The Ceana Approach: Owned Content as the Foundation of LLM Discovery

At Ceana, owned content is the foundation of our approach to GEO / AEO (Generative Engine Optimization / Answer Engine Optimization).

Why?
Because owned content is the only surface you fully control—and the primary place where ChatGPT actually finds you.

Tactics like FAQs, schema, Reddit threads, or off-site mentions can help (with varying effectiveness), but they don’t rival owned content. They only matter after you’ve been discovered.

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How ChatGPT Actually Browses the Web

When asked a product-seeking question, ChatGPT follows a process roughly like this:

1. Interpret intent from the query
2. Transform that intent into search terms
3. Deploy web search
4. Pull from top-ranking pages
5. Evaluate content against its internal definition of the relevant semantic domain
6. Synthesize an answer

If your brand never appears in those searches, everything else is irrelevant.

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Why Owned Content Is the Foundation of Ceana’s Methodology

Owned content is how your brand enters the LLM’s candidate set in the first place. It’s about being present where the model already looks.

If your site doesn’t rank for the queries LLMs rely on, you’re effectively invisible—no matter how well-structured or “AI-friendly” your pages are.

Owned content is the only GEO lever that gives you:

1. Guaranteed exposure

You control what’s published, when it’s updated, and how long it exists. No third-party dependency.

2. Narrative control

LLMs often reuse phrasing directly from high-ranking pages. Your positioning becomes the default explanation of your product.

3. Dual payoff (SEO + GEO)

The same pages that convert human traffic also fuel AI recommendations. One effort compounds across two channels.

4. Low platform risk

Reddit can be deprioritized. Wikipedia policies can change. Your site is never removed from the web.

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What Kind of Owned Content Actually Matters

Bottom-of-funnel, product-seeking content matters most, such as:

• “Best [category] software”
• “[Category] software for [use case]”
• “[Use case] tools”
• “Alternatives to [competitor]”

Top-of-funnel content (“What is X?”) is useful for education, but it rarely triggers recommendations. That’s why Ceana doesn’t prioritize these intents.

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Why Other GEO Tactics Matter Less Than Owned Content

Off-site mentions

Off-site pages expand your surface area within the same search results LLMs already rely on.

They don’t work because:

• “LLMs love Reddit”
• “Wikipedia is special”

They work because:

• Those pages rank
• And LLMs read ranking pages

However, off-site mentions are:

• Slower to build
• Harder to control
• Ineffective without strong owned content

On-site optimization

Tactics like FAQs, llm.txt, or schema help ChatGPT interpret content it has already found. They do not meaningfully affect:

• Discovery
• Ranking
• Initial selection

ChatGPT already understands language extremely well. If your content:

• Is clear and concise
• Has strong domain signaling
• Already ranks

…the model doesn’t need much help.

That’s why many brands appear in ChatGPT without llm.txt files, FAQs, or question-based headings.

These tactics are not primary visibility levers. They’re useful for:

• Minor clarity improvements
• Edge cases
• Internal consistency
• Peace of mind

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In Short

GEO isn’t about teaching AI how to read your site. It’s about making sure AI runs into you when it goes looking.

That’s why Ceana starts—and stays—focused almost entirely on owned content.