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llms.txt GeneratorWhat should you copy from pages that already win citations?
Mostly, copy the structure and metadata. Use explicit answers, dense but skimmable sections, visible authorship, clear metadata, and supporting schema where it genuinely helps parseability.
The key numbers.
- Pages with schema
- Share of cited pages with schema markup.
- 67.8%
- Canonical tag rate
- Share of cited pages with a canonical tag.
- 91.4%
- OG tag rate
- Share of cited pages with Open Graph tags.
- 89.2%
- Person schema lift
- Person schema over-indexes heavily on cited pages.
- 9.4x
Applying these structural patterns serves as a template system for building citeable pages intentionally, ensuring machines can easily parse and extract the core facts.
The evidence.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Pages with schema Share of cited pages with schema markup. | 67.8% |
| Canonical tag rate Share of cited pages with a canonical tag. | 91.4% |
| OG tag rate Share of cited pages with Open Graph tags. | 89.2% |
| Person schema lift Person schema over-indexes heavily on cited pages. | 9.4x |
Population and method
Built from 1,465 AI-cited pages across 950 domains, using 28,033 citation opportunities and page-level crawl analysis.
Where the evidence stops
Most findings are correlational. Overrepresented traits are not the same as proven causal lifts.
Some subgroups, especially FAQ Schema + FAQ Content, are relatively small and should be read carefully.
The study looks at cited pages rather than all uncited pages in the open web, so it is best used as a benchmark profile.
What to do with this
- Make answer pages denser, more structured, and more explicit about authorship and freshness.
- Use schema where it helps machine readability, but avoid treating markup as a substitute for strong content.
- Design pages to be extractable using concise answers, tables, lists, authors, and clearly marked evidence.
Teams can use these findings as an operating rule when deciding what to publish, refresh, or measure next, prioritizing machine readability over purely aesthetic design choices.
Questions about this answer.
Cite this answer.
Source study: Anatomy of a Citation“Mostly, copy the structure and metadata. Use explicit answers, dense but skimmable sections, visible authorship, clear metadata, and supporting schema where it genuinely helps parseability.”
Mack Grenfell · What should you copy from pages that already win citations?
The Anatomy of an AI Citation · Trakkr Research · Updated 30 March 2026
Apply the finding
The benchmark shows useful patterns, but the implementation still needs a clear owner. Choose whether each recommendation belongs in AEO or GEO before copying the tactics.
After applying the evidence-backed patterns, measure whether Google starts selecting the revised pages rather than assuming the edit caused a citation.