One original survey = Perplexity citations in 3 weeks. Here's the exact format that worked.

Background: i've done content marketing for other people's SaaS for years, finally building my own tool, so i know the playbook. Decided to run a tiny original-research experiment.

Survey: 110 respondents, solo operators and small agency owners. Topic: how they're handling AI-generated content in their client deliverables. One hero stat that was genuinely surprising.

Distribution: own blog + LinkedIn carousel + one industry newsletter mention.

What happened:

• Perplexity started citing the survey page within 18 days. Not just mentioning my brand — actually sourcing the stat.
• Two industry blog roundups linked it. Those links seem to be what triggered the Perplexity pickup.
• ChatGPT: still nothing after 5 weeks (training data lag, expected).

The format that matters, specifically:

• Hero stat in the H1, not buried in paragraph 2.
• Methodology in a visible callout box (sample size, dates, screener criteria). AI engines seem to treat visible methodology as a credibility signal.
• Downloadable CSV linked from the post. Got 3 of those industry links when people re-cited with credit.

one thing i'd do differently: send the data to 2-3 larger publications as an exclusive before going broad. second-degree citations last way longer than first-party.

Has anyone had a survey flop? Wondering what separates the sticky data from the data that just dies.