For twenty years the game was simple: rank first on Google, win the click. That game still matters, and we track it daily. But a growing share of customers now see exactly one answer, written by an AI, before they see any list of links. In that world the question is no longer only "where do we rank?". It is "does the AI mention us, and does it cite us?".
Mentioned versus cited
A mention is your business named in the answer text. A citation is stronger: your website linked as a source, one click from a customer. Perplexity cites almost everything it says. ChatGPT cites when its web search is involved. Google's AI Overviews cite a handful of sources above the traditional results. Every citation slot is a tiny, winnable piece of property.
How the engines choose who to quote
The pattern across thousands of tracked answers is surprisingly consistent. The engines quote pages that answer the question directly, in plain text, with specifics. If someone asks what a service costs, the AI cites whoever publishes real numbers. If someone asks who serves a town, it cites pages that name the town. Vague brochure pages ("quality solutions tailored to your needs") give an AI nothing to quote.
That suggests a very practical to-do list:
- Publish a transparent pricing or price-guide page, even a ranged one. Cost questions dominate.
- Write a page per real question customers ask, with the answer in the first paragraph.
- Name your towns and counties in text, not just in a map widget.
- Add structured data so the facts (name, area, prices, reviews) are machine-readable.
- Keep search bots unblocked, or none of the above will ever be read.
Measure it like you measure rankings
None of this is worth doing blind. The way forward is the same discipline rank tracking brought to SEO: put your real customer questions to ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity on a schedule, record who was mentioned and who was cited, and watch the trend. When your mention rate moves after you publish that pricing page, you know the work paid for itself.