How Exporters Can Do AI Search Optimization: The Question Your Buyers Ask AI — and You Can't Answer It

For an export business, AI search optimization (GEO — Generative Engine Optimization) is about getting cited when AI answers your customers' questions, not about ranking higher on a search results page. The most common way companies lose here: every yuan goes into the independent website, while the source line feeding Doubao and DeepSeek in China sits completely empty.

First, a story

A factory owner in Shenzhen who makes industrial parts ran a test a while back.

He searched Doubao and DeepSeek for the specifications of his own products. Both engines named three or four competitors, complete with parameters and price ranges. They never named him.

The factory has been running for over a decade. Its equipment is newer than those competitors' and its certifications are more complete. He was indignant; I was puzzled, so I looked into it.

The conclusion was plain: the problem was not the product. It was where the information sat.

His qualifications, test reports and process parameters were all buried on a second-level page of his own website that nobody clicks. On third-party platforms: nothing. When AI answered that question, it never came near him.

Step 1: Work out which AI your customers actually use

Export businesses are a special case: your buyer may ask a Chinese AI engine, or an overseas one. And these two groups of engines read almost entirely different sources.

• Chinese engines: Doubao belongs to ByteDance and mainly reads Toutiao, Douyin and Zhihu. ERNIE Bot belongs to Baidu and mainly reads Baijiahao and Baidu Baike. Tencent Yuanbao favours WeChat Official Accounts. DeepSeek and Kimi are not tied to any ecosystem, so they lean on professional communities such as Zhihu and on long documents. Qwen leans towards the portal sites.
• Global engines: ChatGPT mainly reads independent websites and authoritative English-language sites.

If you want a particular AI to recommend you, publish on the platforms it prefers. That is the first layer of GEO work. This factory's problem was exactly that: the website was decent, the Chinese line was zero — and half its inquiries came from domestic trading companies.

Step 2: Pull out the questions your customers actually ask

This step is the least glamorous and the most useful. Dig through your inbox, your inquiry records, and what competitors get asked on Zhihu. That's it — just dig.

Once you have, one thing stands out: there is not a single brand name in any of those questions.

Questions like: which factory in China can make this part to this spec? For small-batch custom work, should I go to a factory or a trading company? How long does this material last outdoors? How long does certification take if I ship from Shenzhen to Europe?

This is different from before. Buyers used to search keywords; now they hand the question straight to AI. They don't know your name. If your content only talks about yourself, it will never make it into those answers.

To be systematic, split the questions into seven types: which factory can make this; can they do small-batch customisation; do they hold a specific certification; recommend a reliable one; what's the difference between A and B; which one works for outdoor conditions; can this factory be trusted. Those seven cover the whole journey from a buyer first noticing you to feeling safe enough to place an order.

Factories in the Pearl River Delta take small order volumes and a lot of customisation, so the questions their buyers put to AI are unusually specific — and this breakdown fits them well.

Step 3: Write the way AI reads

Whether AI mentions you comes down to three things.

The third is the one most people miss. Before citing you, AI cross-checks. If your website says the company was founded in 2021 and an article says "more than a decade of experience", the mismatch is enough for AI to drop you.

Here's something few people consider: AI prefers to cite things it can verify. Your evidence falls into three categories — what you say about yourself (spec pages and FAQs on your own site), what others say about you (customer cases, platform reviews), and what authorities say (certification registries, test reports). AI only mentions you reliably when all three are present. Self-praise on its own is just self-praise.

Step 4: Don't blast one article across five platforms

Post the same text everywhere and AI flags it as duplicate content, which pushes your citation rating down. This is the easiest trap to fall into. Adapt instead: a deep Q&A on Zhihu, a definitions and explainer piece on Baijiahao, a conversational Q&A on Toutiao, an industry analysis on Sohu.

Two and a half months later, that factory owner searched the same specification in the same AI engine. His factory's name was in the answer.

One honest note to finish: nobody can promise you will appear in AI answers. What you can do is put accurate information where AI can find it, understand it and verify it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to do SEO first?

No — it is not either/or. SEO governs your ranking on search results pages; GEO governs whether AI mentions you in its answers. Two different jobs, two different source pools.

How do I get found in Doubao and DeepSeek?

First see which platforms those engines pull content from and publish there. Then make your company details consistent across your website and third-party platforms — AI cross-checks, and anything that doesn't line up won't get cited.

My website has very little content. Can I rely on third-party platforms alone?

Not entirely. Your website is the reference copy AI checks against; if it is too thin, third-party content is hard to verify. At minimum it needs your full company name, founding date, address, product specs and certifications.

How long until it works?

No promises. The general pattern: on time-sensitive platforms such as Toutiao, weight concentrates in the first week or two; Baijiahao takes roughly three months; Zhihu and your own website keep working long term. It is ongoing work.