How to make AI recommend your product

We tested one developer tool: 18 questions its buyers ask, on ChatGPT and Perplexity. AI read its site 381 times that month and named it in 0 answers. Its main competitor got named in 15.

Here’s what we learned about how AI picks what to recommend:

**1. Find the sources.** Ask your buyers’ questions and write down which pages get cited. It’s almost never your own site. It’s listicles, directories, review sites and Reddit.

**2. Be quotable.** A one-line “X is a \[category\] for \[who\]” at the top of your site, public pricing, and “you vs competitor” pages.

**3. Get on those pages.** This is the whole difference between 0 and 15. The competitor was on the pages AI trusts and the tool wasn’t.

**4. Same facts everywhere.** Mixed pricing or a different category on different sites makes AI hedge or leave you out.

**5. Check weekly.** Ask each question several times, because answers vary between runs. Perplexity reflects changes fastest.

What doesn’t work: keyword stuffing for AI, fake reviews, spamming Reddit.

Happy to share the question list we used if anyone wants to test their own product.