AI search visibility: get found in ChatGPT and more

What are AI search engines and AI Overviews?

An AI search engine does not give a list of ten blue links, but a written answer. Often it includes sources, with links to the websites the information came from. Well-known examples:

• ChatGPT with its search feature, which looks up and summarises current web pages.
• Google AI Overviews: the AI answer shown at the top of some Google search results.
• Perplexity, a search engine that gives answers with sources.
• Microsoft Copilot, linked to Bing.

Working with these systems is also called GEO, generative engine optimization. It sounds new, but the foundation is simply good SEO. If you do not know the basics yet, first read our SEO explainer.

How does an AI search engine choose which businesses to mention?

The makers do not publish exactly how each system works. What is clear is that they often search a normal search index first and then summarise the best-matching pages. A few things usually play a part:

• Your page is found for the question. So if you rank well in Google or Bing, you have a head start.
• Your copy gives a clear, direct answer that AI can easily use.
• Your business is described the same way in several places: your site, your Google Business Profile, reviews, industry sites.
• The information is current and matches what other sources say.
• The page is technically easy to read, without important text hidden behind buttons or scripts.

How to improve your AI search visibility in practice

Start with your own website. That is where you have the most influence. These steps help for both Google and AI:

• Answer real customer questions. Use the question as a heading and give the answer straight away in the first sentence.
• Be concrete: name your services, your service area, your prices or price indications and the way you work.
• Give each service its own page, and where it fits, each region too.
• Add an FAQ with questions people actually ask.
• Show who is behind the business: name, address, contact details and an about page.
• Keep copy up to date. Old prices or services you no longer offer confuse AI and customers.

Write for people, not robots. Copy that helps a customer right away is exactly the kind of copy an AI likes to quote. You can find tips in writing website copy.

The technical basics: can AI read your website?

AI systems use their own crawlers, programs that fetch web pages. If they cannot read your site, you do not exist for them. So check:

• Your robots.txt, the file that says which crawlers may visit which pages. If you accidentally block search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot or Bingbot, it is hard to appear in answers.
• Whether important text is directly in the HTML, rather than only loading after a click or through a heavy script.
• Whether your site is fast and works well on mobile.
• Whether you use structured data, extra code that tells search engines what your business is, where you are and what you offer.
• Whether your sitemap is up to date and submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

You can also deliberately choose to block some AI crawlers, for example those used to train models. That is your own call. Just make sure you know which crawler does what before you block anything. There is also a proposal going around for an llms.txt file, but it is not an official standard and major search engines say they do not use it.

Your business beyond your website: mentions and reviews

AI looks further than your own site. Think of it as a reputation that is pieced together online. The more often trustworthy sources say the same thing about you, the more confident an AI system is.

• Keep your Google Business Profile complete, with the right categories, opening hours and photos.
• Collect genuine reviews. Read how to get more Google reviews.
• Make sure your name, address and phone number are the same everywhere.
• Be listed on relevant industry or local sites.
• Get mentioned in articles, interviews or partnerships, where that fits naturally.

How do you measure whether you appear in AI answers?

That is harder than with normal SEO. A few practical ways:

• Regularly ask the questions your customers ask yourself, in different AI tools, and note whether you are mentioned.
• Check in Google Analytics whether visitors come in via chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai or copilot.microsoft.com.
• Ask new customers how they found you. You will hear 'via ChatGPT' more and more often.
• Track your normal positions in Google. If they go up, your chance in AI answers usually goes up too.

Do not expect a stable position. AI answers differ per question, per moment and per user.

Common mistakes with AI search visibility

• Publishing masses of AI-written copy without your own knowledge or checks. That produces thin pages nobody quotes.
• Vague copy without concrete information about services, prices or service area.
• Letting every page cover everything instead of one topic per page.
• Forgetting the technical basics, such as a robots.txt that blocks too much.

Help with visibility in Google and AI

At Violexa we combine SEO with knowledge of AI. We work on both online marketing and AI and automation, so we look at both sides. Online marketing starts from €599 excl. VAT (€725 incl. VAT) per month, with no minimum term. You cancel monthly with one month's notice.

Want to know how your business is doing right now in Google and in AI answers? Book a free quickscan. In 30 minutes, online or on site, we take a look with you. Afterwards you get short written advice with a price estimate, with no obligation.

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