Hadeel Yousaf
Founder of Citedly and LLM Researcher
Hadeel founded Citedly to help businesses understand how AI search systems retrieve, trust, cite and recommend brands.
About Hadeel
Hadeel Yousaf is the founder of Citedly and an LLM researcher with a background in computer science. Her research focused on how large language models retrieve information and arrive at incorrect answers.
At Citedly, Hadeel studies how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI and other answer engines discover, understand and recommend businesses. She translates that research into practical strategies for AI search visibility, entity clarity and citation growth.
Her work focuses on the systems beneath an AI answer: what gets crawled, what enters an index, which sources are trusted and why some brands survive into the final recommendation while others remain invisible.
Articles by Hadeel Yousaf
AI SEO Explained: A Plain-English Guide to GEO, AEO and 40+ AI Search Terms
AI SEO is the work of getting your brand found, cited and recommended inside AI answers. This guide explains how AI search picks its sources and defines 40+ terms, from query fan-out to citation share.
12 Best AI SEO Tools in 2026: GEO & AI Visibility Platforms Compared
The best AI SEO tool depends on the job you need done. Compare Profound, OtterlyAI, Peec AI, Semrush, Ahrefs, Surfer, and more — plus how Citedly differs as a done-for-you service.
AI Visibility Pricing Benchmark 2026: What 12 GEO & AI SEO Providers Actually Charge
Citedly compared public pricing and hidden scope differences across 12 AI SEO, GEO and AEO providers, from $99 to $15,000 per month.
AI SEO for B2B Companies: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT & Google AI in 2026
A practical B2B AI SEO framework for becoming discoverable, comparable and recommendable across leading AI search engines.
AI SEO for SaaS: The Citedly Query Intelligence Playbook for Getting Recommended in AI Search (2026)
A practical Query Intelligence playbook for helping SaaS products earn mentions, citations and recommendations across leading AI search engines.
ChatGPT Has Its Own Search Index: What Labrador Means for SEO and AI Visibility
What OpenAI's Labrador retrieval system means for crawling, AI citations and getting your business recommended in ChatGPT.
Best AI SEO Services in 2026: 10 GEO, AEO & AISEO Agencies Compared
Compare 10 leading AI SEO, GEO and AEO agencies by pricing, services, best use cases and their approach to AI visibility.
How A1 Garage Door Became a ~$2 Billion Business — the SEO and Marketing Case Study
A1 Garage Door agreed to sell to KKR for around $2 billion. The real story isn't garage doors — it's a repeatable demand machine built from brand, local SEO, reviews, and disciplined conversion.
Ghost Citations: Why AI Cites Your Website but Doesn't Mention Your Brand
62% of AI citations never name the brand behind the source. Here's why ghost citations happen, how to measure your rate, and how to turn silent citations into named mentions.
How to Get Your Local Business Recommended by AI (ChatGPT, Gemini & Google AI) in 2026
ChatGPT recommended only 1.2% of audited locations vs. 35.9% in Google's map pack. Here's the local AI playbook that actually earns the recommendation.
AI Citations vs Mentions: What's the Difference (and Which Matters More)?
A citation credits your page; a mention credits your business. 72% of AI mentions carry no link at all. Here's how the two differ, how you earn each, and which one actually wins customers.
How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Business (2026)
ChatGPT recommends businesses it's confident about — and that confidence is built off your own site. Here's the 3-stage filter it uses and the five moves that get you named.
How Much Does AI Visibility Cost? GEO Pricing Guide for 2026
GEO runs from $30/month for DIY tools to $50,000+ for enterprise programs. Here's what each price point actually buys, where businesses overpay, and how to scope a realistic budget.
Why AI Cites You on Some Platforms but Not Others
Ask three AI engines the same question and you'll get three different shortlists. Here's why each engine reads a different slice of the web — and how to make sure your name is in every pool.
How to Get Your Business Mentioned in AI (and Why It Matters More Than Rankings)
Being named inside an AI answer is the new word of mouth — and mentions, not backlinks, are what earn it. Here's why it matters and how to get mentioned across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google.
AI Search Statistics 2026: The Data Behind AI Citations, Mentions & Visibility
ChatGPT crossed 900 million weekly users, AI Overviews appear on a quarter of searches, and 93% of AI sessions end without a click. 50+ verified stats, each attributed to its source.
AI Citations vs Backlinks: What's the Difference (and Which Wins in 2026)?
A backlink is a vote. An AI citation is a recommendation. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands and found unlinked mentions predict AI visibility ~3x more strongly than links.
How to Show Up in Google AI Overviews
AI Overviews are built on top of Google's organic results — so ranking is the entry ticket. Here's the 7-step process to get your business named in them.
How to Structure Content So AI Will Quote It
AI doesn't quote the best-written page — it quotes the most extractable one. Here are the 8 formatting rules that turn ordinary pages into quotable ones.
How to Get Cited by ChatGPT: A 2026 Guide to Ranking in ChatGPT Search
ChatGPT retrieves through Bing, not Google. Here's the crawler to allow, the structure that gets quoted, and the 8-step framework that earns citations in 2026.
How to Track Your AI Citations (Share of Model): Free Methods, Tools, and the Metrics That Matter
Measure whether AI names you inside answers, not where you rank. The free first-party sources most teams ignore, the four metrics that matter, and when a paid tool is actually worth it.
Why Isn't AI Citing My Website? 8 Reasons You're Getting Skipped (and How to Fix Each)
AI skipping your site is almost never a quality problem. Here are the 8 blockers that actually cause it — Bing indexing, blocked crawlers, buried answers and more — with the exact fix and test for each.
What Are AI Citations and How to Get Cited by AI (2026 Guide)
AI citations are the mentions and source links AI answers hand out. Here is how they work, why they beat rankings, and the 7-step framework to earn them.