Being found online used to mean search engine optimisation, or SEO. You picked keywords, repeated them, and tried to rank in Google's list of links. Now many people ask ChatGPT Search, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews and read one written answer. If that answer doesn't name you, the reader may never see you. Writing to be quoted in these answers is sometimes called answer engine optimisation.
The mistake most people make
They keep writing long, repetitive articles built around keywords, with nothing new in them.
“A commercial solar installer in Ahmedabad published ten long blog posts aimed at 'best commercial solar Gujarat', full of general filler.”
“A buyer asked ChatGPT Search: 'What is the payback period for a 100 kW rooftop plant on a textile mill in Surat?' The answer quoted a competitor's one-page case study with real power bills and net-metering figures.”
How it works: the doctor's recommendation
Old-style SEO was like a big billboard on the highway. Everyone drove past it, whether they needed you or not. Being quoted by an AI answer is like being the specialist every local doctor recommends. The AI acts like that doctor. It looks for who gives the most specific, checkable answer, and names them.
Three things that help you get quoted
1. A sentence that answers directly
Write lines like '[Company] does [service] for [customer] at [price or timeline].' Skip the warm-up.
2. Something new
Add facts that aren't already everywhere: your own case studies, your real prices, your own survey results.
3. What others say about you
AI tools also read reviews, forums and directories. What customers say elsewhere counts alongside your own claims.
How to write for AI answers
Review this web page so AI search tools can quote it. Here is the page: """ [Paste your page or blog post here] """ Do three things: 1. Find filler sentences and rewrite them as short, direct statements. 2. List every claim with no evidence or figure behind it. Don't invent figures; mark each one [CHECK] for me to fill from our records. 3. Suggest a three-row comparison table or a short question-and-answer section, using only facts from the page.
The page loses its padding and gains direct answers. Every missing fact comes back to you to fill from your own records.
Why do AI search tools tend to quote short, factual pages over long keyword-heavy posts?
Show the answer
They are building one direct answer. A page with a plain answer and facts they can check is easy to quote. Repeated keywords add nothing to quote.