1st in ChatGPT

Cited #1 across AI answer engines for a B2B SaaS

Buyers had started building shortlists by asking ChatGPT and Perplexity — and our client was invisible in those answers while a louder competitor got named every time. We re-engineered the brand to be the most citable source in its category.

ClientB2B SaaS
IndustryB2B workflow software
Timeframe6 months
Services
GEOAEOContent & Keywords
#1cited source in ChatGPT
4 of 5answer engines citing the brand
+57%branded search demand
+34%demo requests from research-stage buyers
The challenge

Traditional rankings were healthy, but the AI answer layer was a blind spot quietly shaping shortlists before a single page view. When prospects asked engines for tools in the category, the model named a rival — and our client wasn't even in the consideration set.

  • Absent from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini answers for category queries
  • Content written for humans, not extractable by language models
  • Weak entity footprint — engines didn't understand the product's relationships
  • A noisier competitor owning the AI 'recommendation' narrative
The strategy

Getting cited by an AI engine is its own discipline. We worked the three levers that decide whether a model trusts and retrieves you.

01

Engineer citable answers

We mapped the exact questions buyers ask engines and built structured, extractable answers a model can lift verbatim.

  • Question-to-answer content mapped to real prompts
  • Concise, self-contained passages models can quote
  • FAQ and how-to schema for machine readability
02

Strengthen the entity

We made the product unmistakable to language models — what it is, who it's for, and how it relates to the category.

  • Entity + product schema and consistent NAP/brand data
  • Knowledge-panel and Wikidata-grade reference signals
  • Clear category and competitor relationship framing
03

Seed the corpus

A digital-PR push placed authoritative mentions across the sources AI engines train on and retrieve from.

  • Earned mentions in trusted industry publications
  • Comparison and 'best tools' placements
  • Review-platform presence reinforcing the narrative
The trajectory
Answer engines citing the brand
M0M1M2M3M4M5M6

Citation footprint expanded engine by engine as entity and corpus signals compounded.

The results
Cited in ChatGPT
No#1 source
Engines citing brand
0 of 54 of 5
Branded search demand
Baseline+57%
Research-stage demos
Baseline+34%

Six months in, the brand became the default answer when buyers asked AI engines for tools in the category — cited first in ChatGPT and named across four of the five major engines. Branded search climbed as that visibility compounded, and sales started hearing 'I saw you recommended by ChatGPT' on discovery calls.

The AI-search work is what set them apart — we get cited in ChatGPT and Perplexity, and it's driving real pipeline.
Marcus KleinFounder, Northwind SaaS
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