When ChatGPT and Perplexity answer your buyers' questions, who do they cite? That question led to the founding of the first agency built entirely for Generative Engine Optimization — not SEO with GEO tacked on.
Stay Citable was founded in 2024 by Robert W. Dyche IV, but the idea had been building for over a decade. Robert spent his career in technical search and content systems, watching the web get optimized for Google's blue links while a fundamentally new kind of search was emerging.
The data kept pointing in one direction: AI assistants were becoming the first stop for purchase decisions, research, and recommendations. Zero-click AI search sessions rose to 93% (SparkToro / Memetik data). B2B buyers started their research inside LLMs at a rate of 79% (G2 2025 Buyer Behavior Report). Yet virtually every SEO agency was still optimizing for rankings that fewer people were clicking.
The gap was clear. Brands needed someone who understood not just how search engines rank content, but how language models choose what to cite. That required a different skillset entirely — prompt-level understanding, schema architecture, entity establishment, and a measurement methodology that tracked actual AI citations rather than SERP positions.
Stay Citable was launched as the first agency purpose-built for that gap. Not an SEO agency adding GEO as a line item. A team that runs every client program through the same 50-100 prompt matrix across six engines from Day 0, and tracks every lift with timestamped before/after data.
Robert W. Dyche IV is the founder of Stay Citable and the architect of the Day 0-to-90 citation proof-cycle methodology that every client program runs on. With over a decade in technical search and content systems, he shifted focus after watching AI search adoption accelerate past every projection.
His core contribution is the measurement framework: on Day 0, lock 50-100 high-intent prompts drawn from client keyword clusters and buyer questions. Run them fresh across six engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Microsoft Copilot. Record every citation, position, and source. Re-test the identical matrix at Days 30, 60, and 90. Every lift is traceable to the exact content, schema, or entity work performed.
This protocol is now used for every retainer client and distributed publicly in the free citation audit. The methodology draws from the Princeton GEO paper (Aggarwal et al. 2023), Semrush AI traffic benchmarks, Microsoft Clarity patterns, and hundreds of raw matrices from 2025-2026 programs.
Robert's "why" is straightforward: most organizations still optimize for blue links that fewer buyers click. He builds the systems that place client brands inside the synthesized answers that drive real decisions — and conversion rates 9x higher than traditional organic search in some tracked datasets (Semrush January 2026 benchmark: 15.9% AI referral conv vs 1.76% Google).
Every engagement follows the same 4-phase protocol. No guessing. Every lift backed by timestamped data.
We lock 50-100 high-intent prompts drawn from your keyword clusters and buyer questions. Run them across six engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Microsoft Copilot. Record every citation, position, and source. No changes until the baseline is set.
Schema markup implementation (FAQPage, Article, Organization, Person/SameAs). Content restructuring for AI readability — definitive answers, Q&A hierarchies, topic cluster mapping. Entity establishment and internal linking that builds topical authority.
Re-test the identical prompt matrix. 15-30%+ of target prompts typically surface brand citations by this checkpoint. Relative share-of-voice gains tracked against competitors on the same schedule. Adjust based on what's working.
Final re-test at Day 90. Across 12 tracked client programs: consistent 35-55%+ citation rate improvements and measurable AI referral lifts. Observed patterns: 150-400% increase in tracked AI referral sessions. Every number traces back to timestamped, re-tested prompts — no post-hoc selection.
Most agencies offering GEO services are traditional SEO shops that added "AI optimization" as a line item. We were built for GEO from day one. Every process, every measurement, every deliverable is designed around how language models select and cite sources — not how Google ranks pages.
We don't report vague "improvements." Every citation lift is tied to a specific prompt run on a specific date, across specific engines, with the full before/after matrix available. Clients can replicate the methodology themselves — we publish exactly how we do it.
GEO is not a "wait and hope" strategy. Our methodology produces measurable citation improvements within 60-90 days. Schema changes can show impact in weeks. Full topical authority compounds over 3-6 months. Every phase has a clear deliverable and measurement checkpoint.
We intentionally keep our client count low. GEO work requires deep understanding of each client's industry, content, and competitive landscape. Every engagement gets hands-on strategy from the founder, not delegated to junior staff. We take on clients we can genuinely move the needle for.
The six AI engines we test against in every engagement:
Our methodology is grounded in published research and industry benchmarks, including the Princeton GEO paper (Aggarwal et al. 2023), Semrush AI traffic data, Microsoft Clarity behavioral patterns, and hundreds of raw prompt matrices from active 2025-2026 programs. Every claim we publish can be traced to a source — either our own client data or publicly available research.
50-100 prompts across 6 engines. Prioritized roadmap in 5 business days. No credit card. No sales call. We start by showing you exactly where your brand stands in AI search — with data, not promises.
Free audit first. Retainers billed monthly after we demonstrate value. No long-term lock-in.