Key takeaways
- If your content only loads after JavaScript, many AI crawlers never see it. Test with JavaScript off.
- Put a direct 30 to 40 word answer right under the heading so engines can lift it.
- Entity basics - consistent name, an About page, sameAs links - decide whether you get cited at all.
- Headings are the table of contents an engine reads. Make them describe the section, not tease it.
Updated 14 May 2026. Refreshed for current AI crawler behaviour.
Everyone wants to be quoted in AI answers. Most sites have a more basic problem to fix first: the engine cannot read the page properly. Worth checking that before you spend a budget on anything fancier.
Here is the order I work through it.
Read the page the way a machine does#
Open the page source, not the rendered page. Better still, fetch it with curl and look at what comes back. If your main content only appears after JavaScript runs, a lot of AI crawlers will not see it.
Quick version: turn JavaScript off in your browser and reload. If the heading, the answer and the body text are still there, you are fine. If the page goes blank, that is your first job.
Put the answer near the top#
AI engines lift short, direct passages. If the answer to "what does this product do" sits in paragraph nine, it loses to a competitor who said it in paragraph one.
Give the page a direct 30 to 40 word answer right under the heading. Then the detail underneath for the people who want it. You are writing for a skim and a quote at the same time.
Make it clear who you are#
An engine has to be confident you are a real, specific thing before it will put your name in an answer. That means a consistent business name, a proper About page, and sameAs links out to places that confirm you exist - LinkedIn, Companies House, your professional profiles. Organization schema ties it together.
This is the unglamorous part of GEO work, and it is usually where the gap is.
Check your headings describe the content#
Headings are the table of contents an engine reads first. "Our approach" tells it nothing. "How I price a technical SEO audit" tells it exactly what the section answers. Write headings as if someone will only read those.
Schema that matches the page#
Add Article, FAQPage or Organization where they genuinely fit. Schema is not decoration and it will not rescue thin content. It confirms what the visible page already says, in a format the machine cannot misread.
The five-minute test#
Ask ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity a question your page should be the best answer to. See who gets named. If it is not you, and the page exists, one of the points above is almost always the reason.
Start there before you think about anything more advanced. A page the engine cannot read cannot be cited, no matter how good the writing is.
Frequently asked
Do AI search engines read JavaScript?
Is schema enough to get cited by AI?
How do I check if my page gets cited?
