Why AI Cites Reddit Instead of You (and What to Do About It)
Run a "best [category] in [city]" query through any AI engine and look at the citations. You'll see Reddit threads, local news roundups, review platforms, industry directories, a Chamber page, maybe a podcast transcript. What you usually won't see is a business's own website cited as the reason the business was recommended.
Owners find this maddening. You wrote the definitive page about your service, and the engine cited a stranger's two-paragraph comment instead. But think about how you'd answer the same question for a friend. You wouldn't say "their website says they're great." You'd say "three people I know used them." Engines are doing the same thing at scale. Your site establishes what you claim. Other sources establish whether anyone agrees.
What Corroboration Actually Means
An engine deciding whether to recommend you is asking: do independent sources describe this business the same way it describes itself, and do they say it's good at the specific thing being asked about? Ten sources agreeing that you're a Keap automation specialist in Central Florida is a strong signal. Ten pages on your own site saying it is one signal repeated ten times.
This is why reviews matter so much, and it's why they need to be specific. "Great service, five stars" corroborates nothing. "They rebuilt our Keap campaigns and cut our follow-up time in half" corroborates a claim you'd want to be recommended for.
Where to Earn It
Start with the sources engines already cite in your category. Run the self-audit queries, list every domain that appears in the citations, and treat that list as your outreach plan. If a local news site runs an annual "best of" list, get in it. If an industry directory keeps showing up, claim and complete your listing there. If a Reddit thread about your city keeps getting cited, the answer isn't to spam it, it's to be the business people in that thread genuinely mention, which usually means asking happy clients to say so where they already hang out.
Then the sources you can participate in honestly. Podcasts in your niche produce transcripts, and transcripts get indexed. Guest articles on partners' sites and vendors' customer stories create third-party pages that describe you in your own terms. Speaking at a local business group gets you on an event page with your name, business, and topic. A BNI chapter roster is a page with your name next to your specialty.
Finally, the sources you build for others. Case studies where the client is named and quoted. A partner page listing the businesses you work with, who then link back. Every one of those is a document describing your business that lives somewhere other than your domain.
What Not to Do
Don't post fake reviews, seed fake Reddit threads, or buy directory placements on sites nobody reads. Engines have gotten good at recognizing coordinated inauthentic mentions, and one detected pattern can discount everything else you've built. The slow, real version works because it is slow and real. That's also why most competitors won't do it, which is the entire opportunity.