AI citation engines operate on different selection criteria than search engines. Where search engines rank results based on relevance and authority signals presented as a list, citation engines select sources based on extractability, semantic clarity, and topical authority — then synthesize those sources into a single generated response.
The IEO Engine methodology targets AI citation engines specifically. The same content can rank well in traditional search and still fail to be cited by AI citation engines if it lacks the structural signals that citation engines require for source selection.