# Comparison pages and AI citation

> A protocol for writing, at scale and with a real gate, the pages that answer what your audience searches and asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity: "A or B", "does A work", "alternatives to A", symptom to service, and comparisons with named competitors. The goal is to be the source an answer engine can quote without risk.

Published: 2026-10-21

## What works and what does not

Answer engines quote pages that state a checkable fact, say where it came from and the date, and answer one question each. They do not reward volume. The same technique applied by swapping a city name into one template produces doorway pages, which search engines demote.

- **Works:** one real question per page, a direct answer, a table with sources, an honest section on where the other side is better, the same data in the visible page and in the schema.
- **Does not work:** one template with the place changed, claims about a competitor you did not read on their own site, superlatives about your own brand, pages for places you do not serve.
- **Expect citation more than clicks.** Comparison and question pages are written for answer engines and for people who already know a brand name; they rarely bring much search traffic on their own. Measure both before you promise either.

> **Warning:** This guide is a method, not legal advice. Brazilian references are listed so you can read the original texts before publishing.

## 1. Find the terms

Keep five separate lists. Each one has an owner and a rule.

**Where terms come from**

| List | Source | Rule |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Queries without a page | Search Console export (query by page), 90 days; `gsc_oportunidades.py` does the cross | Impressions at or above a floor and no page covering most of the words. A page already ranking near position 8 is reinforced, not duplicated. |
| Site search with no result | Your own search box log | Count at least 2 before it becomes a page. |
| Questions people ask AI | The AI visibility tracker prompts and what customers say they typed in the chat | Phrase the page title the way the question is asked. |
| Sources the engines cite | Cited domains and URLs per prompt and engine; the AI Overview collected over 7 or more days | What appears in 80% or more of the answers becomes a required section. |
| Queries with a competitor name | Search Console plus the competitor list in the site registry | Separate list. Only feeds the named templates, only with an opened public source, and the page starts hidden (noindex) until a person reviews it. |

Cut every term the site already answers. If a page exists, improve it. Two pages for one query compete with each other.

## 2. Choose the template

Every template needs a verifiable fact, schema generated from the same data as the page, and internal links to pages that exist.

**Templates**

| Template | Example | Verifiable data | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A or B (concept) | Tendinitis or tendinosis? | Guideline or systematic review with a DOI you opened | No brand names; both sides neutral. |
| Does A work? | Does tape work? | Same; say "not enough evidence" with the source when it is true | Always send alarm signs to a professional. |
| You or Competitor A | Brand Example or Competitor A | The competitor's own public pages, opened, with the date checked | Two tables: where you lead and where the competitor ties or wins. "Does not list" never becomes "does not have". |
| Alternatives to A | Alternatives to Competitor A | A list with a declared criterion | Your brand is not first by default. |
| Best A in a place | A in District One | Address, hours and coverage you really have | Only where you serve. No ranked list that puts you first. |
| Symptom to service | Pain behind the thigh: causes | Signs, causes, when to see a doctor | Condition rules of your profession apply. |
| Question to answer | How long is a visit? | A fact about your own business, dated | FAQ schema. |

Common frame: direct answer in up to 80 words, table of 6 to 10 criteria, 4 to 6 sections titled as questions, "when each one makes sense", 5 to 10 FAQ items, sources, 3 to 6 internal links, author box with a real name and credential, review date.

## 3. The quality gate

Machine first, then a person reads a sample. These rules block publication until fixed:

- **Nothing invented about a competitor.** Every statement points to a source that someone opened, with the date. "Does not list" means the page you read does not mention it.
- **A fact has a source.** DOI checked against the registry, URL opened. A dead link is an error.
- **No promise of results.** No "guaranteed", "100%", "cure", no before and after, no testimonials where your profession forbids them.
- **Professional board rules** loaded into the gate (medical, psychology, physiotherapy and legal boards each have their own advertising rules).
- **Comparative advertising.** Objective, provable comparison; no general claim of superiority; no confusion between brands; no disparagement.
- **No self-ranking.** Declared criterion, your brand not first by default, say where the competitor wins, no "the best" about yourself.
- **No invented places.** A place page needs real service there.
- **No doorway.** Sibling pages must differ: Jaccard similarity below 0.5, and one different question per page.
- **No first-person experience you cannot back** ("in my clinic I see…") unless the professional approved it.

Brazilian references to read before publishing comparisons: CONAR Code, article 32 (comparative advertising: objective, provable, not disparaging, self-regulation without force of law); Consumer Defense Code, articles 36 and 37 (misleading and abusive advertising); Industrial Property Law 9,279/1996, article 195, items I and II (false statements about a competitor to gain advantage as unfair competition). Check the official text; this is not legal advice.

Run it with the command below. Exit code 1 means at least one error; warnings (long direct answer, a source that blocked the robot, a check older than 90 days) do not block.

## 4. Scale in waves with a canary

- **Plan file.** One row per page: slug, question, sides, template, linked service, whether you serve the place. Cut what the site already answers before any agent starts.
- **Wave 0 (canary).** 3 to 6 pages of different templates, written by agents from a written brief (one file per page, never edit the page registry, drafts in a temp folder, research by web only, a report listing what was left out for lack of a source). A person reviews all of them. Named-competitor pages start hidden.
- **Next waves.** 5 to 30 pages, one wave at a time; the next starts after the last was reviewed and merged. The registry and the sitemap belong to the orchestrator, not to the agent.
- **Cadence.** A new site publishes at most 4 new pages a week; record a 28-day measurement window per page and do not edit a page inside its window.
- **Tripwire.** After each wave check position by page type in Search Console and the similarity between siblings. A drop, or similarity over the limit, freezes the next wave and opens a consolidation: redirect the weak pages to the strong one with 301, do not mass noindex.
- **Publish.** Notify IndexNow, keep a real `lastmod` in the sitemap, generate `llms.txt` from the content.

## 5. Measure, and claim only what you measured

- **Citation by AI:** an AI visibility tracker per site, neutral prompts separate from brand prompts, competitors registered with their domains. Read the 28-day trend only when the comparison is marked comparable; incomplete or missing baselines do not allow "went up" or "went down".
- **By URL:** which page type the engines cite. Without it no template gets credit.
- **Search Console:** impressions, clicks and position by page type and by wave, 28 days after the wave. The AI features report in the Search Console interface is not available through the API.
- **Conversion:** ask people who say AI sent them what they typed in the chat.
- **Wording:** a sentence like "most cited" needs the round, the date, the number of prompts, the engines and the competitor list. Otherwise write "not measured".

A single round can swing a lot between weekly rounds with the same prompts. Read at least four rounds before you publish a result.

## The command and a draft

`hub/paginas_comparacao.py` is Python standard library only. It reads the Search Console CSV, classifies each query into a template, separates create from reinforce, drops places you do not serve, writes draft skeletons with fields to fill (it writes no facts) and runs the gate.

```bash
# 1. terms: Search Console export (query, clicks, impressions, position, page) -> prioritized list
python3 -m hub.paginas_comparacao termos --gsc queries.csv \
  --concorrentes "Competitor A,Competitor B" --lugares "District One,District Two" --atendemos "District One" \
  --paginas pages.txt --saida terms.json

# 2. drafts: one skeleton per term with action "criar"; no fact is written for you
python3 -m hub.paginas_comparacao rascunhos terms.json --pasta drafts/ --marca "Brand Example" --idioma en

# 3. gate: exit code 1 on any error; run before the pull request
python3 -m hub.paginas_comparacao portao drafts/*.md --idioma en
```

A passing draft looks like this (front matter, then sections; the gate checks both):

```markdown
---
molde: vs
termo: brand-example or competitor a
marca: Brand Example
concorrente: Competitor A
lugar:
atendimento: n/a
conselho: none
verificado_em: 2026-10-15
---

# Brand Example or Competitor A: which one fits you?

## Direct answer
One or two self-contained paragraphs, up to 80 words.

## Criterion
Criterion: what each public site lists on 2026-10-15, alphabetical order.

## Facts
- One verifiable fact. [source: https://competitor-a.test/plans]

## Table
| Criterion | Brand | Other side | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Opening hours | until 8 pm | until 7 pm | https://competitor-a.test/hours |

## Where the competitor wins
- At least one item, with source.
```

Source code and tests: [`hub/paginas_comparacao.py`](https://github.com/BRK13/krohnos/blob/main/hub/paginas_comparacao.py), [`tests/test_paginas_comparacao.py`](https://github.com/BRK13/krohnos/blob/main/tests/test_paginas_comparacao.py).