AI-search work starts with accessible, useful source pages and a clear observation method. Different products expose different evidence. A crawler visit, citation, referral session and conversion are four distinct observations.
Choose the task you need
| Task | Guide |
|---|---|
| Understand the terminology | What GEO means |
| Prioritize limited time | GEO versus SEO for a small business |
| Review an article | AI-search content checklist |
| Separate observations from traffic | Citation tracking |
| Interpret Microsoft's own report | Bing AI Performance |
| Check search versus training policy | GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot controls |
| Investigate Perplexity access | Perplexity citations |
Build a useful source, then observe
Keep claims attributable, use real author information and add examples that complete the reader's task. A fixture should say it is illustrative; a measured result should include its version, environment and limits. Avoid turning an unexplained correlation into a promised ranking factor.
Use schema guidance to separate markup vocabulary from supported search features. Use llms.txt guidance if an optional documentation index solves a real navigation problem.
For format decisions, read AEO for bloggers and featured snippets versus AI Overviews. There is no universal citation timetable or guaranteed schema/file recipe.
RankCrab's free tools and worked resources are available now. The paid workspace and live AI citation monitoring are prelaunch; request a launch notification if useful.