How to approach DeepSeek SEO
DeepSeek SEO is not a hidden switch. The goal is for its web-enabled answers to read and cite your pages. First run fixed buyer questions and record which sources are cited and whether your brand appears. Then make sure key pages are directly readable, with products, services, regions and credentials stated as complete, consistent and verifiable sentences. Retest on a schedule. Nothing guarantees a citation, and mentions should be counted separately from linked citations.
the 23SEOGEO team · Updated
Testing domestic AI engines: fixed prompts, separate records
Domestic AI assistants do not publish crawl and citation documentation comparable to Google's, so do not assume a particular crawler name or rule applies. Fix a set of real buyer questions, ask them by date, engine and web-search state, and keep the original answer and cited links. Record mentions, linked citations, referral visits and enquiries separately. A miss on retest does not invalidate an earlier record, because answers change over time and by account.
Readable owned pages come first
An answer engine can only cite what it can read. Check status codes, robots rules, noindex and canonical URLs on key pages, and confirm body copy is present in raw HTML rather than rendered entirely by browser scripts. Record read failures as unobservable instead of judging unseen quality, and do not bypass access restrictions.
Related questions
- How do I optimize for DeepSeek?
- How can DeepSeek recommend my brand?
- Which websites does DeepSeek cite?
Common questions
Is there an official DeepSeek site optimization guide?
As of this update we have not found public crawl or citation documentation from DeepSeek, so this page covers verifiable practice only: readable pages, complete facts and fixed-prompt retesting.
Does a mention without a link count?
It is a visibility signal, not a verifiable citation, and should be reported separately.
How soon will results show?
No timeline can be promised. Set a baseline, then compare retests at D+14 and D+28 after changes.
Sources
- Google: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
General quality principles relevant to any page an answer engine reads.
- Google: Introduction to robots.txt
Check whether pages are blocked by crawl rules.