AI SEO: how to get your business cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews
AI answers cite websites, and the companies behind them publish how those websites are found. Here is what Google and OpenAI say in their own words, what you can ignore, and what to fix first.
AI SEO is the work of getting your business named and linked when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overviews a question you could answer. The companies behind these tools publish how their answers find websites, and their own pages are plainer than most of what is sold under the name. Google’s position fits in one line: its guide to optimising for generative AI search says that optimising for AI search is “still SEO”. In practice that means three things: pages Google has indexed, crawlers that are allowed in, and content only your business could have written.
This guide covers what the companies behind the three tools say in their own words, what you can ignore, and what to fix first. If SEO itself is new to you, start with what SEO is.
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO means making your website a source that AI answers can find, trust and cite. It is also sold as AEO, for answer engine optimisation, and GEO, for generative engine optimisation. Google treats all three names as ordinary SEO, because its AI features draw on the same index and ranking systems as the rest of Google Search.
The term is used for two different things, and it helps to keep them apart. The first is being cited by AI answers, which is what this guide is about. The second is using AI tools to do SEO work, such as drafting pages or sorting keywords. That is the subject of our guide to AI SEO tools, and what still needs a person.
In an AI answer, the customer reads a summary first, and the websites behind it appear as links. Google’s help page on AI Overviews describes one as “an AI-generated snapshot with key information and links to dig deeper”. Your aim is to be one of those links, described accurately.
How do AI answers choose the websites they cite?
They search first, then write. Google’s guide describes a technique called grounding: its ranking systems retrieve relevant, up-to-date pages from the Search index, the AI reviews those pages to write the response, and the response shows clickable links to pages that support it. An answer can only cite a page its search can reach.
Google’s guide names a second technique, query fan-out. The AI turns one question into several related searches and gathers results for each. Google’s example is “how to fix a lawn that’s full of weeds”, which may fan out into searches such as “best herbicides for lawns” and “how to prevent weeds in lawn”. Google’s help page on AI Mode puts it this way: “It divides your question into subtopics and searches for each one simultaneously.”
So a clear page about one of your services may support one part of a longer answer. Each of the three finds its sources in its own way.
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Gemini app | ChatGPT search | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the sources come from | Google’s Search index | Content from the Google Search index may be given to the model when a question is asked | Websites that OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, is allowed to read |
| What makes a page eligible | It is indexed and can be shown in Google Search with a snippet, and the site is included in Search generative AI features (the default) | Google’s pages list no separate requirements; a control named Google-Extended lets a site keep its content out | The site has not opted out of OAI-SearchBot |
| How sources are shown | Links to supporting websites | A Sources button, when sources are available | Websites shown in ChatGPT search answers |
Google’s help pages list South Africa among the countries where AI Overviews and AI Mode are available, and English among the languages, as at 2 October 2026.
How do you appear in Google AI Overviews?
You appear the way you appear in Google Search. Google’s page on AI features and your website says there are no additional requirements for AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimisations. A page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet.
So the first question is whether Google has your pages at all. Google’s technical requirements are short: Google’s crawler isn’t blocked, the page works, and the page has content Google can index. Google says on the same page that indexing isn’t guaranteed. If you are unsure where you stand, our guide to why a website is not showing on Google goes through the usual reasons in order.
The same Google page on AI features lists the fundamentals that remain worthwhile. In an owner’s words:
- Crawling is allowed, by the site and by the hosting it sits on.
- Your pages link to each other, so that content is easy to find.
- Visitors get a good page experience. Google’s guide to generative AI search adds that the site should display well across all devices.
- Important content is in text, not only in images or video.
- Any structured data matches the text people can see on the page.
- Your Business Profile information is up to date.
Two cautions. AI Overviews do not appear for every search: Google says they are shown only when its systems decide they add something to classic Search, and “often don’t trigger”. And there is now a setting that can take you out. Search Console has a Search generative AI control that decides whether a site’s links and content may appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Including the site is the default. If someone has changed it, your site will not be cited there.
How do you get cited by ChatGPT?
Start by making sure ChatGPT’s search crawler may read your site. OpenAI’s crawler documentation says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT’s search features, and that sites opted out of it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links.
OpenAI runs more than one crawler. OAI-SearchBot is for search. A second one, GPTBot, collects content that may be used to train OpenAI’s models. OpenAI says each setting is independent, so a site can allow the search crawler and refuse the training one.
Ask whoever looks after your website to confirm, in writing, that OAI-SearchBot is allowed by the site and by the server in front of it. OpenAI recommends both. If a change is needed, OpenAI says its search results can take about 24 hours to adjust after the site’s crawler rules are updated, as at 2 October 2026.
Being readable makes you eligible, and no more than that. OpenAI’s crawler page does not say how ChatGPT chooses between the sites it can read. The preparation is the same as for Google: clear pages about what you do, with facts that can be checked.
How do you get cited by Gemini?
Gemini draws on Google’s index, so being found by Google comes first. Google’s crawler documentation describes grounding in Gemini Apps as providing content from the Google Search index to the model when a question is asked. A page Google has not indexed cannot be supplied that way.
The same documentation describes a control named Google-Extended. A site can use it to say whether its content may be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini Apps. Google says it does not affect a site’s inclusion in Google Search and is not a ranking signal. If your site refuses Google-Extended, you keep your place in Google Search but withhold your content from grounding in Gemini. Make sure that choice is one you made.
Gemini does not show sources every time. Gemini’s help page on related sources says Gemini Apps may provide links to sources, which may include public websites, and that not all responses include them.
What kind of content gets cited?
Content that says something only you can say. Google’s guide states that content people find unique, compelling and useful “will likely influence your website’s presence in generative AI search in the long run more than any of the other suggestions in this guide”.
Google draws the line between commodity and non-commodity content. Its example of commodity content is “7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers”: common knowledge that could come from anyone. Its example of the other kind is “Why We Waived the Inspection & Saved Money: A Look Inside the Sewer Line”, an account from experience. The guide’s advice is direct: don’t just recycle what others have already said, or what a generative AI model could easily produce.
For a business, first-hand material is what you already hold and your competitors cannot copy:
- The work you have done, for named clients, with the year.
- Your prices, and what changes them.
- How you actually do the job, step by step, and what goes wrong when it is done badly.
- Answers to the questions customers ask you every week, in the words they use.
Make it easy to see who is speaking. Google’s guide to helpful, people-first content asks whether content shows clear sourcing and background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as an About page, and says that of the qualities its systems look for, “trust is most important”.
Google’s guide also says people generally appreciate pages organised into paragraphs and sections with clear headings. We write our own pages that way. Our case study of GiftBucks, a client since 2003, states what we built and what the system was rebuilt as.
What can you ignore?
Most of what is sold as a special AI technique. Google’s guide has a section on what you don’t need to do, and says many suggested “hacks” aren’t effective or supported by how Google Search actually works. The list applies to Google Search and its AI features, not to other companies’ assistants.
| What is offered | What Google’s guide says |
|---|---|
| An llms.txt file, or other special files and markup for AI | You don’t need them to appear in Google Search, which ignores them. Creating one will neither harm nor help your visibility there. |
| “Chunking”: breaking pages into tiny pieces for AI | There’s no requirement to do it. Google’s systems can understand several topics on one page, and there’s no ideal page length. |
| Rewriting your content in a special way for AI | You don’t need to. AI systems understand synonyms and general meaning, so you need not capture every variation of a search. |
| Placing “mentions” of your business around the web | Seeking inauthentic mentions isn’t as helpful as it might seem. Ranking systems focus on high-quality content while other systems block spam. |
| Special structured data for AI | Structured data isn’t required for generative AI search, and there’s no special markup to add. It remains worth using for rich results. |
One tactic carries a real risk. Some suppliers offer to publish a separate page for every way a question might be asked. Google’s guide says that doing this primarily to manipulate rankings or AI responses violates its spam policy on scaled content abuse, and calls it an ineffective long-term strategy.
How do you check whether AI answers cite your business?
For Google, use Search Console. Its Generative AI performance report shows how often links to your site were shown in AI Overviews and AI Mode, which pages were shown, and from which countries and devices. Google’s help page says the report was rolled out to websites worldwide as of 31 August 2026.
You may not see the report yet. Google’s help page gives the reasons: not all properties have access while it rolls out, the site may not have received enough impressions in AI features, or the site has been excluded from them. Google’s page on AI features and your website says appearances in AI features are also counted in the ordinary Performance report, within the “Web” search type. Our guide to Google Search Console for business owners explains how to read that report.
For ChatGPT and Gemini, we found no equivalent report in the pages we read, so the check is manual. Ask each one the questions your customers ask, in their words, and note whether your business is named, whether your site is linked, and whether what it says about you is correct. Treat one answer as a sample: Google’s help pages warn that AI responses may include mistakes, and Gemini’s help page on using the app tells users to double-check responses.
If an answer gets your business wrong, look at your own site first. Opening hours, prices, service areas and the name of the business should be stated in plain text on the site, and should match wherever else they appear.
Does a Google Business Profile help with AI answers?
Yes, for the businesses that qualify for one. Google’s guide says generative AI responses can include information about local businesses, and that Google Business Profiles can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results.
A profile is not for every business. Google’s Business Profile guidelines allow one for a business that has a physical location customers can visit, or that travels to customers where they are. If yours qualifies, our guide to Google Business Profile for South African businesses covers set-up. When we work on your profile, it stays on your own Google account, and you add us to it.
Should you pay for AI SEO?
Pay for SEO that covers AI answers, not for AI SEO as a separate product. Google’s guidance on third-party SEO tools and advice says Google doesn’t evaluate third-party services, that using a service or tool doesn’t guarantee ranking success, and that third-party tools don’t have access to its internal ranking data.
Google has added AI to its list of questions to ask an SEO before you hire one. Google’s page on whether you need an SEO suggests asking whether their advice on optimising for AI experiences is aligned with Google’s official guidance. Three questions follow from the pages quoted in this guide:
- Which page from Google or OpenAI supports each thing you propose to do?
- How will you show me where my site appeared in AI answers, and from which report?
- Which of your tactics are on Google’s list of things to ignore?
Google’s advice on guarantees still applies: if an SEO guarantees first place in the results, find someone else. Our guide on how to choose an SEO company has the full set of questions.
What should you do first?
Do the foundations in order. Confirm that Google has indexed your pages and that your site is included in its AI features. Confirm that ChatGPT’s search crawler is allowed. Then put your effort into pages that state what you do, for whom and at what price, in words a customer would use.
Some of this is already part of how we build. Every site we build works on phones, and our Business website package includes Search Console, which is where Google’s Generative AI performance report sits. We build with AI ourselves too: for FCRMC, a financial crime risk management consultancy and a client since 2009, the 2025 rebuild added a learning platform and a custom plugin that matches their clients and suppliers using AI.
If you would rather have your site’s SEO checked for you, our SEO audit is R6,500 incl. VAT and takes about a week. It reads your site’s robots.txt and checks that the crawlers AI search tools use, OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot among them, are allowed to reach it. It also checks how your business appears in AI answers, and we read your Search Console data through read-only access. If a monthly retainer starts within 30 days, half the fee is credited against the first month. See a sample audit report (a fictional example).
Our SEO service in Johannesburg page lists what the audit and the retainer include, and our guide to what a proper SEO audit covers explains each part. Send us your website’s address and the questions you want to be the answer to: Book an SEO audit. We reply to new enquiries on the same business day.
Frequently asked questions
Can SEO be done by AI?
Part of it can. Google’s guidance on using generative AI content says generative AI can be particularly useful when researching a topic and for adding structure to original content. It also warns that generating many pages without adding value for users may violate its spam policy on scaled content abuse. A person still has to supply the facts and check the result. Our guide to AI SEO tools covers where the line sits.
What is AI SEO called now?
AEO or GEO; both are spelled out under ‘What is AI SEO?’ above. Google’s own pages use the names too: its guidance on third-party SEO tools and advice describes tools that promise improvements for AI experiences as “also known as ‘AEO’ or ‘GEO’ tools”. The name on a quote matters less than what the work includes, so ask the three questions under ‘Should you pay for AI SEO?’ above.
How to learn AI SEO?
Read the companies’ own pages before anyone’s course. Google’s guide to optimising for generative AI search and its page on AI features and your website are free, short, and written for website owners. OpenAI’s crawler documentation covers ChatGPT. Google’s guidance on third-party advice says good advice either qualifies its claims as opinion based on data or experience, or cites official Google Search guidance. Our SEO plan for a small business sets out what to do first.