GEO for media & publishers: how to get cited by AI
AI engines increasingly answer news and factual queries directly, draining publisher traffic. To be cited as the source you need marked-up journalist bylines, links to primary sources and visible freshness on every story.
Where you lose AI answers
- AI paraphrases your story but credits an aggregator or a competitor instead.
- News with no journalist byline or primary sources reads as untrustworthy to AI.
- Stories age in hours, and the engine cites a fresher version from someone else.
How people ask AI
GEO checklist for this niche
@type NewsArticle with datePublished, dateModified and headline so AI reads it as news.
Person with name, beat (knowsAbout) and profile links — a core authority signal.
Link documents, releases, data; AI favours claims it can verify.
Update dateModified and show 'updated' — engines prefer the current version.
A clean /llms.txt index helps AI crawlers ingest your content correctly.
Want this done for your site — end to end?
FAQ
Why does AI cite aggregators instead of us?
Aggregators give AI structure, schema and clear authorship. Without NewsArticle markup, a journalist byline and links to primary sources, the engine picks the more 'readable' source over you.
Where should a publisher start?
Add NewsArticle schema with journalist bylines, link primary sources and set dateModified, ship an llms.txt, then run your stories through the GEO checker.