How I Managed to Rank in AI Search (With Little Effort)

Everyone wants to know how to rank in AI search these days. Heck, I even started a podcast, Found in AI, to help us cut through the clutter on LinkedIn (looking at you, LinkedIn bros) and find out what’s really working to get our brands cited in AI engines.

Happy to report: I’ve officially won coveted ground in ChatGPT’s citations.

Today, I’m breaking down what I did to rank in AI search and how I discovered the traction.

The Step-by-Step on How to Rank in AI Search

1. The Setup

I’ve been experimenting with GEO (or generative engine optimization) on my site for a few months now. 

Admittedly, I fell off the wagon on creating new content (minus my podcast) because… well, life, clients, and deadlines that happened all at once. (If you run your own fractional content strategy business, you know what I’m talking about.)

But with each post I did publish, I tried to be intentional with my efforts. I focused on:

• Building authority to satisfy EEAT
• Improving scannability
• Structuring content so it’s easy for both readers and AI models to parse

Basically, no keyword stuffing. And, I wrote for humans—not the bots. 

Recently, something new showed up in my Jetpack stats: visitors from my bestie, ChatGPT.

Jetpack doesn’t tell me which post those clicks came from. But a little detective work pointed back to one specific article I wrote in July, Thought Leadership Examples: What Startups Get Wrong—and How to Get It Right

That’s the one ChatGPT started citing (more on how I know this, for sure, in a minute).

2. What I Tested

Listen, this wasn’t some formal SEO experiment. It was kind of more like where consistency meets curiosity. 

I wanted to see whether structuring content for clarity—not our good friend, complexity— could help my blog post rank in AI search.

Here’s what I focused on:

• Scannability: short paragraphs, descriptive headers, and natural subtopics.
• Contextual linking: linking to real experts on LinkedIn instead of faceless corporate blogs.
• Authority signals: clean sourcing and original commentary
• Freshness: occasional content updates to older posts (like new examples, new dates).

In other words: Write like a human and for a human, but format like an algorithm will be reading it.

3. How I Found My Citation

When I saw “ChatGPT” show up as a traffic source, I wanted to know exactly which post was getting the citation. 

(I’m nosy, I can’t help it. But also, this was exciting! GEO feels a little like the Wild, Wild West. I like being at the forefront of it.)

So here’s how I did:

• I opened ChatGPT in incognito mode 
• Tested a few prompts that felt related to my content

The one that did it: “I need to see a blog post on thought leadership examples.”

ChatGPT responded and cited my July article above Semrush and other big players (!!).

Not going to lie, super cool to see a personal blog surface next to major SEO publishers, especially for something as competitive as thought leadership content.

Pro tip: Always test in incognito mode and signed out of ChatGPT. AI models learn from your behavior. Incognito acts like a clean slate, showing you what others might see from the same prompt.

4. Why It Matters

This GEO experiment matters because so many marketers are staring at their dashboards, wondering how to rank in AI search or win citations in ChatGPT and Perplexity.

The good news is that ranking in the AI answer engines is possible, even without massive domain authority, backlinks, or technical SEO.

What worked for me:

• Structuring posts for clarity and context instead of chasing keywords
• Citing credible humans, not faceless sites
• Using fresh, specific examples instead of generalized advice
• Staying consistent, even if you’re not publishing daily

AI models value clarity, consistency, and contextual authority. They ignore many of the traditional signals that Google still relies on.

That shift opens a massive opportunity for small teams and independent marketers. If your content is well-structured, scannable, and genuinely helpful, it can appear right beside major publishers in AI results.

How I Plan to Keep Ranking in AI Search

Obviously, I’m going to keep creating valuable content, but the how might change as GEO best practices emerge.

Next up, I’m testing how AI search engines decide who gets cited, especially when it comes to:

• Content freshness
• Brand mentions
• Author and entity signals

If we haven’t met yet….

Hi, I’m Cassie, CMO and fractional content strategist for early-stage startups.I build content programs that connect strategy with execution: clear positioning, scalable systems, and content that actually drives revenue. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start growing, here’s how we can work together.

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