How do I create content that gets picked up by AI search engines? Our process
How we create content that AI search engines pick up for clients: question research, passage-level writing, crawler access, refreshes and measurement.
Clients ask us for "content that ChatGPT will pick up", and they often expect a formatting trick. There is no trick. What works is a repeatable process that starts from the questions buyers ask, writes clear answers that are easy to lift, makes sure bots can read them, and then checks what happened. Here is ours.
Step 1: find the questions and the gaps
We begin with the questions. Sales calls, support tickets, Search Console queries and People Also Ask data all feed a list. Then we group the questions by topic and persona, and add the sub-questions an engine would need to answer for each. Many engines split a prompt into sub-queries, so a page that covers only the main phrase tends to miss them.
Then we check what the client's site already answers. We run client programs on Promptwatch, and this step uses three of its features:
- Prompt Explorer suggests prompts from Search Console, ranking keywords, People Also Ask or any page, so we are not guessing.
- Query fan-outs per model show the sub-queries an engine ran.
- Content gap analysis gives coverage scores, showing which prompts the site does not answer. That list is our content roadmap.
Step 2: write passages that can be lifted
Models take a sentence or a short block. We write with that in mind.
- The answer comes first. Under each heading, the direct answer goes in the opening sentences, then the detail.
- Headings match questions where it reads naturally.
- Specifics, with sources. Names, figures, dates and conditions. We never invent a statistic to make a page sound authoritative, because it is the fastest way to lose a client's trust.
- Self-contained paragraphs. A claim that needs three paragraphs of context is hard to quote.
- Lists and tables only where the content is a list or a comparison.
- Named authors with real experience. Promptwatch supports author profiles, which we use.
For brand facts we keep a knowledge base, available from Professional, so drafts use the client's approved details instead of guessing.
Step 3: make it readable by a bot
A page the crawler cannot see cannot be picked up. Our checks:
- Main text is in server-rendered HTML.
- No login, form or cookie wall blocks key pages.
- robots.txt and CDN rules allow the bots that serve AI search, such as OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot.
- Sitemaps are current, and the site is verified in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, since Bing feeds Copilot.
- Structured data matches the page.
To confirm, Agent Analytics shows real-time, IP-verified AI crawler visits with error tracking, and crawler logs start on Professional ($245 a month). Google's guidance for site owners says its AI features follow the same search fundamentals, so none of this conflicts with classic SEO.
Step 4: publish where it counts, and be present off-site
For publishing we use the integrations: WordPress through the official plugin, Webflow including localized collections, and Framer with AI field mapping. One practical note: Framer has no per-item publish, so going live redeploys the whole site. We plan around that.
We also look beyond the client's site. Engines often cite review sites, forums, news and video. Citation analytics, including Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn reports, show which off-site sources shape the answers for a topic. Sometimes the best content move is a contribution or a mention on a source the engines already trust.
Step 5: refresh before you add
Content Refresh suggests diff-style updates to existing pages. For a client with a large archive, refreshing the pages that are close to being cited often beats writing new ones. We update facts, dates and prices, and cut anything stale.
For clients on Business, the Content Agent can plan, write and publish against visibility gaps on a schedule, using a publishing calendar, monthly budget and publish windows. We use the review inbox for most clients, so someone approves each piece. Agency plans do not include the Content Agent or AEO articles, which matters when we scope a retainer.
Step 6: measure and iterate
After publishing, we check three things: whether the crawler fetched the page, whether the page got cited for its target prompts, and whether visits from AI sources arrived. Citation Trends show first cited, ramp-up days, peak rate and decay half-life per page, which tells us how long a page keeps earning citations before it needs attention. Visitor analytics attribute AI-referred conversions. The Action Board turns the findings into a prioritized list.
Costs
Explore is free (10 prompts, ChatGPT only). Essential is $95 a month with content gap analysis. Professional is $245 with crawler logs, a knowledge base and 5 AEO articles. Business is $579 with 10 AEO articles and the Content Agent. Agency plans are $199, $399 and $799.
What we tell clients up front
No process guarantees pickup. Engines choose what to cite, and answers vary run to run. What the process does is raise the odds, show quickly where it is not working, and stop effort going into pages that are not readable or not answering anything. The unglamorous parts, such as accurate facts, plain structure and open crawler access, do most of the work.