AUG '26 INDEXThe August 2026 Cited Index is live — See where Indian brands stand in AI search
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In Indian Skincare, Gemini Reads Your Website and ChatGPT Doesn't

Run the same skincare prompt through Gemini and ChatGPT and they read almost opposite sources: Gemini pulls 62% of its citations from brand sites, ChatGPT just 26%. That 36-point split, plus Instagram as the top source overall, decides whether your website or your off-site presence does the work.

By Salman ShaikhRead article →
GEO Tactics6 min read

How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your D2C Brand (It Is Not Amazon)

Ask ChatGPT for the best sunscreen or earbuds in India and it does not read Amazon to answer. In the Cited Index, editorial and your own site are its two biggest D2C sources, with community close behind, and marketplaces are just 8%. Here is where the recommendation is actually built.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics6 min read

The B2B SaaS Playbook for Winning 'Alternatives' Queries in AI Search

When a buyer asks an AI engine for alternatives to a CRM, the answer is built almost entirely from brand websites. In the Cited Index, 84% of CRM citations are brand sites and marketplaces barely register. It is the one category where you can publish your way into the answer, and most teams do not.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics5 min read

How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your SaaS for 'Best Software' Queries

When a buyer asks ChatGPT for the best software, it builds the shortlist from a specific set of sources. In the Cited Index, 72% of what it cites for B2B software are brand websites, and the review sites most teams optimize for barely register. Here is where the answer is actually decided.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics8 min read

On-Site vs Off-Site: Where Your AEO/GEO Effort Actually Pays Back

A single brand's own website is a sliver of its category's AI citations. But the share landing on brand websites at all swings from 84% in Conversational AI to 27% in Audio & Wearables. That per-category number, not the overall one, is the allocation call that matters, and the off-site half is now community and editorial, not marketplaces.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics8 min read

5 On-Site Content Mistakes Killing Your AI Citation Rate (And How to Fix Each in an Afternoon)

A brand's own website is only a small share of its category's AI citations, but it is still the surface engines land on when they cite you. Five on-site mistakes strip that surface of the signals engines use to pick you, and each fix takes an afternoon.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics9 min read

The Reddit AI Visibility Gap Between ChatGPT Modes: A Cited Index Category Cut for Indian D2C

ChatGPT's new Thinking mode cites a different web than instant mode. Reddit's share drops sharply on reasoning queries, the exact prompts where high-consideration buyers spend time. Cited Index B1 shows which Indian D2C categories leaned hardest on Reddit and community sources, and are therefore most exposed.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics7 min read

Author Attribution: The Universal Mid-Tier GEO Weakness Across the June 2026 Cited Index

27 of 70 mid-tier brands across 10 Cited Index categories fail Author Attribution. It's an hour of HTML and JSON-LD work, and it's the single biggest delta between mid-tier and top-tier in the dataset.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics10 min read

How LinkedIn Became the #2 Source AI Chatbots Cite — And What It Means for Your Content Strategy

Semrush analysed 89,000 LinkedIn URLs cited across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. The finding that should change your LinkedIn strategy: you don't need virality. Most cited posts have just 15-25 reactions.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics7 min read

Reddit for Indian D2C: The GEO Play Nobody's Talking About

Reddit is the #1 most-cited domain by Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and #2 by ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Indian D2C brands treat Reddit like it doesn't exist. That disconnect is a GEO opportunity hiding in plain sight.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics9 min read

llms.txt: The File That Tells AI Models What Your Brand Is About

llms.txt tells AI models what your brand is about — like robots.txt, but for LLMs. Here's how to create one, with Cited's real implementation as a case study and a ready-to-use template.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics8 min read

LinkedIn Is Now the #1 Source AI Chatbots Cite. Here's How Indian Brands Should Respond

LinkedIn surged from #20 to #1 as the most-cited domain for professional AI queries. Your LinkedIn content is now directly feeding AI recommendations — and most Indian brands are treating it like a personal branding playground.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics10 min read

How to Write Product Pages That ChatGPT Will Recommend

Most Indian D2C product pages are built to convert humans, not to get cited by AI. Here's the 5-element framework that makes your product pages extractable by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →
GEO Tactics8 min read

The Biggest Influencer Your Brand Is Ignoring (It's Not a Human)

LLMs are already the most powerful recommendation engines on the internet. They have 900M+ weekly users, operate 24/7, cost ₹0 to appear in organically — and most Indian brands have no idea this channel exists.

· By Salman ShaikhRead →