How to get cited by Gemini

When Gemini needs current or factual information, it can ground its response in Google Search results and show the sources. Because it draws on the same index as Google Search, the signals that decide what ranks in Google (relevance, quality, links, page experience) decide what Gemini can find.

This makes Gemini the most SEO-dependent of the major assistants. If your site is not indexed in Google, or ranks poorly for your topic, Gemini is unlikely to cite it.

Google-Extended is a robots.txt token (not a separate crawler) that lets you control whether content Google crawls can be used to train Gemini models and for grounding in some Gemini products. It does not affect Google Search ranking or inclusion, and Google does not list it as a control for AI Overviews.

# Opt out of Gemini training and some grounding uses
User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

For a brand that wants to be cited, blocking Google-Extended is usually counterproductive. It mostly makes sense for publishers protecting paid content.

Gemini describes companies using what Google knows about them: your website, Google Business Profile, Knowledge Graph entity and pages about you. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile if you have a physical presence, use Organization structured data with sameAs links to your profiles, and keep your facts consistent across the web. See entity SEO.

1. Verify your site in Google Search Console and fix indexing issues; see how to get indexed by Google.
2. Leave Google-Extended allowed unless you have a reason to block it.
3. Write pages that answer specific questions directly, with facts and dates.
4. Earn mentions and links on trusted sites in your niche, including news coverage.
5. Ask Gemini your buyers' questions monthly and record what it says and cites.