AI Citation Audit
We run your priority category queries through Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity and document which sources are being cited and why. You see exactly where you stand in the AI answer landscape today.
The challenge
Why most AI Search Optimisation programmes underperform.
Your organic rankings are holding. But click-through rates are falling. The reason is above your position: AI Overviews are answering your buyers' questions without sending them to your site. For queries where buyers are in research mode, AI systems are now the first point of contact. If your brand isn't structured to be cited by those systems, you are invisible at the exact moment a buyer is forming their shortlist. Most agencies don't have a real answer to this. Their advice is to "keep doing good SEO." That's not wrong, but it's incomplete. AI citation visibility requires specific structural signals, entity authority, and content format choices that traditional SEO doesn't fully cover.
What's included
Every deliverable. Named. Scoped. Scheduled.
E-E-A-T Signal Assessment
We audit your site's E-E-A-T profile and identify the specific gaps that limit your citation authority. Google's AI systems and LLMs both weigh Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness signals.
Structured Data & Entity
AI systems are entity-aware. We implement and validate schema markup that makes your brand, products, and expertise machine-readable — so AI systems can correctly categorise and cite you.
GEO Content Structuring
Generative Engine Optimisation: restructuring existing content to match the formats AI systems prefer to cite — clear assertions, authoritative definitions, structured answers with sourcing signals.
AEO Implementation
Answer Engine Optimisation: creating and formatting content specifically to answer the direct questions your buyers ask AI assistants — FAQ structures, concise expert definitions, and structured entity data.
AI Visibility Monitoring
A monthly monitoring report tracking your citation frequency in AI-generated answers for target queries across Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, and ChatGPT.
How it works
The AI Search Optimisation process, step by step.
No assumptions. No surprises. You see the roadmap before work begins.
01
AI Landscape Audit (Week 1–2)
We map the AI-generated answers for your 20–40 priority category queries. Which sources are cited? Why are they chosen over you? What signals are they providing that you aren't?
02
E-E-A-T & Entity Gap Report (Week 3)
A written assessment of the specific trust, expertise, and entity signals your site is missing relative to currently-cited sources.
03
Structured Implementation (Weeks 4–8)
Schema markup, entity consolidation, author authority signals, and content restructuring implemented in order of estimated citation impact.
04
Content Production & Formatting (Month 2–3)
GEO- and AEO-formatted content assets created for the highest-citation-potential query categories. Each asset designed to be cited, not just read.
05
Monitoring & Iteration (Month 3+)
Monthly AI citation monitoring report. Content and structural adjustments based on citation pattern changes. As AI systems evolve, we update the methodology — not our excuses.
Case study
Real outcomes. Named industry. Defined timeframe.
Illustrative example based on representative client outcomes.
B2B Technology (Cybersecurity SaaS)
The challenge
Category queries returning AI Overviews that cited four competitors and zero mentions of the client's product. Organic CTR declining 22% year-on-year.
Result
Cited in AI-generated answers for 14 of 20 target queries within 12 weeks
"
Our CMO asked every agency we evaluated what they were doing about AI search. Volta Ad was the only one that came back with a structured audit and a named process — not a blog post they'd written about it. That answered the question.
FAQ
Common questions about AI Search Optimisation
Not entirely, and not quickly. Traditional search results still drive the majority of commercial click traffic. But for research-phase queries, AI-generated answers are already the dominant format in many categories. The right approach covers both.
We track AI Overview appearances via Google Search Console, manual query monitoring across ChatGPT and Perplexity, and Bing Copilot citation tracking. It's a younger measurement category than traditional SEO, and we'll be transparent about what we can and can't measure with confidence.
SEO and AI Search Optimisation overlap — strong E-E-A-T signals and technical health benefit both. But there are specific GEO/AEO tactics (entity schema, answer-formatted content, AI citation auditing) that aren't part of a standard SEO engagement.
AI search systems update frequently, and the methodology evolves with them. What doesn't change is the underlying principle: AI systems cite sources they can verify are authoritative, accurate, and well-structured.
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