→ The arenas

Surfaces

Eight answer surfaces, each with its own retrieval bias, citation behavior, and what-it-rewards. Pick yours, then pick the matching tactics.

Google AI Overviews

AI-generated summaries at the top of Google SERPs. Dominant in informational and commercial-investigation queries. ~30–50% of queries served.

FAQPage schemaHowTo schemaAtomic facts

Google AI Mode

Google's standalone conversational search surface, built on Gemini. Multi-turn, deeper synthesis, citations inline.

NewsArticle schemaNamed entity density

ChatGPT (Search + chat)

OpenAI's search-enabled answers cite Reddit, YouTube transcripts, and high-authority editorial heavily. Vendor pages are systematically de-weighted for consideration-stage queries.

Consensus engineeringFirst-person evidenceCiteable quotes

Perplexity

Citation-first answer engine. Loves NewsArticle schema, fresh content, and llms.txt-friendly sites. The most direct B2B citation driver right now.

llms.txtNewsArticleAtomic facts

Claude

Anthropic's assistant. Conservative on sourcing — rewards depth, original analysis, and structured docs. Underrated B2B surface.

JSON-LD CoverageCiteable quotes

Gemini

Google's native assistant across Workspace, Android, and the Gemini app. Cross-product reach makes summary copy in emails/docs an SEO surface.

ASOFAQPage

Apple Intelligence

Mail summaries, Notifications summaries, and Writing Tools. Compresses your email subject + body into 1–2 sentences before a human ever sees them. The new front door.

ASOFirst-80-words

Gmail Gemini

Same 1–2 sentence compression layer for Gmail. Companion surface to Apple Intelligence — Take One Glance grades both side by side.

ASOFirst-80-words