AI Search Diagnostics: Identifying Retrieval and Citation Failures

Symptom-first troubleshooting for generative search visibility issues

Each diagnostic symptom maps to underlying decision traces. When a site is not showing in AI results, or content is not cited in AI Overviews, these behaviors are explained by decision traces in generative search—the observable record of how AI systems decide what to retrieve, cite, or ignore.

Many persistent visibility failures are not indexing problems. They are extractability problems.

Many intermittent AI visibility failures are caused by inference context instability rather than indexing or authority issues.

Some systems retrieve your content but still refuse to reuse it because it does not clear a confidence band.

Some segments fail not because they are wrong, but because their meaning does not survive compression.

Each diagnostic guide follows a symptom-first approach:

1. What the system is doing: Observable behavior that indicates the issue
2. Why the symptom appears: Root cause explanation tied to retrieval mechanics
3. Which failure mode it maps to: Links to specific failure patterns in the GEO system
4. Diagnostic steps: How to verify the cause
5. Mitigation path: How to resolve the issue

These guides funnel directly into GEO Failure Modes for detailed mechanics.

• Generative Engine Optimization — Foundational mechanics
• Failure Modes — Detailed failure patterns
• AI Search Measurement — How to measure visibility