Method

What is tested

Whether three page features change how often AI search tools cite a page: a question heading with a direct answer under it, inline links to sources, and structured data.

How

Each page answers a different everyday question. Each page is randomly assigned each feature on or off. Pages are published together, then queried repeatedly through a paid data service that returns the sources AI tools cite. A page counts as cited when its address appears in an answer's sources.

Before the main test, a pilot of pages without the features measures how often a new site is cited at all. Pilot pages are not part of the results.

What will be published

The protocol is fixed, and its checksum recorded, before the main pages go live. Results are published with the sample size, including null results.

Conflicts

The author sells web design and AI visibility services. No tool vendor funds this research.

Limits

Results describe a young site and niche questions in the period tested. They do not describe ranking, revenue or competitive pages.