Short answer

When your competitor appears in AI answers citing sources you are not in, the temptation is to buy presence: reviews, mentions, links, votes. Do not. In Spain, for example, covert advertising is an unfair commercial practice; platforms detect it; and an AI may end up repeating exactly the fake review. The routes that work are slower and more boring: correct listings in directories and comparison sites, data or expertise offered to industry media and newsletters, taking part in communities under your own name, commercial collaborations identified as such, and publishing content others want to cite.

Start by knowing which sources matter

Measure twelve buying questions on two platforms with search and save the cited domains. Count which ones repeat. That list, and not a generic list of “authority sites”, is your map. Depending on the sector, it may include comparison sites, specialist media, directories, communities or official documentation.

The routes, from most to least control

1. Directories and comparison sites. Check whether you have a listing, whether it is correct and whether it is complete. Fix errors: a name or an address that differs from your website’s splits your brand entity. Add what is missing (services, prices if the directory shows them, real photos). It is the fastest route and the most neglected.

2. Industry media and newsletters. Do not offer a link: offer a data point, a guide, a real case with permission, an informed opinion on a change in the sector. A journalist or an editor cites what is useful for their piece. If the collaboration is paid, it is identified as such and the link is marked as sponsored; anything else is covert advertising.

3. Communities and forums. Take part with your name and your company visible, answering real questions with useful information, without selling in every message. Threads where someone asks exactly what you sell often appear among AI’s sources. A fake profile that recommends itself is the opposite: a risk.

4. Institutions, associations and documentation. Real memberships, official listings, collaborations with professional bodies or industry associations. They are high-trust sources and often have their own directories.

5. Content others cite. An original data point (a measurement, your own survey, a table with its method) tends to be cited more than a hundred opinion pieces. It is the slowest route and the one that builds the most.

What is not a route

  • Bought or swapped reviews.
  • Coordinated votes in communities.
  • Paid links without disclosure.
  • Fake profiles, fictitious “customers”, invented testimonials.
  • Networks of your own websites citing each other to simulate mentions.

Besides the legal risk (in Spain, the Unfair Competition Act and the e-commerce law, LSSI; everywhere, each platform’s rules), all of this is fragile: once it is detected, it falls apart all at once.

How to prioritise

For each domain on your list, score from 1 to 5 the control you have (can I act on it directly?), the evidence (how many times does it appear in my measurements?) and the cost. Start with high control and high evidence: these are usually directory and comparison site listings you can fix this week.