The Citation Floor Method
AI answer systems retrieve, compare and cite sources. We review three practical areas: extractability, freshness and authority. The weakest area guides the next investment.
The Citation Floor Method is how GeoLinks plans AI-search work. We assess extractability, freshness and relevant authority. We improve the weakest area, then measure a fixed prompt set across seven supported citation datasets.
Diagnose before you spend
You cannot clear a floor you have not measured. Every campaign opens with a fixed prompt set, citation baseline and authority review. The diagnosis identifies the weakest floor. That floor gets the next pound of budget.
Strengthen the weakest area first
Each area affects source eligibility differently. Clear structure, current evidence and relevant authority work better when planned together.
Extractability
The page has to be quotable
Commercial pages need direct answers, clear headings and useful evidence. Tables, specifications and FAQs can make important facts easier to retrieve.
What we inspect
We record the answer block, supporting evidence, page structure and cited URLs for each priority question.
The honest part
Structured data can clarify meaning and support eligible search features. It does not guarantee citation or ranking movement.
Freshness
Stale pages get skipped
Current facts matter when products, prices, rules or buyer questions change. Updates should improve the information, not only the date.
What we inspect
We record the last meaningful edit, changed evidence and reason for each update.
The honest part
A changed timestamp is not evidence of better content. Some durable pages need fewer updates than fast-moving topics.
Authority
Trust is earned off your own site
Independent sources can corroborate a brand, product or expert claim. We prioritise topical fit, useful context and a credible editorial process.
What we inspect
We log every accepted source, topic, target page, link attribute, traffic check and publication date.
The honest part
Domain Rating is one diagnostic, not proof of editorial value. Paid placements may use sponsored or nofollow attributes.
Measure, then fix the lowest floor again
Citation share is one signal. We also track search visibility, qualified attention and agreed commercial outcomes. The same prompt set supports a fair monthly comparison.
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
Perplexity
Microsoft Copilot
Grok
Google AI Overviews
Provider coverage can change. Each report states the available datasets and collection date.
The floors, raised on real sites
Extractability + freshness
monthly organic visits in 7 months, +776%
Garden Ornaments. We raised the extractability and freshness floors with no net new referring domains. When authority was layered on top, the citation rate compounded.
Read the case study →Authority
on a fresh domain in 30 days, 0 to 27 referring domains
Garden UK launched with zero authority. Targeted niche edits and structured content cleared the first authority threshold and earned 10 ranking keywords in the first month.
Read the case study →What the Citation Floor Method is not
Most of what is sold as AI-search optimisation does not clear a single floor. We say so on the record, because pretending otherwise wastes your budget and our reputation.
- ✗ It is not schema theatre. Bolting JSON-LD onto every page does not earn citations. FAQ schema helps extraction; the rest is for rich results and entity clarity.
- ✗ It is not an llms.txt file. No major engine shows a measured citation lift from one today. Ship it as future-proofing, not as a tactic.
- ✗ It is not a monitoring dashboard. A tool that tells you that you are invisible is a diagnosis, not a fix. The work that follows is what changes the number.
- ✗ It is not vanity mentions. Being named in a model's training answer is not the same as being cited as a live source. We count citations, not mentions.
Method FAQ
What is the Citation Floor Method?
It is GeoLinks' planning framework for AI-search work. It reviews three practical areas: extractability, freshness and authority. The weakest area helps decide what to improve next.
Why call them floors rather than ranking factors?
The floor metaphor keeps priorities practical. Strong structure cannot replace credible evidence. Authority cannot rescue a page that fails to answer the question clearly.
How is this different from your how-it-works process?
How It Works is the operational delivery: content, links, publication, delivery report. The Citation Floor Method is the model behind it. It explains which floor a given site is stuck on and where the next pound of budget should go. The diagnosis decides the work, not a fixed package.
Which floor should a small business fix first?
Usually extractability and freshness, because both are largely free and within your control. Authority is where external budget becomes necessary. Diagnosing first prevents the common mistake of buying links while the pages they point at are still unquotable.
How do you measure whether the method is working?
We track a fixed prompt set and seven supported citation datasets monthly. We also record search visibility, qualified visits and agreed commercial outcomes. The baseline, dates and data sources remain visible in every report.
Does the Citation Floor Method work outside ChatGPT?
The method is not tied to one interface. GeoLinks tracks seven supported citation datasets and records which sources each report could access. No single result represents the whole market.
Find out which floor you are stuck on
The free AI Visibility Check reviews seven supported citation datasets. It provides a current diagnostic before any paid recommendation.