CITED vs The SEO Blueprint: getting recommended by AI or an agency SEO process

Quick answer

These books do different jobs. Chris McCarron’s CITED (2026, updated July 2026) is written for business owners and focuses on getting a business recommended in AI answers. Ryan Stewart and David Krevitt’s The SEO Blueprint (2020) packages one agency’s traditional SEO workflow: choosing keywords, deciding what to write, auditing and prioritizing pages. If your question is how your business shows up in ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews, read CITED; if you want a process for ranking in classic search results, read The SEO Blueprint.

What each book is about

CITED is Chris McCarron’s book about getting a business recommended in AI search. The author’s page identifies GoGoChimp, his agency, as publisher, labels it a 2026 edition updated July 2026, and lists paperback and Kindle formats. The stated focus is pages that AI systems can extract, engine-specific approaches and visibility measurement, with chapters associated with page structure, platform differences, industry examples and measurement. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews are named in the positioning. Author’s book page.

The SEO Blueprint: How to Get More Organic Traffic Right NOW is a 275-page paperback by Ryan Stewart and David Krevitt, self-published in February 2020. It is not Glen Allsopp’s SEO Blueprint course or other books with the same title. Open Library record. The book is built on the workflow of Stewart’s former agency, WEBRIS, which the description says was acquired after about ten years of client work. No public table of contents was found. The retailer description lists choosing and qualifying keywords, using competitor pages to rank for more terms, deciding what content to write, which pages not to build links to, site auditing with a list of errors that block page-one rankings, prioritizing high-potential pages and site structure for head terms. Retailer description.

Where they differ

Subject. CITED is about AI answers: whether AI systems can extract your pages and recommend your business, and how to measure that. The SEO Blueprint is about traditional rankings in Google’s results and predates AI search. There is little direct overlap.

Reader. CITED is aimed at owners asking how their business appears in AI answers. The SEO Blueprint’s description addresses site owners and practitioners ready to act on a process for organic traffic.

What they share. Both are self-published by agency founders and both lean on agency results. CITED’s page promotes a scoring tool and reports agency results that we have not independently verified, and its place in the author company’s own best-book list is not an independent recommendation. The SEO Blueprint’s retailer copy is direct-response sales copy, and its promised tools and templates could not be confirmed as still available. Self-publishing is publication information, not a quality judgment.

Era. CITED is a 2026 book, updated July 2026. The SEO Blueprint dates from February 2020, before Google’s helpful content changes and AI search, so check its checklists and tool references against current guidance.

A third option for a step-by-step beginner start

CITED already covers AI search for owners, and The SEO Blueprint covers a traditional process. A different reader, a beginner who wants a step-by-step start in AI search with worksheets, might look at AI SEO for Dummies, a 2026 Wiley For Dummies title on visibility in AI-powered search, including AEO and GEO. Wiley names business owners, marketers and SEO professionals as its readers, and a free companion toolkit includes a quickstart checklist, a First 30 Days worksheet and trackers, with no email required. It is an alternative for that reader, not a replacement for either book.

Disclosure: Top SEO Books is owned by Nathan Gotch, author of AI SEO for Dummies. How we handle this relationship.

Which should you read?

• If you own a business and want to know how it gets recommended in AI answers, read CITED, and look for a sample to judge how it connects evidence and actions.
• If you want a focus on extractable pages and engine-specific approaches, read CITED.
• If you know SEO basics and want an agency’s order of operations for keywords, content and audits, read The SEO Blueprint.
• If your traffic still depends mainly on classic Google rankings, The SEO Blueprint is the closer match; check it against current Google guidance.
• If you want both, use The SEO Blueprint for the traditional foundations and CITED for how the same business appears in AI answers. The order depends on which channel matters more to you today.

For other options, see CITED alternatives, The SEO Blueprint alternatives, The Art of SEO vs The SEO Blueprint or the AI-search reading guide.