Citation-source strategy in practice: a worked example

In the companion methodology piece, we set out the citation-source framework: how to work backwards from an LLM answer to the specific sources it pulled from, then build a plan for getting cited in those sources.

This piece walks through the same framework applied to a worked example — Box Meal, our fictional UK meal kit startup case study. The published AVS Report showed Box Meal scoring 18/100 (Ghost band under v1.1 methodology) with 12 mentions across 6,300+ data points — invisible in general “best meal kit” queries, occasionally surfaced when sustainability is the explicit topic. The audit identified exactly which citation sources Box Meal needs to win.

This is GEO advisory done with the receipts on the table — applied to a real published case.

Article structure (in progress)

1. The starting position. Box Meal scored 18/100, Ghost band under v1.1 methodology, with just 12 mentions across thousands of LLM responses. Strong sentiment when mentioned (sustainability framing intact), but invisible in any general “best meal kit UK” query. HelloFresh, Gousto, and Mindful Chef dominated the citation share.
2. What citation sources AI was using for “best meal kit UK”. BBC Good Food comparison articles, Good Housekeeping reviews, TechRadar buying guides, MoneySavingExpert threads, a handful of national-broadsheet lifestyle pieces, and Reddit r/UKMealKits threads. None of them mentioned Box Meal — because Box Meal wasn't in any of them.
3. The five-bucket mapping. Walking through trade press, listicles, directories, communities, and own-site structured content for the meal kit category. Where Box Meal was absent in each, and where there was a credible path to inclusion — particularly the sustainability-niche foothold, which the AVS audit identified as the highest-leverage opening.
4. The Top 12 plan. Site-direct moves for Box Meal (FAQPage schema, sustainability-credentials structured data, comparison page targeting “Box Meal vs HelloFresh / Gousto / Mindful Chef”, recipe-card schema, founder Q&A page) and off-site moves (BBC Good Food sustainability section pitch, Good Housekeeping eco-meal-kit roundup inclusion, sustainability-podcast appearances, B Corp case study placement, sustainable-living trade press commentary).
5. The 12-week deployment plan. Site-direct first (schema and structured content can ship in 2–3 weeks); PR pitching second (3–8 week lead time on broadsheet placement); podcast outreach in parallel; community presence (Reddit, eco-living forums) seeded gradually so it reads as authentic rather than astroturf.
6. What we’d expect to move (and what we wouldn’t). Honest predictions for re-measurement at 12 weeks and 6 months: which pillars should shift, which probably won’t, and which we genuinely don’t know about. The sustainability narrative-fit pillar is the highest-confidence shift; the general “best meal kit UK” query is the slowest-moving and the hardest.
7. What you can take from this for your own business. The five-bucket framework applied to your category, the type-tag prioritisation logic, and the cadence rhythm for measure → deploy → re-measure.