There is a recurring theme in the AI SEO industry and LinkedIn discourse around AI citations: people arguing about what makes a website, brand or piece of content “citable” by AI.
Much of the debate is understandable. AI Search is still immature, the platforms are changing rapidly and nobody has a complete picture of exactly how systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini select their sources. But there is an important distinction that often gets lost.
Being eligible to be cited is not the same as giving an AI system a reason to cite you.
This is where the OPTIMUM framework separates AI Search readiness into two broad tiers.
Tier 1 is the foundation. It is about making a business understandable and accessible to machines. Crawlability, site architecture, structured data, entity clarity, consistent business information, technical signals and trust all matter. Without a coherent digital identity and a website that AI systems can access and interpret, there is little point worrying about sophisticated citation strategies.
But Tier 1 is increasingly becoming the entry ticket.
Tier 2 is where the competition starts.
Tier 2 is about creating the information and authority that gives an AI system a reason to choose one business over another. It moves beyond individual keywords and isolated articles towards connected areas of useful information that answer the questions surrounding a customer’s original query.
An AI system does not necessarily have to answer a user’s question by finding one page containing the perfect keyword. It can break that question into supporting questions, explore different sources and assemble an answer from the information it considers useful, relevant and trustworthy.
That changes the game.
The objective is no longer simply to produce a page that ranks for “best estate agent in Brighton” or “best used Porsche dealer.” It is to build a body of credible information that helps an AI system understand who you are, what you know, what you do, where you operate, who you serve and why your information is worth using.
This is why I think some of the current LinkedIn arguments about AI citations are premature.
People are trying to identify the citation factor when the reality is much more complicated. Technical accessibility matters. Entity clarity matters. Authority matters. Relevance matters. Information quality matters. Intent matters. Reputation matters. The relationship between all of these signals matters too.
We are still in the early stages of this transition.
The businesses that understand this distinction will have an advantage. They will not simply ask, “How do I get cited?”
They will ask a much better question:
“What would make an AI system choose me as a useful and trustworthy source?”
That is the real AI Search challenge.
Want to understand what this means for your business? DM me for more information about AI Search, GEO and the OPTIMUM framework. I’m building OPTIMUM in public and thanks to social media increasingly well connected with academics internationally for peer reviews and development.
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About OPTIMUM
OPTIMUM is State of the Art Digital’s AI SEO and GEO audit framework, scoring a business across seven dimensions of AI search readiness with a Now Score, a Future Score and the Delta between them. It is the methodology behind the research and terminology referenced throughout this newsletter.
About AI Search, Today and Tomorrow
AI Search, Today and Tomorrow is State of the Art Digital’s combined research study, bringing together three flagship reports on how AI search is reshaping business visibility, including the Zero-Click Economy findings referenced above. It is updated and republished on a quarterly basis as the AI search landscape develops. A copy is available on request.