---
title: "GEO: getting cited by AI"
description: "Éclair’s built-in GEO helps you get cited by AI: llms.txt, a Markdown version of every page, rules for 30 AI bots and a GEO score in the editor."
url: "https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/geo"
lang: "en"
author: "Thierry Gustin"
published: "2026-10-30"
updated: "2026-10-30"
---

# GEO: getting cited by AI

> **Key takeaways** — To help your site get cited by AI, Éclair automatically publishes /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt, a Markdown version of every page (add .md to the URL) and rules for 30 AI bots in robots.txt. The editor calculates a GEO score: “Key takeaways” summary, direct introduction, FAQ, figures, sources and an identified author.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) helps your site get cited by AI: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude or Google’s AI Overviews. Éclair publishes formats that are easy for them to read, such as `llms.txt`, lets you decide which bots can access your text and scores each piece of content so it’s clear, structured and trustworthy.

![An Éclair article published as an HTML page with JSON-LD, a sitemap, an RSS feed, llms.txt, a Markdown version and robots.txt, read by search engines and AI answer engines](https://eclaircms.org/media/2026/10/en-seo-geo-formats.webp)
*Content written once, published in every format that search engines and AI can read.*

## Why aim to get cited by AI?

More and more questions get their answer directly in an answer engine, without a click on a classic search result. Being cited as a source in those answers is becoming a visibility channel in its own right. Classic SEO remains the foundation (see the [SEO](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/seo) guide), and GEO builds on it. The article [GEO: how to get your site cited by ChatGPT](https://eclaircms.org/blog/geo-get-cited-by-chatgpt) details the editorial strategy.

## What does Éclair publish for AI, from llms.txt to Markdown?

Everything is generated automatically and updated every time you publish:

| Format | URL | What it’s for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `llms.txt` | `/llms.txt` | Your site’s map for AI, in the format proposed by [llmstxt.org](https://llmstxt.org) |
| `llms-full.txt` | `/llms-full.txt` | All your content in Markdown, in a single file |
| Markdown version | Add `.md` to any URL | Clean text, with no menu or decoration, that AI reads effortlessly |
| Bot rules | `/robots.txt` | Who can read your pages, bot by bot |
| Structured data | In every page | Article, FAQ, author, breadcrumbs, in JSON-LD format |

The `llms.txt` file starts with your site’s name, its description and your **business intro for AI**, which you write in Settings › AI & GEO. Next comes the list of your pages and posts, each with its summary, then your categories. Each Markdown version starts with a metadata header and is sent with the `X-Robots-Tag: noindex` HTTP header and a canonical link to the original page: it creates no duplicate content.

> **Your business intro for AI** — In Settings › AI & GEO, answer in a few lines: who are you, what do you offer, for whom, where, since when? Verifiable facts and figures. It’s often what AI remembers about you.

## Which AI bot policy should you choose?

In **Settings › AI & GEO › AI bots**, you have three choices. Éclair writes the matching rules into `robots.txt` for 30 known bots.

| Policy | AI answer engines | Model training | Effect |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Open** (recommended) | Allowed | Allowed | Maximum visibility in AI |
| **Citations only** | Allowed | Refused | You get cited, but your texts don’t train models |
| **Closed** | Refused | Refused | You disappear from AI answers |

**Answer engines** visit your site to answer a question, and can cite you: OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User, DuckAssistBot, MistralAI-User, Meta-ExternalFetcher and YouBot.

**Training bots** collect text to train models: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Bytespider, Meta-ExternalAgent, FacebookBot, cohere-training-data-crawler, cohere-ai, Amazonbot, Diffbot, Omgilibot, omgili, AI2Bot, PanguBot, Timpibot, ImagesiftBot and img2dataset.

> **The Content-Signal directive** — An option adds the `Content-Signal` directive to `robots.txt`, a Cloudflare proposal for stating how you want AI to use your content (for example `search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=no` in “Citations only” mode). It isn’t standard: Lighthouse flags it as unknown, which is why it’s off by default.

The `robots.txt` file is a convention: reputable bots follow it, others don’t. It’s still the recognized way to state your choices.

![Éclair’s AI & GEO settings: choosing the access policy for artificial intelligence bots](https://eclaircms.org/media/2026/10/en-ai-geo-settings.webp)

## How is the GEO score calculated?

In the editor, the **Analysis** tab shows a GEO score out of 100, next to the SEO score. It rewards what makes content easy to understand and to quote:

| Check | What to aim for |
| --- | --- |
| “Key takeaways” | A summary of 25 to 90 words that AI can quote as is (the check that carries the most weight) |
| Direct introduction | The answer in the first lines, in under 70 words |
| FAQ | A FAQ block, automatically marked up as FAQPage |
| Subheadings | At least one subheading phrased as a question (“How…?”) |
| Lists or tables | Data that’s easy to extract |
| Concrete figures | Statistics, prices, durations: they make content quotable |
| Sources | At least one link to a reliable external source |
| Author | A profile with a bio of at least 40 characters |
| Paragraphs | No paragraph over 120 words |
| Freshness | Content published or updated within the past year |

The FAQ, subheading and source checks apply to posts and to pages over 400 words.

## Why does the author matter for getting cited by AI?

Search engines, like AI, trust content more when it’s signed by an identifiable, competent person: that’s the E-E-A-T principle (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness). In **My profile**, fill in your job title, bio, photo and online profiles. Éclair shows an author box below each post, creates your author page and links your profiles through the `sameAs` property of the structured data.

## How do you check what AI sees?

Three URLs are enough to check your site the way an AI would:

```text
https://your-site.com/llms.txt
https://your-site.com/blog/your-article.md
https://your-site.com/robots.txt
```

The first file lists your content and its summaries, the second shows your article in Markdown, and the third displays the rules for each bot. If a page doesn’t appear in `llms.txt`, check that it’s published and not set to noindex.

## Questions about GEO

### Does GEO replace SEO?

No, it builds on it. Answer engines rely heavily on well-ranked, well-structured pages: good SEO remains the foundation. Éclair handles both at once.

### Can I get cited by AI without my texts being used to train models?

Yes: choose “Citations only” in Settings › AI & GEO. Answer engines can read and cite your pages, while training bots are refused in robots.txt.

### Should I fill in “Key takeaways” for every piece of content?

It’s recommended: it’s the check that carries the most weight in the GEO score. In 2 or 3 sentences, give the direct answer to the question your reader is asking.

### Where do I find the Markdown version of a page?

Add `.md` to the end of its URL, for example `/en/documentation/geo.md`. You can turn this option off in Settings › AI & GEO if you don’t want it.