When users search for answers using ChatGPT, they aren’t just getting generic answers from a random knowledge base. They’re getting responses that—under the hood—are stitched together from live web content and authoritative sources. So when you ask something like “Where can I find affordable plumbing in Toronto?”, and ChatGPT recommends a specific company or article, it’s not by accident.
Those mentions are the result of deliberate, structural, and often replicable SEO and content strategies. Your competitors may not even know it, but they’ve cracked the code, or at least enough of it to be considered "AI-citable." This blog is your comprehensive guide to reverse engineering exactly how and why your competitors show up in LLM-driven answers, and how you can steal that spotlight.
We’ll show you how to:
- Analyze and interpret what LLMs like ChatGPT are referencing.
- Uncover patterns in competitor content that make it attractive to AI.
- Use SEO and semantic strategies to replicate or outperform those patterns.
- Strategically position your site to become the source for LLM-generated answers.
This isn’t a passive overview. It’s an SEO blueprint for AI visibility. Let’s break it down.
What Makes ChatGPT Reference a Source?
Large language models like ChatGPT rely on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to pull information from current sources when answering questions. Here’s what happens under the hood:
- Your prompt is converted into a semantic embedding.
- The model searches for web content with the closest vector match.
- It extracts passages—called "fraggles"—that align contextually and topically.
- These passages are stitched into a synthesized answer.
The system prefers sources that meet multiple criteria:
- High semantic relevance to the prompt.
- Authoritative presence, measured via citations, links, and trust signals.
- Structured content, which is easier for AI to extract and repurpose.
Many business owners think ChatGPT is picking winners at random. It’s not. It's rewarding the content that best matches intent, structure, and clarity.
Source: Shutterstock
The AI SEO Secret: Reverse Engineering What Works
If your competitor is being cited, and you’re not, your first instinct should be: what are they doing right that I’m not? And more importantly, can I reverse engineer it?
You absolutely can.
Let’s walk through a real-world example:
Scenario:
You run a plumbing company in Toronto. You ask ChatGPT, "Who offers affordable emergency plumbing in my area?" It returns a business you've never heard of.
What now?
Reverse Engineering Steps:
- Ask ChatGPT where it got the recommendation (enable browsing if necessary).
- Visit the source URL it references.
- Audit that page using:
- Ahrefs or Semrush: Identify keywords, backlinks, traffic sources.
- Surfer SEO or Clearscope: Analyze keyword density, NLP terms, content structure.
- Google Search Console (for your site): Cross-reference what you aren’t ranking for.
- Check for:
- Headers and subheads that echo the user query.
- Embedded FAQs, testimonials, or rich snippets.
- Mentions of geographic context and services.
- Clean, semantically relevant internal linking.
This is reverse engineering at its core: discovering the blueprint behind the output.
LLM-Friendly Content: What the AI Wants to See
While backlinks and keywords still matter, they’re not enough for AI. The language model needs to “understand” your content.
So what does it look for?
1. Intent-Aligned Language
Write like your customer speaks. Use full questions and clear, direct answers. AI prioritizes semantic match, not keyword tricks.
2. Embedding Optimization
Use tools like OpenAI’s Embedding API or Cohere to calculate vector similarity. If your competitor’s content matches the vector of the prompt more closely, it will win every time.
3. Schema and Structured Data
Define your content clearly using schema.org. Every entity—your company, services, and products—should be tagged using appropriate structured data types. This makes your content machine-readable and AI-friendly.
4. Declarative Answers
Say exactly what you do, clearly and early. For example: “Yes, we offer 24/7 emergency plumbing services in downtown Toronto.”
When LLMs scan your page, they don’t have time to guess what you’re about. The clearer you are, the better.
Local SEO + Structured Data = AI Optimization
AI loves localized answers. When users type “best HVAC company in Etobicoke,” ChatGPT pulls:
- Google Business Profile info.
- Local citations (Yelp, HomeStars, Angi).
- Reviews with keyword alignment.
- Consistent address and phone info across listings.
These signals are critical. Why? Because ChatGPT doesn’t “trust” the best-designed website. It trusts consistent, reinforced information from multiple angles.
Source: Shutterstock
Your GBP (Google Business Profile) should include:
- Complete service listings.
- High-quality, keyword-rich reviews.
- Posts about recent jobs, promotions, FAQs.
Your structured data should include:
- LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Review schema.
- GeoCoordinates.
- sameAs properties linking to social profiles, industry directories, or press mentions.
All of this tells AI you’re a legitimate, well-sourced expert in your niche.
What Does a Citable Page Actually Look Like?
Let’s deconstruct one:
Imagine a competitor’s page is cited in response to:
“What’s the best way to get a same-day drain repair in Toronto?”
They have:
- A title like: “Same-Day Drain Repair Services in Toronto | 24/7 Licensed Plumbers.”
- An FAQ answering: “How fast can you arrive on-site?”
- Reviews like: “They came within two hours to fix a clogged mainline.”
- Internal links to a separate service page for each neighbourhood.
In contrast, your site just has a generic “Services” page with four bullet points and no depth.
Which one would you cite?
Monitoring and Refining: Don’t Set It and Forget It
AI-driven search is dynamic. You need to audit your AI presence just like you do for Google SERPs.
Here’s how:
- Periodically ask ChatGPT or Claude your target prompts.
- Take note of what URLs, brand names, or snippets it references.
- Use this to identify visibility gaps.
Also test using:
- GrowthMarshal, RankScale, or ChatGPT Pro: For visibility tracking.
- Perplexity.ai or Bing Copilot: To see how AI tools with live search cite content.
- Custom prompts: Ask ChatGPT to list the top providers in your industry and explain why.
Reverse engineer these responses regularly to guide content creation.
You Can’t Game ChatGPT. But You Can Guide It.
It’s tempting to think of LLMs as black boxes. But with the right tools and mindset, you can make them work for you. Reverse engineering LLM outputs isn’t a trick. It’s a strategic approach that aligns your digital presence with how AI selects and assembles answers.
It starts with:
- Auditing your AI visibility.
- Understanding your competitor’s strength.
- Mirroring their successful signals and adding your unique value on top.
Once you do that, you’re not just playing in the same arena. You’re becoming the answer.
Ready to Turn ChatGPT into Your Competitive Advantage?
At TechWyse Internet Marketing, we specialize in helping brands reverse engineer AI-driven visibility. Our AI Fuel SEO services go beyond traditional keyword rankings. We help you:
- Understand what content AI prefers and why.
- Optimize your site for structured data, embeddings, and semantic clarity.
- Build the kind of pages that LLMs want to quote.
Talk to TechWyse today and learn how we’ll position your brand as the AI-cited authority in your space. Call (866) 208‑3095 or contact us online.
