How to show up in AI search and on Google

AI search runs one or more searches, reads the pages that come back, and writes an answer with links to the sources it used. Your page has to be found in that search before it can be quoted or linked.

Each tool gets its pages from a slightly different place.

• Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode work from Google's own search index. Both can split a question into several related searches, which Google calls query fan-out. AI Overviews only appear when Google's systems decide they add something, so many searches don't show one.
• ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's own search crawler, and sometimes sends rewritten versions of the question to other search providers. OpenAI says any public website can appear in it.
• Microsoft Copilot is built on Bing's search index, so being indexed in Bing matters for Copilot.
• Perplexity uses its own crawler to find and link websites in its answers.

When a question includes a place, these tools also draw on business listings. Google tells site owners to keep their Business Profile current for its AI features, Microsoft points local businesses to Bing Places, and ChatGPT can use a person's approximate location and outside listing providers when someone asks about nearby businesses.

So the order is the same for every tool. A page has to be reachable, then indexed, then clear enough to be chosen and quoted.

Mostly, no. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimizations needed. A page only has to be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet, which is the same bar as a regular result. Microsoft's guidance for Bing and Copilot says much the same: crawling, page titles and descriptions, internal links, and links from other sites are still essential.

Google's list of fundamentals is the familiar one: pages search engines can crawl, internal links, a good page experience, important information in text, and accurate structured data and Business Profile details. The next two sections go through them.

ChatGPT and Perplexity have their own crawlers

Google and Bing aren't the only crawlers that matter. ChatGPT and Perplexity each have their own, and a robots.txt rule or a security setting can block one of them while Google still gets through. OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler won't appear in ChatGPT's search answers, other than as a link when someone searches for the site by name. Some hosting and security services also have settings that block AI crawlers.

Search crawlers and training crawlers are separate, too. OpenAI uses one crawler to collect content for training its models and another for search, and you can block one and allow the other. Google's separate setting for Gemini training doesn't affect whether your site appears in Google Search. A business that doesn't want its content used for training can say so and still show up in search.

On your own site, you control which pages exist, what they say, and how fast they load.

A page for each service

Give each main service its own page, and if you work in several towns, name them in plain text. Google says people ask its AI search longer and more specific questions, and follow-up questions after that. A single services page with ten items in a list gives a search engine very little to match against a detailed question about one service in one town.

Clear answers near the top

Start each page with what the service is, who it's for, and where you offer it, in a sentence or two. Then answer the questions customers ask before they call: what's included, what affects the price, how long the work usually takes, and how to get started. Clear headings and short, direct answers help people scanning the page, and Microsoft notes they also make it easier for AI systems to reference a page accurately.

Text, speed, and structured data

• Put the details in text on the page. Hours, service areas, and what you offer shouldn't live only in a photo, a PDF, or a graphic.
• Keep the site fast and easy to use on a phone. Google's Core Web Vitals measure loading, responsiveness, and whether the layout shifts while the page loads, and Google's ranking systems use them.
• Structured data is code that describes your business and pages to search engines in a standard format. Keep it matching what the page says. Google's guidelines say not to mark up content that visitors can't see.
• Link related pages to each other with descriptive words, so a visitor on one service page can find the others.

The platform affects speed and how easily you can add pages. WordPress, Shopify, or a custom build walks through that decision.

When we plan a site, we outline the pages before anything is designed, and each main service gets its own page so it can show up in search on its own. We build each site for speed and search, and after launch we can handle hosting and edits, so the pages stay accurate as the business changes.

Keep your business details complete, accurate, and the same everywhere, and collect honest reviews. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance, and prominence, which means how well known a business is. Prominence draws partly on how many websites link to you and on your reviews.

• Verify your Google Business Profile. Fill in your address or service area, hours, category, and photos, and update them when something changes. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results.
• Set up Bing Places for Business too. Microsoft points local businesses there to keep address, hours, and contact details current for its AI answers.
• Use the same business name, address, and phone number on your website, both profiles, and any directories you're listed in. When the details disagree, a customer or an answer built from several sources can end up with the wrong one.
• Ask real customers for reviews and reply to them. Google provides a review link and QR code you can share. Don't offer discounts or free work in exchange for a review, because Google prohibits it.

Links from other sites matter too, since Google finds most new pages through links. The useful ones come from real relationships, like a supplier's dealer list, a trade association's member page, or a local news story about your work.

Much of the advice about AI search adds work that the search companies themselves don't ask for.

• An llms.txt file or other AI text file. Google says you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features. A file like this won't make up for pages that are hard to reach or unclear.
• Special markup for AI. Google says there's no special schema.org structured data to add for AI Overviews or AI Mode.
• A separate GEO program. GEO, AEO, and AI SEO are newer names for mostly the same work. Microsoft's own guide to AI answers says the traditional search fundamentals still matter, whatever you call it.
• Word counts and repeated keywords. Google has no preferred word count, doesn't use the meta keywords tag, and treats keyword stuffing as spam.
• Publishing hundreds of AI-written pages. Google's spam policies name using generative AI to produce many pages without adding value for users as scaled content abuse.
• A perfect speed score. Google says chasing a perfect Core Web Vitals score just for search may not be the best use of your time.
• Anyone who promises placement. Google says indexing isn't guaranteed and nobody can request or pay for a better local ranking. AI answers also vary from one person and place to the next, so nobody can promise you'll appear in them.

Check the search step first, then the answers. A few free tools cover most of it.

• Search Google for site: followed by your domain, like site:yourbusiness.com. If your pages are listed, Google has indexed them.
• Set up Google Search Console. Its Performance report counts clicks and impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode along with the rest of your Google search traffic, and its URL Inspection tool shows how Google sees a single page.
• Set up Bing Webmaster Tools. It reports how often your pages are cited as sources in Copilot and Bing's AI answers, and which pages.
• Look for ChatGPT in your analytics. ChatGPT tags the links people click, so those visits show up with ChatGPT as the source.
• Open yourbusiness.com/robots.txt and look for lines that block the crawlers from Google, Bing, ChatGPT, or Perplexity. Then ask your host whether a security setting blocks them.
• Ask the tools yourself. Type the questions your customers ask, in their words and with your town, into Google, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity. Note whether you're mentioned, whether the details are right, and which pages or listings they link to.

Answers change from person to person, so treat your own searches as a spot check. If an answer gets your details wrong, look at the pages and listings it links to and correct the source, whether that's an old listing, an outdated page, or a directory with a previous phone number.

1. 01Are our pages indexed in Google and Bing, and who has access to Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools?
2. 02Does anything in robots.txt or our hosting settings block the crawlers from Google, Bing, ChatGPT, or Perplexity?
3. 03Does each service we offer have its own page, with the key details written out in text?
4. 04Does our structured data match what visitors see on each page?
5. 05Are our name, address, phone number, and hours the same on the site, Google Business Profile, and Bing Places?
6. 06How fast does the site load on a phone, and what's slowing it down?
7. 07How will we see visits from AI search in our reports?

Search is one part of a larger plan, and what a marketing plan should include covers the rest. Our website design and development page explains how we build sites to be found in search and AI search, and what a website costs covers what moves the price of a new site. If you're planning one, send us a few details and we'll put a quote together for you.