How to Strategize Around UGC Sources in Prompt-Tracking Tools (Actionable Takeaways for GEO)

I’ve long been writing about the importance of organic social media for SEO strategies, based on the visibility UGC got in Google’s SERPs. But nowadays we have a new reason to focus on UGC: GEO strategies for AI visibility.

You can look no further than your prompt-tracking data in Profound, Peec AI, or a similar tool to see that UGC is an important domain type in terms of the sources influencing the chats your customers might see.

For example, here are the primary domain types of the sources for some SEO/GEO prompts I track in Peec AI:

As you can see, UGC is the second-highest retrieved domain type, behind Corporate content.

But what are the strategies for influencing UGC sources, like those you see in your prompt-tracking data?

We’ll dive into specific domains in a moment, but in general, you have two options:

1. Take inspiration from the current sources you see to create UGC on your own social media or video channels.
2. Identify notable creators in your niche and reach out to them to engage in a partnership or influencer deal.

When we’re talking about “UGC” in the context of GEO broadly, we’re mostly talking about what I call the holy trinity: YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit.

Unsurprisingly, when we click into the UGC sources influencing the prompts I’m tracking, those domains are all represented in the top sources:

Let’s go through each UGC platform (YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit) to see which types of content are popular as sources for chats related to the prompts I’m tracking.

In my mind, partnerships with creators is a huge opportunity. However, I’m an independent consultant, so I probably wouldn’t be reaching out to content creators for partnerships. But if I were a brand, that option should be on the table.

You can find popular YouTube creators by looking at the top videos by retrievals, choosing the most relevant ones from a business perspective, clicking into them, and seeing who published the video.

Alternatively, you can take inspiration for creating your own video content, based on what’s currently being retrieved as sources for the chats related to the prompts you’re tracking.

When it comes to LinkedIn, the same process applies as for YouTube: either take inspiration from top sources for creating your own LinkedIn content, or find popular voices to partner with.

You’ll notice from the URLs above that Pulse articles are quite popular in terms of retrievals. That might be one format of content to look into on LinkedIn.

Reddit requires a different approach than YouTube or LinkedIn, however.

I wrote a separate guide specific to Reddit marketing, but just to recap those tips: your goal isn’t necessarily to find conversations to contribute to now; it’s to take inspiration from current sources to find new, similar conversations to contribute to, which could potentially be retrieved as source URLs for chats in the future.

In other words, these are conversations I see being used as sources today:

But rather than jumping into those existing conversations, I would identify the main themes (for example, by uploading that list of conversations to Claude or another AI assistant and asking for the themes) and then using Ask Reddit to find subreddits related to each theme:

From there, I would identify relevant conversations where I can offer genuinely helpful perspectives or expertise that, hopefully, would engender goodwill from the community.

To summarize, you can take action to influence UGC sources identified in your prompt-tracking data in one of two ways:

1. Look at the current UGC sources and get inspiration for content for your own social media or video channels.
2. Find creators to engage in a partnership or influencer deal with.

You’ll probably want to focus most on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit, but I would take cues from your own prompt-tracking data. If you see other domains, like niche forums, those could be more valuable to contribute to.

Ultimately, you want to be in the spaces where your target audience is having conversations and consuming content. That’s valuable in itself. Then if that UGC becomes used as a source for chats triggered by prompts relevant to your target audience’s buyer’s journey for your main lines of business, even better.

Of course, if you want a hand with your social media strategy for GEO purposes, feel free to get in touch with me. I’m an independent SEO/GEO consultant helping clients with goals just like that.

Until next time, enjoy the vibes:

Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing!

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