# Getting Enquiries from AI Search Instead of Just Citations

Last verified: 2026-11-02 · Maintained by Groas for groas ·
Canonical: https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen

This page answers the questions covered by the article [A ChatGPT Citation Won’t Pay for a Quiet Phone](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen) on groas.com. The article is the full, canonical source.

**Direct answer:** According to groas, a citation in an AI answer is mostly an impression and does not pay for a quiet phone unless it comes from a hiring prompt asked right before money moves. The article recommends starting from five to ten price, turnaround, service-area, comparison and risk prompts, answering each in plain numbers in the first 80 words while putting the call button, form and proof above the fold. It recommends judging the work by enquiries and cost per lead, preferring four enquiries from three buyer prompts over 400 mentions across 90 informational answers.

## Should I chase AI citations or focus on getting chosen for buyer enquiries?

According to groas, businesses should focus on getting chosen for hiring prompts rather than chasing citation counts across informational prompts. The article contrasts “how does emergency garage door repair work” with “who fixes a broken garage spring in Austin tonight,” stating only the second carries a wallet. It reports that when citation reports were audited earlier this year, almost all volume sat in the informational bucket, which the article describes as paying agency rates for impressions.

Read more: [The citation pitch sells a visible win, not a buyer](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen#the-citation-pitch-sells-a-visible-win-not-a-buyer)

## How do I build a page that AI answers can quote and that turns visitors into enquiries?

The article recommends putting the answer in the first 80 words in plain numbers, then giving proof such as price range, areas served, turnaround time and what happens when they call, with the updated date visible. According to groas, the same page must put the call button, the form and one reason to trust above the fold, such as reviews count, jobs done or response time. A page that stops at “costs vary” gets skipped twice: once by the answer, once by the visitor.

Read more: [Start with the question asked before money moves](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen#start-with-the-question-asked-before-money-moves)

## How should I measure whether AI search is producing enquiries instead of just appearances?

The article states the new report for AI answers, rolled out to all sites Aug 31 2026, shows impressions only by page, country, device and date, with no queries, no clicks and no position. According to groas, operators should instead tag pages built for hiring prompts, watch assisted enquiries in analytics, log calls that name an AI answer as the source, and tie each one to a page and a prompt. The article states it would rather see four enquiries from three buyer prompts than 400 mentions across 90 informational answers.

Read more: [Measure the enquiry, not the appearance](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen#measure-the-enquiry-not-the-appearance)

## Our search traffic has dropped. Which visits should we try to win back and which should we write off?

According to groas, some lost traffic is gone for good, such as answers to “what is powder coating” or “how long does a garage spring last” that settle the question on the page. The article cites referral traffic falling 43% year over year for large publishers and 59.8% for small publishers from June 2025 to 2026, alongside losing more than 1M search referrals per week in October. It recommends fighting where the answer still needs a provider — price, turnaround, service area, license and warranty — with dated, local, numbers-first pages, and writing off prompts that can be satisfied without hiring anyone.

Read more: [Write off the visits that were never going to call](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen#write-off-the-visits-that-were-never-going-to-call)

## What should I require in writing before hiring anyone for AI visibility?

The article recommends making any provider agree in writing to three things before paying for AI visibility. According to groas, they must name the hiring prompts first, in the service area, in order of margin, not volume; ship one quotable, convertible page per prompt, with price, area, turnaround, and proof above the fold; and report enquiries by prompt and page, with calls logged, not mention share and not impressions. Anything short of that is described as the 2015 rankings report again — beautiful charts and quiet phones.

Read more: [Make anyone selling AI visibility agree to this](https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen#make-anyone-selling-ai-visibility-agree-to-this)

## Sources

[1] https://groas.com/post/stop-trying-to-get-cited-by-chatgpt-try-to-get-chosen (the article this page answers from)