DATAPREPREP

Path

The path to a citation

Crawling allowed, body text in the visible HTML, indexing, and evidence that can be verified elsewhere on the web. If any one of the four is missing, a page can’t reach a citation. The four conditions can be built; whether a page is cited is decided by the engine. That’s why our contracts cover the conditions.

Contents

  1. 01Four conditions to meet before a citation
  2. 02Not every page gets indexed, and that’s normal
ExampleThe five steps to a citation. If an earlier step fails, the later steps don’t happen
  1. 01

    Crawling

    Crawlers can reach the page, and the response contains the body text.

    If it’s blocked here, nothing after it holds

  2. 02

    Indexing

    The search engine indexes the document.

    Submission is a request; the engine decides whether to index

  3. 03

    Search appearance

    Your document appears in search results for the query.

    Without a document that answers the query, you don’t even make the candidate list

  4. 04

    Excerpt

    The paragraph that answers the question is excerpted.

    If the direct answer comes late, only the opening makes it in

  5. 05

    Citation

    That paragraph shapes the sentences and figures in the answer.

    Being listed as a source leaves nothing behind if the answer doesn’t use it

Crawling, indexing and search appearance can be prepared for by meeting conditions; the engine picks the excerpt and the citation. The four conditions to meet are listed below.

Four conditions for a citation · Last verified 2026-09-14

Conditions

Four conditions to meet before a citation

Of the five steps above, these are the four conditions a site can meet. Check them in order, and spend on number 4 only after a site passes number 2.

  1. 01

    Crawl access

    Can crawlers reach the page?

    Add /robots.txt after your domain and open it. Check whether the user agents of crawlers that fetch sources for answers (Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) are listed under Disallow. Check AI training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot) and the Google-Extended token separately.

    If it fails If they’re disallowed, that service can’t cite the page in its answers, however well it’s written. This becomes the first priority.

  2. 02

    Text extraction

    Is the text in the HTML itself?

    View the page source and search for the first sentence of the body. Any sentence visible on screen should also be in the source.

    If it fails If content is drawn only by scripts, generative systems can’t read it. The same goes for text inside images.

  3. 03

    Indexing

    Is the page in the search engine’s index?

    Check indexing status in Google Search Console and Naver Search Advisor (Naver’s webmaster tool). Submission is a request, not a result.

    If it fails A page that isn’t indexed isn’t cited in any answer. If the indexing rate is low, adding more pages isn’t the fix.

  4. 04

    Evidence verifiable elsewhere

    Is the brand called by the same name on other sites?

    Check that the business name, description and contact details match across channels. Also check whether external documents mention the brand on their own initiative.

    If it fails If naming is inconsistent, mentions elsewhere don’t add up as signals for one entity.

The next step: citationFrom here on, the engine decides. Answers change from one request to the next, even for the same question. That’s why our contracts cover the four conditions above, and our reports track their status.

Indexing

Not every page gets indexed, and that’s normal

The indexing rate is the share of the pages you’ve built that a search engine has actually indexed. Google sets no threshold for it and says to check whether your key pages are indexed.

Search Console Help

“Don't expect every URL on your site to be indexed.”

Google advises not to expect every URL on a site to be indexed and to check whether key pages are indexed

  • Pages that aren’t indexed don’t appear in search results and aren’t cited in AI answers.
  • Duplicate or thin URLs may not be indexed. That’s why we check whether key pages are in before looking at the overall ratio.
  • If a key page is missing, start with the “Crawled - currently not indexed” and “Discovered - currently not indexed” statuses to find the cause.
  • Decide on adding pages after your key pages are indexed. Deleting is a last resort, reserved for pages that can’t be salvaged.

Sources: Search Console Help, “Page indexing report”: “Don't expect every URL on your site to be indexed.” (support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203) · Google Search Central, “Google Search's core updates” (updated 2025-12-10): “Deleting content is a last resort”. Your site’s actual indexing status goes into the status report during kickoff design.

In the free audit, we check your site’s current indexing status ourselves and send it back as a report.

We build to the standards written here. First, we check where your current website is getting stuck.

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