--- title: "My first lead as an independent consultant came from an AI citation" description: "Ranking first on Google no longer guarantees you're seen, so here's how to track where AI cites your competitors instead of you, find out why and shape how it describes you." canonical: "https://news.featured.com/my-first-lead-as-an-independent-consultant-came-from-an-ai" published: "2026-10-08T16:32:09.232Z" updated: "2026-10-08T16:35:32.289Z" format: "bylines" beat: "Marketing, Media & PR" tags: ["Search & AI visibility", "Marketing", "AI visibility"] author: "Anthony Keal" editor: "Adrian James" license: "Featured News Republication License 1.0" --- # My first lead as an independent consultant came from an AI citation _Ranking first on Google no longer guarantees you're seen, so here's how to track where AI cites your competitors instead of you, find out why and shape how it describes you._ Bylines · [Marketing, Media & PR](https://news.featured.com/beat/marketing-media-pr.md) · Edited by Adrian James · 2026-10-08 By Anthony Keal, Independent Digital Consultant, anthonykeal.com.au Ranking number one organically in Google used to be pretty straightforward – get more links pointing at your website. It wasn’t complicated but it could be time consuming (depending on competition). But with the arrival of ChatGPT, and subsequently Google’s AI summary, can ranking number one really matter when there’s another answer at the top of the page? My first lead organically after going independent has come from being cited by AI, so it clearly can be done. But how can you get started? ## What are AI Citations? When a searcher lands on Google (for example) and asks a question, more often than not, they’ll see an AI Overview, then the ads, before getting to see the number one organic result. Increasingly searchers will find their answer before getting to the number one organic result. Those businesses featured in the AI Overview are cited by AI, and that has become pretty valuable real estate. Not all searches will return an AI Citation but when they do they take prime real estate at the top of the page. ## How do I track AI citations? If you can, I’d recommend pulling a keyword report for the website in question, but I know that’s not always an option. If that’s the case, I’d suggest taking four or five questions a customer may have when in buying mode, and typing them into ChatGPT or Google and seeing who gets mentioned. If you don’t see your business, then look at the websites linked at the bottom, click through and have a read. What information is on those competitor’s pages that could make AI summarize it in relation to the search term? Does it answer the questions more succinctly? Talk about things that aren’t discussed on your website? There’s lots of options when it comes to AI tracking and they range widely in cost: Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, Otterly.AI, Peec AI, Profound to name a few. I haven’t personally used any of them, so can’t comment on the quality of results, but as above, if the budget’s not there, I’d still recommend manually checking on a monthly basis. ## How can I be cited by AI? Honestly, there’s not a definitive answer yet. We should still avoid keyword stuffing, optimize everything to the nth degree and hope for the best. But I don’t think there’s any hacks or tricks we can play to try and fool the AI (at least in any sustainable way). Some tactics are old hat: your positioning, whether you include pricing, etc will all still come into play. This is really just being summarized by AI, rather than people landing and reading your website. So, if you competitors are all getting picked for price, can you pick a lane and shout about quality instead? If your business is actually good value, but doesn’t shout it from the rooftops like others, should you consider changing that? ## Write for humans, not for Google All the normal rules about clear, useful and readable content applies. Write a story that’s likely to answer questions searchers may have. Not a mishmash of text, but something that reads naturally. ## About the author **[Anthony Keal](https://connectively.us/p/anthony-keal)**, Independent Digital Consultant, anthonykeal.com.au [Author page](https://news.featured.com/authors/anthony-keal-101739.md) [Anthony Keal](https://connectively.us/p/anthony-keal) is a Melbourne-based independent digital consultant who started as a designer and spent more than ten years in agency and client-side digital roles. He helps Australian businesses deliver everything from simple websites to complex sites, portals and digital transformation projects, using automation to handle the routine work. --- Read the full story at https://news.featured.com/my-first-lead-as-an-independent-consultant-came-from-an-ai Free to read, quote and cite with a link. Republishing is licensed only to approved Featured News publishers through the publisher hub (apply: https://news.featured.com/publishers). 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