AI Search Ranking Factors: What Makes AI Models Cite Your Brand
The 13 known ranking factors that determine whether AI models mention your brand, with relative weights.
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BrandCited Team
4 min read
March 22, 2026
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AI models use a different set of signals than Google's traditional ranking algorithm to decide which brands to cite. Through analysis of thousands of AI-generated responses across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, DeepSeek, and Llama, BrandCited has identified 13 factors that consistently correlate with higher citation rates. These factors are listed below in order of impact.
Tier 1: High-impact factors (60% of citation probability)#
1. Brand entity strength (weight: ~20%)
Does the AI model recognize your brand as a distinct entity? Can it correctly describe what you do, what products you offer, and what industry you serve? Brands with strong entity presence get cited 4x more often than brands the model can't identify.
How to improve: Organization schema, Wikipedia presence, consistent brand naming across the web, press coverage on authoritative sites.
2. Topical authority (weight: ~18%)
Does your site demonstrate deep expertise on specific topics? AI models prefer to cite sources that cover a subject comprehensively rather than superficially. A brand with 50 in-depth articles on CRM software will outperform one with 5 generic posts.
How to improve: Publish comprehensive content clusters around your core topics. Cover subtopics thoroughly. Link related content together. Add expert author attribution.
3. Structured data quality (weight: ~12%)
Does your site use JSON-LD schema markup that AI crawlers can parse? Organization, Product, FAQ, HowTo, and Article schemas all contribute. Complete and accurate structured data removes guesswork for the AI model.
How to improve: Implement the five key schema types. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test. Fix errors flagged by BrandCited's audit.
4. Content freshness (weight: ~10%)
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When was your content last updated? AI models weight recent content higher, especially for fast-moving industries. A pricing page updated last week beats one updated two years ago.
How to improve: Update your most important pages monthly. Add dateModified to your Article schema. Publish new content on a consistent schedule.
Tier 2: Medium-impact factors (30% of citation probability)#
5. Citation-ready content (weight: ~8%)
Does your content contain concise, extractable statements? AI models prefer to cite content that can be directly quoted. A clear 60-word summary block at the top of a page is more citable than information scattered across twenty paragraphs.
How to improve: Add a bold summary block to the top of key pages. Write in direct, factual language. Avoid hedging words and qualifiers.
6. Crawler accessibility (weight: ~7%)
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See how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and 4 other AI platforms mention your brand.
Can GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended access your site? Blocked AI crawlers means zero retrieval-augmented citations. This is a binary factor: either crawlers can access your content or they can't.
How to improve: Check robots.txt for AI crawler blocks. Remove any Disallow rules targeting GPTBot, ClaudeBot, or Google-Extended. Add an llms.txt file.
7. External authority signals (weight: ~6%)
How do other sources describe your brand? Press mentions, industry report inclusions, third-party reviews, and academic citations all contribute to the model's assessment of your brand's authority.
How to improve: Pursue press coverage, industry awards, and third-party reviews. Get listed in industry directories and comparison articles.
8. Social proof and reviews (weight: ~5%)
Do users and experts publicly endorse your brand? Review scores, testimonial counts, and social media engagement signal credibility to AI models.
How to improve: Collect and display reviews. Implement AggregateRating schema. Encourage social sharing of your content.
9. Semantic HTML structure (weight: ~4%)
Does your site use proper heading hierarchy, landmark elements, and ARIA labels? Well-structured HTML helps AI crawlers parse your content correctly.
How to improve: Use H1-H6 headings in proper hierarchy. Add semantic HTML5 elements (nav, main, article, section). Ensure logical content flow.
Tier 3: Low-impact factors (10% of citation probability)#
10. Page speed and technical performance (weight: ~3%)
Does your site load quickly? Slow sites may be skipped by AI crawlers under time pressure. While less impactful than content signals, technical performance is a baseline requirement.
11. Mobile optimization (weight: ~3%)
Is your content accessible on mobile devices? AI crawlers increasingly use mobile rendering to evaluate pages.
12. Internal linking structure (weight: ~2%)
Does your site's internal link structure signal which pages are most important? Clear topic clusters with proper internal links help AI models understand your content hierarchy.
13. Multi-format content (weight: ~2%)
Does your content include images with alt text, tables, and structured lists? Multi-format content demonstrates thorough coverage and provides more extractable data points.
BrandCited's AI visibility score is calculated using a weighted average of all 13 factors, calibrated against actual citation data from 7 AI platforms. Each factor receives a sub-score from 0-100, and the composite score tells you how citable your brand is overall.
The growth actions feature prioritizes fixes by expected score impact. Fixing a missing Organization schema (high-impact) ranks higher than improving page speed (low-impact), so you always work on what matters most first.
