivals on subjects that matter to revenue. Pick two or three to start. Missing a question buyers really ask? Add prompt.

Step 2 — Find what’s working for your competitors

Open Sources. It lists every page engines cited across your questions, ranked by how many answers cite it.

What to look for:

• The formats that win. If “best [category] tools” lists dominate, that is the format to be in. If review sites dominate, those are your targets.
• Weak incumbents. An old, thin or outdated page cited often is vulnerable to a better one.
• Your rival’s footholds. Open Competitors → View details on the rival leading your topics and read Pages AI cites for them. These are the exact pages keeping them ahead.

Step 3 — Get mentioned on sites AI already trusts (fast track)

Publishing your own page takes time to earn trust. A faster, parallel track is getting your brand named on pages engines already cite. A mention on a trusted page can change answers as soon as engines read it again.

Work your Off-Page tasks: they list the lists, reviews and marketplaces that cite rivals but not you. Prioritize by how many answers cite the page.

• Lists and roundups: ask the author to include you. Make it easy: a one-line description, who it suits, pricing and a link.
• Review sites and marketplaces: claim and complete your profile, and ask customers for reviews.

A brand mention helps even without a link: engines read the words on the page, not just its links. See Get listed where AI looks.

Step 4 — Publish pages AI wants to cite (slow track)

A single strong page can earn citations across many questions for months. Work your On-Page tasks, and use each topic’s Content tab to see the facts engines compare and what the cited pages have in common.

What makes a page get cited:

• Clear headings that match the question being asked.
• Structured comparisons: tables, numbered lists, plain pros and cons.
• A neutral, factual tone. Engines cite pages that read like references, not sales pages.
• Current information. Outdated pages lose citations over time.
• Density. Useful detail beats length.

Name your brand where it genuinely fits, and be honest about who it suits. Your coding agent can make these changes for you: see Ship fixes with your coding agent.

Step 5 — Join the conversations AI already cites

Engines cite Reddit heavily for recommendation questions, and a well-received thread can stay a source for months. Open Reddit and look for threads with the AI cites badge: these are already shaping answers.

Read the thread, answer the question properly, and mention your product only where it genuinely helps, saying that you work on it. We do this for GetIntel itself, and it has brought us signups. See Get cited through Reddit.

Step 6 — Make sure engines can read you

None of this works if engines can’t reach your pages. Open Technical and fix anything under Reach or Index & Read first, especially bots blocked by robots.txt or a firewall. See AI crawlers show nothing, or a bot is blocked.

Step 7 — Watch the leading indicators

Topic scores move last. Earlier signals show whether you are on track:

• AI crawlers: engines reading a page more often usually comes before it gets cited.
• Your pages: new pages appearing under Cited, and fewer under Losing citations.
• Sources: pages you worked on starting to cite you.

What you see on a page	What it means	What to do
Read by AI crawlers, not cited	Engines are considering it but prefer other sources.	Sharpen it: clearer headings, a comparison table, the facts from the topic’s Content tab.
Read and cited	Your best page for that topic.	Keep it current and link to it from related pages.
Not read at all	Engines aren’t finding it.	Check it’s in your sitemap, linked internally and not blocked.

Step 8 — Measure the business impact

AI visibility matters because it brings buyers. Two ways to see it:

• Ask. Add “How did you hear about us?” to your signup or demo form, with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google and Reddit as options. People who found you through an AI answer know it, and no analytics tool captures that as well.
• AI visitors. In Analytics → AI visitors, see the people arriving from AI assistants and the pages they land on.

What to expect

• Days to a couple of weeks: mentions on already-cited pages and helpful Reddit replies can start to show in answers.
• A few weeks to a month: new and updated pages start being read and cited.
• One to three months: topic scores and win rates move steadily as the sources shift.

Tip

AI visibility compounds. Once your brand is in a cited page or thread, engines keep reading it, which makes the next citation easier. The sources that shape answers in your category are forming now.