GEO for media companies
GEO for Media Companies: Be the Source AI Cites When Readers Ask.
LLMReach is a GEO agency for publishers, newsrooms, newsletters and podcasts. We make publications clear and credible to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini, the assistants readers ask first.
By the numbers
AI is already part of how readers choose a publication.
- of people use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini for news every week, up from 7% a year earlier.
- 10%
- of people use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini for news every week, up from 7% a year earlier.
- Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026
- drop in Google organic search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites between November 2024 and November 2025.
- 33%
- drop in Google organic search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites between November 2024 and November 2025.
- Reuters Institute, Chartbeat data, January 2026
The questions that decide who gets cited
Readers ask AI which source to trust before they click.
- Discovery: “best newsletters for marketing professionals”. The answer names a handful of newsletters, and the reader subscribes to one of them.
- Trust: “what are the most reliable news sources for US politics?”. Assistants repeat the outlets they can describe with confidence, not the ones with the most traffic.
- Beat: “which publications cover the AI industry best?”. A clear beat, named writers and archive pages give the assistant a reason to name you.
- Format: “best podcasts about personal finance”. Show pages and directory listings decide which podcasts make the list.
Most publisher sites are built for the click, not the citation. If an assistant cannot tell what you cover or why you are reliable, it names a competitor.
The basics
What is GEO for media companies?
GEO for media companies, also called AEO for media publishers, makes your publication clear for AI to cite. For a publisher, the goal is being the source the answer names.
Pew Research Center found clicks fell from 15% to 8% when an AI summary appeared. Chartbeat data shows Google organic search traffic to news sites down 33% in a year.
In our test of ten reader questions, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity named 178 publications and agreed on only 32. Many answers used curated lists and directories, not publishers' own pages.
GEO and SEO
GEO vs SEO for publishers.
Both share the same foundations, crawlable pages and authority, but they answer to different readers. This is where they differ for a publication.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| What you win | A position in Google's results and Top Stories | A citation inside the answer an assistant gives a reader |
| Where the reader sees you | A list of links, where clicks are falling when an AI summary appears | The few sources ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or AI Overviews name |
| What decides it | Relevance, freshness and links | What the assistant can confirm about your beat, your writers and your reputation |
| Sources that weigh most | Your website | Your site plus curated lists, podcast and newsletter directories and Wikipedia |
| How it is measured | Rankings, clicks and sessions | Citations across agreed reader prompts, and visits from AI assistants |
Our own results
We do this for our own brand first.
Gemini · Named
“best agency for getting cited in LLMs”
ChatGPT · Named
“agency that gets you cited in AI models”
ChatGPT · Named
“best agency for getting cited in LLMs”
AI answers vary by platform and moment, so these show the method working on those days, not a promise of identical answers.
See all resultsReal AI answers
Same question, three different answers.
We asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 10 questions your readers ask. Here is what each one answered to the same question, word for word.
of the names in their answers were given by only one of the three assistants.
Only 18% were named by all three. Counted across our 10 questions, one question at a time.
Question asked
“best newsletters for marketing professionals”
7 October 2026
- ChatGPTgpt-5-6
Named
- 1.Marketing Brewalso named by Gemini and Perplexity
- 2.Demand Curve / Growth Newsletteralso named by Gemini and Perplexity
- 3.Marketing Examplesalso named by Gemini and Perplexity
- 4.Stacked Marketeralso named by Perplexity
- 5.Moz Top 10
- 6.Really Good Emails
- 7.MarketingProfs
- 8.Content Marketing Institute
Sources cited
- Gemini3.5 Flash-Lite
Named
- 1.Marketing Brewalso named by ChatGPT and Perplexity
- 2.The Marketing Millennials
- 3.Demand Curvealso named by ChatGPT and Perplexity
- 4.Marketing Examplesalso named by ChatGPT and Perplexity
- 5.Marketing Examined
- 6.Link in Bio
- 7.Future Social
- 8.Ariyh
- +3 more
Sources cited
- Perplexitysonar
Named
- 1.Marketing Brewalso named by ChatGPT and Gemini
- 2.Demand Curvealso named by ChatGPT and Gemini
- 3.Lenny's Newsletter
- 4.Backlinko
- 5.Marketing Examplesalso named by ChatGPT and Gemini
- 6.Stacked Marketeralso named by ChatGPT
- 7.The CMO
- 8.The Weekly Scroll by Buffer
Sources cited
marketingbrew.com
dupple.com
hark.news
marketingexamples.com
moz.com
readless.app
behindthecmo.com
karolakarlson.com
chantellemarcelle.com
forbes.com
encharge.io
buffer.com
thecmo.com
zapier.com
magier.comChatGPT (gpt-5-6), Gemini (3.5 Flash-Lite) and Perplexity (sonar), asked from the US in English on 7 October 2026. Names appear as each assistant gave them, in its order; we do not rank or endorse them.
Sources
The sites AI cites in your sector.
The sites the three assistants cited most across all 30 answers: the pages AI reads before it names a publication in your sector.
- 01=cited in 3 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- 01=feedspot.comnews.feedspot.com › tech_news_websitesTop 90 Tech News Websites for Technology Enthusiasts in 2026cited in 3 of 30 answers
- Perplexity
- 01=techcrunch.comTechCrunchcited in 3 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
ChatGPT
Perplexity
- 04=cited in 2 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- 04=cited in 2 of 30 answers
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- 04=financer.com20 Best Finance Podcasts of 2026 | Financercited in 2 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- 04=cited in 2 of 30 answers
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- 04=medlineplus.govEvaluating Health Information: MedlinePluscited in 2 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- 04=cited in 2 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- 04=nutrition.govUSDA Nutrition.govcited in 2 of 30 answers
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
Gemini
Measured on 7 October 2026. Each site counts once per answer; subdomains count with their site.
Publisher types
Where GEO matters most, by type of publication.
News publishers
Readers ask assistants which outlets to trust. Clear sections, named reporters and a visible standards page help assistants confirm you.
Magazines and lifestyle media
Service journalism, guides and reviews are what AI summaries answer most directly. Being the named source keeps the brand visible.
B2B and trade publications
Professionals ask which publications cover their industry best. Defined beats, expert writers and topic hubs help assistants name trade titles.
Newsletters
Readers ask assistants for the best newsletter. Answers come from curated lists and directories. Clear archives and consistent listings help.
Podcasts
Show pages, episode descriptions and directory listings are what assistants read for recommendations. Consistent show information across them matters.
Local news
Readers want their city's best news source. Clear coverage, local beats and a recognizable brand help you beat national aggregators.
What's included
Everything an assistant needs to cite your publication.
A 90-day engagement built around your beats, your writers and the readers you want.
- Reader prompt audit across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, by beat
- Section and topic hub pages that state what you cover and who covers it
- Author pages with credentials, beats and archives, linked from every article
- NewsArticle, Organization and Person schema across articles and author pages
- A clear decision on AI crawler access in robots.txt: which assistants can read you, for search and for training
- One consistent publication profile across your site, Apple Podcasts, newsletter directories and Wikipedia where it applies
- Research into the reader communities and curated lists AI draws on
- A baseline of your AI citations, taken before work begins, and weekly updates
How it works
The Citation Stack, applied to a publication.
- 01
Prompt research
We map what readers in your beats ask AI, from "best newsletter on AI" to "most reliable source for local news". Then we agree the fifty prompts that matter.
Explore AI Prompt Research - 02
Technical optimization
AI crawlers you choose to allow can reach and read every section, author and article page. News schema is in place.
Explore Technical GEO - 03
Content
Topic hubs, explainers and author pages that say what you cover and why it is reliable, right in the first lines. Your editorial voice stays the same.
Explore AI Content Optimization - 04
Reddit authorityWe research the reader communities and curated lists assistants draw on. We take part only where community rules allow it.
Explore Reddit Marketing - 05
Visibility tracking
We track citations across the agreed reader prompts. We measure against a baseline taken before work begins, with weekly updates.
Explore AI Visibility Tracking
You approve every change. We do the rest: about an hour a week from your team. See all our AI visibility services
Who this is for
Built for publications readers come back to.
Not for you
If any of these are you.
- You expect lost search traffic back in a few weeks
- You can't share site access or approve changes
- You publish mostly syndicated or AI-written content
- You can't say which beats you want to own
For you
If this is you.
- You own one or more beats with named writers
- Search traffic has dropped since AI Overviews
- You want the work done for you, not another report
- You're ready to commit to a 90-day window
- The work pays off where you own a beat and publish under named writers.
- It helps when you want assistants to send readers to the source.
FAQ
GEO for media companies: questions publishers ask us.
Is GEO the same as AEO or AI SEO for media publishers?
They name the same work. GEO (generative engine optimization), AEO (answer engine optimization) and AI SEO for publishers all aim to get you cited in AI answers. Methods differ. Ours is the Citation Stack: prompt research, technical fixes, content, community research and visibility tracking.
Our Google traffic is falling. Is AI Overviews the cause?
A big cause, not the only one. Pew Research Center found Google users clicked a link in 8% of visits with an AI summary, 15% without. Chartbeat data in the Reuters Institute's 2026 report shows Google organic traffic to more than 2,500 news sites fell 33% in a year. You control whether answers cite you.
What does Google's Search Central guidance say publishers should do for AI Overviews?
Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode have no additional requirements. No special optimizations are necessary, and the same SEO best practices apply. Publishers keep controls such as nosnippet and noindex. GEO matters in other assistants. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini read different sources and name different publications.
We already do SEO. Why do we also need GEO?
SEO earns a spot in a list of links. GEO earns a citation inside the answer, where readers increasingly stop. The foundations overlap: crawlable pages and authority. But assistants also weigh what they can confirm about your beat, your writers and your reputation elsewhere.
Why does ChatGPT recommend other newsletters or publications in my beat?
Each assistant reads different sources. We tested ten reader questions. The three assistants named 178 publications, newsletters and podcasts. Only one assistant named 111 of them. Several answers leaned on curated lists, such as Feedspot and Dupple, and on podcast directories. If an assistant's sources omit you, you are much less likely to be named.
Should we wait for an AI licensing deal instead?
Licensing deals have mostly gone to large publishers, and most newsrooms will not get one. Being cited in AI answers does not depend on a deal: it depends on being clear, reliable and readable to the assistants. The two are not exclusive.
Should we block AI crawlers?
It is a trade-off, and it is your call. AI companies run different crawlers for training and for answering questions, so you can decide separately. Blocking answer crawlers makes citation hard. We set out the options for each assistant before changing robots.txt.
How do you measure the work?
We count citations of your publication across the agreed reader prompts in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. We compare against a baseline taken before work begins. We also track visitors AI assistants send to your site.
Free AI Audit
Find out whether AI cites your publication.
You leave knowing where your publication is missing from AI answers, what is causing it, and which changes would matter first, whether we work together or not.
What to expect
Audit
Before the call, we run the questions your readers ask through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini.
Map
On the call, we show you where competitors are cited and you are not, and what's causing it.
Decide
An honest read on whether the Citation Stack fits. If it doesn't, you'll hear it on the call.
Don't see a time that works? Email Karim directly: contact@llmreach.ai