Playbooks & guides

The manuals for getting cited.

Every playbook and how-to guide we publish, free and ungated: the full AEO Playbook, and engine-by-engine guides for ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude.

1 playbook · 10 chapters · 35 plays · 17 how-to guides

The flagship playbook · Free, no gate

The AEO Playbook.

The answer engine optimization playbook, built as numbered plays from 1,237 measured AI citations. Ten chapters; read them in order and leave with your own 90-day plan.

10 chapters · 35 plays · Updated monthly
Open the playbook Start at chapter 1

How-to guides

Get cited by each engine

Standalone, engine-by-engine guides: exactly how to earn a citation in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude.

ChatGPTGooglePerplexityClaude How-to guide

How to show up in AI search in 2026

How to show up in AI search: how engines build answers, the foundation that works on all of them, what differs per engine, and how Prefer tracks it.
ChatGPT How-to guide

How to appear in ChatGPT search results in 2026

How ChatGPT picks what to cite: three routes into an answer, why memory decides most buyer questions, a 7-day checklist, and how Prefer tracks it.
Google AI Overviews How-to guide

How to appear in Google AI Overviews in 2026

How Google AI Overviews pick citations: the query fan-out, why only 37.9% of cited pages rank top 10, the work that earns it, and how Prefer tracks it.
Google AI Mode How-to guide

How to appear in Google AI Mode in 2026

How to get cited in Google AI Mode: its wider query fan-out, how it differs from AI Overviews, a checklist to run this week, and how Prefer tracks it.
Google Gemini How-to guide

How to appear in Google Gemini's answers in 2026

How to get cited by Google Gemini: how grounding with Google Search works, what Google-Extended controls, a checklist for this week, and how Prefer tracks it.
Perplexity How-to guide

How to get cited by Perplexity in 2026

How to get cited by Perplexity: how its live search and inline citations work, the signals that win a source slot, a checklist, and how Prefer tracks it.
Claude How-to guide

How to get cited by Claude in 2026

How to get cited by Claude: how its web search and citations work, why it favors verifiable sources, a checklist for this week, and how Prefer tracks it.
How-to guide

How to appear in Microsoft Copilot

How Microsoft Copilot grounds answers on the Bing index, the Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow levers that make you citable, and where Prefer fits.
How-to guide

How to appear in Grok

How Grok (xAI) grounds answers on real-time X posts and live web search, the honest X-presence lever, what xAI has documented, and where Prefer fits.
How-to guide

How to choose an AEO tool

Seven criteria for choosing an AEO tool, a worked scorecard of three real tools, and why Prefer tracks five AI engines and writes your content from $24 a month.
How-to guide

How to control AI crawlers with robots.txt

Every major AI crawler with its exact robots.txt token, what blocking each changes, copy-paste recipes, and how Prefer shows which crawlers visit your site.
How-to guide

How to fix AI hallucinations about your brand

AI engines sometimes state wrong facts about your brand. How to find the errors with Prefer or by hand, fix them in order of impact, and stop regressions.
How-to guide

How to get recommended in ChatGPT shopping

ChatGPT picks products on relevance, not ads. How results are sourced, the feed requirements, how to earn organic recommendations, and how Prefer tracks them.
How-to guide

How to measure ChatGPT traffic (GA4 + logs)

Measure ChatGPT traffic with GA4 and server logs, or with Prefer: build the referral report, spot OAI-SearchBot in your logs, and see why referrals undercount.
How-to guide

How to track brand mentions in AI answers

Track brand mentions in AI answers with Prefer or by hand: why mentions differ from citations, a weekly spreadsheet method, and when a tool earns its keep.
How-to guide

How to use AI search for B2B pipeline

AI answers are a real B2B discovery channel. Map buyer questions to prompts, win the citation, and measure pipeline with Prefer and utm_source=openai in GA4.
How-to guide

How to use Reddit for AI visibility

Reddit is the source ChatGPT cites most for software buyers, per Prefer's study. How to earn AI citations with authentic Reddit participation, and measure it.

Go deeper

Appendix AEO tools, templates, and directories Every tool the plays use (free-first), where to get listed, and copy-paste templates. The data The study behind the playbook Who gets cited in AI search: 47 buyer questions, 1,237 citations, five findings. Free tool Free AI visibility checker Your baseline, automated: see whether AI cites you, in about 15 minutes. Done for you Have the playbook run for you Prefer Managed executes these plays end to end, reported against your own numbers.

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