LinkSurge Blog

AI search doesn't quote whole articles. It lifts individual heading sections (blocks) into its answers. Using our analysis of 277 real citations, this beginner's guide shows where citations actually come from, the four ways a section fails to stand alone and how to fix them, and how to check your pages with LinkSurge's heading optimization analysis.

AI search splits one question into several searches to gather information, a technique called query fan-out. Based on Google's own description, this beginner's guide covers how it works, five types of sub-queries, and how to see the real sub-queries for your keywords and turn them into headings, using LinkSurge's query fan-out analysis.

What do pages cited in Google AI Overviews have in common? Drawing on Google's official guide, an expert survey and our own citation data, this beginner's guide covers three shared traits, how to compare your article with the pages that get cited, and how to do it with LinkSurge's AIO optimization analysis.

A beginner's guide to checking which keywords your site is cited for in Google AI Overviews. What Search Console's generative AI report does and doesn't show, three ways to check, and how to read a keyword visibility report, step by step.

Zyppy's September 2026 survey of 130+ search experts ranks 13 Google AI ranking factors. Crawl access (+2.20), query-answer match (+2.15) and brand memory in the LLM (+2.08) lead; structured data scores +0.80 and llms.txt +0.05. Here is what each factor means and the order to work in.

Using Ahrefs' Japan data (May–Sept 2025, April 2026, June 2026) and its industry breakdown (automotive, IT, food), this article maps the domains ChatGPT cites for Japanese queries, explains why English Wikipedia outranks Japanese Wikipedia, shows that in Ahrefs' English-language data only 32.3% of ChatGPT's top 1,000 citations are within marketers' direct reach and the remaining roughly 67% are not, and gives a method for mapping citation sources in any market.

In August 2026, Reddit's share of ChatGPT Search citations fell from 3.8% to 0.5% in four days, and YouTube and TikTok citations dropped 70 to 90 percent. Using Promptwatch and Petra Labs data, this article traces what happened, where the citations went, and how to build a source-diversified, continuously measured strategy that survives the next shift.

ChatGPT search runs on three index layers (Bing, Google and OpenAI's own index) and splits one question into 7+ hidden sub-queries. Built on OpenAI's official docs and 2026 data from Ahrefs, Peec AI, Profound and Lily Ray, this pillar guide covers how ChatGPT retrieves and cites, what to fix first, and how to measure it.

Wallabee's analysis of 81,895 AI answers found up to 42.84% of ChatGPT responses cite a press release, 60.5% of them on PR TIMES. Sighted's 1,056-run test identified the elements that get a release cited (five for research reports, four for product launches) and the query wording that decides between the press release and the official site. A Japan case study with lessons for any market.