Ranking is the entry ticket
Analysis of generative citations consistently shows a strong bias toward pages already ranking on page one for the query or a close variant. Classic SEO remains the prerequisite; generative selection happens after retrieval.
Query fan-out changes keyword strategy
Google decomposes one prompt into several related sub-queries and assembles an answer from all of them. That rewards pages covering a topic's sub-questions comprehensively rather than one page per narrow keyword.
What earns the link
Passages that resolve one sub-question completely, tables that compare options, and stepwise instructions. Unique first-party data, original testing, and named expertise are the strongest differentiators because they cannot be synthesized from competitors.
Expect CTR to shift, not vanish
Informational queries lose clicks to the overview; comparison, transactional, and depth-seeking queries retain them. The right response is to shift content investment toward queries where a summary cannot finish the job.
Technical prerequisites
Server-rendered HTML, valid Article or FAQPage schema, clean heading hierarchy, fast LCP, and no content hidden behind interaction. Google cannot cite what it cannot parse deterministically.