Research

SEO, AEO and GEO: how I structured this site to be cited by AI

Douglas Pan · 2026-08-30

I structured thePan.art around a single content source, 40-to-60-word direct answers at the top of pages, visible questions answered right below, and structured data mirroring exactly what's on screen. No block exists only for machines: everything is read by people first.

Single source first

Projects, services and articles live in typed files. Cards, inner pages, sitemap and structured data all read from the same place.

That avoids the most common portfolio problem: the home page saying one thing and the inner page saying another about the same project.

Direct answer up top

Each main page opens by answering the question that brought the person there, in 40 to 60 words. Context, proof and links come next.

It's the same text an answer engine can extract and a client reads on a phone without scrolling.

Structured data with no invention

I only mark FAQPage when the questions are visible. I only use Service when a page actually describes that service.

There is no rating, award, client count or testimonial in this site's schema, because there's no verifiable data to publish.

Explicit policy for AI crawlers

The robots.txt names AI agents individually and allows access, because the goal here is being cited, not hidden.

The llms.txt describes the site, its main areas and canonical URLs in plain text.

Conclusion

Optimizing for AI isn't writing for machines. It's being specific, verifiable and consistent — which also works for human readers.