You get your business mentioned in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews the same way you earn trust with people: by being easy to find, clearly described, consistently listed and talked about by other credible sources. AI assistants build their answers from web pages, business listings, reviews and their own search indexes. If those sources describe your business clearly and agree with each other, you are far more likely to appear when someone asks for a recommendation.

This approach is often called GEO (generative engine optimisation) or AI SEO. It is not a separate trick. It sits on top of good SEO and adds a stronger focus on clarity, consistency and third-party mentions. Below is a practical guide you can work through.

How AI assistants decide which businesses to mention

Each assistant works differently, and the details change often, but the broad pattern is similar. When a question needs current or local information, the assistant runs searches, reads a handful of pages, and writes a summary. When it answers from memory, it relies on what it learned from public web content during training.

In both cases, three things matter:

  • Can it find you? Your pages must be crawlable and indexed by the search systems the assistant uses.
  • Can it understand you? Your site must state plainly who you are, what you do, where you do it and for whom.
  • Does anyone else confirm it? Mentions in directories, reviews, local news, industry sites and forums give the assistant confidence that you are real and relevant.

Google AI Overviews draw on Google's own search index, so normal Google SEO work feeds directly into them. ChatGPT's search features and Gemini also lean on search indexes and well-known sources. No one outside these companies knows the exact weighting, and anyone who promises a guaranteed AI mention is overselling.

Step 1: Make sure AI crawlers and search engines can reach your site

Start with the basics, because nothing else works without them.

  • Check that your important pages are indexed in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Several AI tools use Bing results, so Bing matters more than many businesses assume.
  • Review your robots.txt. Some site owners block AI user agents without realising it, often through a security plugin or a hosting default. Decide deliberately which bots you allow. Search-related crawlers (the ones that fetch pages to answer live questions) are different from training crawlers, and the providers document them separately.
  • Make sure key content is in the HTML, not only loaded by scripts after the page opens. Plain HTML is easier for every crawler to read.
  • Fix slow pages and broken links. A page that times out is a page no one cites.

Step 2: Describe your business in plain, quotable sentences

AI answers are built from sentences that state facts clearly. Pages that bury the point under marketing language are harder to quote.

  • Put a one-sentence description of your business near the top of your home page and About page, for example: "We are a plumbing company serving the northern suburbs of Adelaide, specialising in hot water systems and blocked drains."
  • Give each service its own page, with the first paragraph answering "what is it, who is it for, where do you offer it".
  • Add a FAQ section that answers the real questions customers ask you on the phone. Write the answer first, then the detail.
  • Use specific nouns: suburbs, cities, product names, industries. "We help businesses grow" says nothing an AI can use.

Step 3: Add structured data

Structured data (schema markup) tells search engines exactly what each piece of information on a page is. It does not guarantee anything, but it removes guesswork.

  • Organization or LocalBusiness on your home or contact page: name, address, phone, opening hours, logo and links to your official profiles.
  • Service or Product on the relevant pages.
  • FAQPage where you have genuine FAQs (Google shows FAQ rich results only for a narrow set of sites now, but the markup still helps machines read the page).
  • Article with author and date on blog posts.

Test your markup with Google's Rich Results Test and keep it in line with what is visible on the page.

Step 4: Build a consistent entity across the web

AI systems think in entities: a business is a thing with a name, location, category and relationships. The more consistently that entity appears across the web, the more confidently it can be described.

  1. Keep your business name, address and phone number (NAP) identical everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, social profiles and directories.
  2. Complete and maintain your Google Business Profile. For local questions, it is one of the strongest signals Google has about you.
  3. List your business on the main general and industry directories for your country. Our free top citation sites lists are a good starting point, and our guide to local citation building explains how to do it properly.
  4. Link your website to your official profiles (and back), and use the sameAs property in your Organization schema.

Step 5: Earn mentions and reviews from other sources

Assistants are cautious about recommending a business only on its own word. Independent mentions carry weight.

  • Ask happy customers for reviews on Google and on the platforms that matter in your industry. Never buy reviews or offer rewards for positive ones; it breaks platform rules and consumer law in both India and Australia.
  • Get listed in "best of" or comparison articles where you genuinely qualify, through local media, industry associations and supplier or partner pages.
  • Take part in real conversations on forums and community groups where your customers ask questions. Be helpful, not promotional.
  • Publish something worth citing: original guides, price explainers, checklists or local data you collected yourself.

Step 6: Create content that matches how people ask AI

People type longer, conversational questions into AI tools: "Which accounting software is good for a small jewellery shop in Jaipur?" rather than "jewellery software". Match that.

  • Write pages and posts that answer one clear question each.
  • Include comparisons and trade-offs, not just your own product. Balanced content is more likely to be quoted.
  • Keep facts up to date and show the date you last reviewed the page.
  • Use headings that read like questions, with the answer in the first sentence below.

Step 7: Consider an llms.txt file, but keep expectations low

llms.txt is a proposed convention: a plain-text file at the root of your site that summarises your key pages for language models. It is cheap to add and does no harm, but it is not an official standard, and the major assistants have not confirmed that they rely on it. Treat it as a tidy extra, not a ranking lever.

How to check whether it is working

There is no single dashboard for AI visibility yet, so use a mix of signals:

  • Ask the assistants directly, in a private or logged-out session, the questions your customers would ask. Note who gets mentioned and which sources are cited.
  • Watch referral traffic from AI tools in your analytics. Many now pass a recognisable referrer.
  • Track branded searches in Search Console. More people searching your name is often a sign that AI answers are mentioning you.
  • Repeat the checks monthly. Answers change as models and indexes are updated.

Key takeaways

  • GEO builds on normal SEO. If Google and Bing cannot find and understand your site, AI assistants will struggle too.
  • Clear, specific, answer-first writing is easier for AI to quote.
  • Consistent business details across your site, profiles and directories make your business a recognisable entity.
  • Independent reviews and mentions matter more than anything you say about yourself.
  • No one can guarantee an AI mention. Measure regularly and improve steadily.

If you would like help, our AI SEO service covers technical access, content, schema and entity work in one plan, alongside traditional SEO.

Frequently asked questions

Is GEO different from SEO?

GEO is an extension of SEO, not a replacement. The foundations are the same (crawlable pages, useful content, authority), with extra attention on clear factual statements, structured data and consistent mentions across the web.

Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT or Gemini answers?

Advertising options inside AI products are still developing and differ by platform and country. Organic mentions in answers cannot be bought, and anyone claiming to guarantee them is not being honest.

How long does it take to start appearing in AI answers?

It varies. Assistants that search the web live can pick up changes within weeks of your pages being indexed. Answers based on training data change only when the model is updated, which can take months.

Should I block AI crawlers from my website?

That is a business decision. Blocking search-related AI crawlers usually reduces your chances of being cited in live answers. Many businesses allow search crawlers and make a separate choice about training crawlers.