More of your customers now start with a question instead of a keyword. Instead of typing “roofer Jacksonville,” they ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Mode something like “Who should I call for a roof leak in Mandarin, and what should I ask them?” The answer they get often names a few businesses and links to a few sources.

Business owners reasonably want to know how to be one of those names. This is the work people call AEO (answer engine optimization) or GEO (generative engine optimization). Below is what we know, what is still uncertain, and what we recommend doing about it.

First, an honest disclaimer

Nobody outside these companies knows exactly how each AI assistant chooses which businesses to mention. The systems change often, answers vary from one user and one session to the next, and no one can guarantee that a specific business will be recommended. Any agency that promises placement in ChatGPT or AI Overviews is overselling.

What we can do is look at what the platforms publish, notice what consistently shows up in answers, and focus on work that also helps in regular search. That last point matters: most of what helps in AI search is good SEO done thoroughly.

How AI answers find their sources

Most AI assistants that answer questions about local businesses do two things. They draw on what the underlying model learned during training, and, for current questions, they search the web and read pages in real time, then summarize what they found. That second step is where your website, your Google Business Profile and other sites that mention you come into play.

What Google says

Google’s documentation on AI features and your website is refreshingly direct. Google says “there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.” To be eligible as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. Google also says you do not need special schema markup or new machine-readable files for AI features.

Google describes a technique called query fan-out, where its AI issues multiple related searches across subtopics to build an answer. In practice, that means a page that clearly answers a specific sub-question (“Do you repair tile roofs?” or “Do you serve Ponte Vedra?”) has more chances to be pulled in than a vague page that only says “quality roofing.”

What OpenAI says

OpenAI’s publishers and developers FAQ says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search, as long as it does not block OpenAI’s search crawler, called OAI-SearchBot. A separate crawler, GPTBot, relates to model training. OpenAI also notes that ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, which makes that traffic visible in your analytics.

Step 1: Make sure AI crawlers can actually read your site

This is the most overlooked step, and the easiest to fix.

• Check your robots.txt. Make sure you are not blocking Googlebot or OAI-SearchBot. Some security plugins and hosting firewalls block unfamiliar bots by default. Whether to allow training crawlers like GPTBot is a separate business decision.
• Put important content in the HTML. Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript the way a browser does. If your services, hours or service areas only appear after scripts load, some systems may never see them.
• Keep pages fast and stable. Slow, error-prone sites are harder to crawl and are a poor experience for the visitors AI sends you. Here is why so many local business sites load slowly and how to fix it.
• Confirm indexing. Use Google Search Console to make sure your key pages are indexed. If Google cannot show a page with a snippet, it cannot use that page in AI Overviews.

Step 2: Answer real questions, clearly and specifically

AI answers are built from passages that directly address a question. Pages that bury the answer under marketing copy are harder to use. A few habits help:

• Lead with the answer. If a section is titled “How long does a kitchen remodel take?”, the first sentence should give a realistic range, then explain what changes it.
• Use the words customers use. Question-style headings that match how people ask (“Do you offer same-day service in Orange Park?”) are easier to match to a prompt.
• Be specific about who, what and where. Name your services, the neighborhoods and cities you serve, the types of customers you work with and what makes your approach different.
• Add facts only you have. Your process, your service area, your typical timelines and how you handle common problems. AI systems tend to cite pages that add something, not pages that repeat what a hundred others say.
• Keep content current. Show an updated date and actually update pages when services, hours or policies change.

Step 3: Make your business facts consistent everywhere

When an AI assistant recommends a local business, it is often combining information from your website, your Google Business Profile, review sites, directories and news or community mentions. If those sources disagree about your name, address, phone number, hours or services, the system has less reason to be confident about you.

• Keep your Google Business Profile complete, with accurate categories, services, hours and photos.
• Make sure your business name, address and phone number match across your site, major directories and industry listings.
• Earn a steady flow of honest reviews. Review content often describes what you do in customers’ own words, which helps both people and machines understand you. Our guide to getting more Google reviews the right way covers the policy-safe approach.

Step 4: Earn mentions beyond your own website

AI assistants often look for corroboration. A business that is mentioned by local news, chambers of commerce, industry associations, suppliers or respected local blogs gives the system more independent signals than one that only talks about itself. This is the same work that builds authority in traditional SEO: real partnerships, sponsorships, community involvement and being genuinely useful to local publications.

Avoid shortcuts like paid link schemes or mass-produced “best of” lists you publish about yourself. Google treats manipulative links and scaled low-value content as spam, and the risk is not worth it.

Step 5: Use structured data where it is accurate

Schema markup does not unlock AI features on its own, and Google says no special schema is needed. It is still a useful way to state facts clearly. For most local businesses, accurate LocalBusiness (or a more specific type), Organization and Service markup is a sensible baseline. The key rule from Google is that structured data should match what is visible on the page. Markup that says something the page does not is a liability, not an advantage.

You may also have heard of llms.txt, a proposed file that summarizes a site for AI tools. It is harmless to add, but there is no public confirmation from Google that it affects AI Overviews, so treat it as optional rather than a priority.

Traditional SEO and AI search: mostly the same work

How to measure AI search visibility

Measurement is still imperfect, but you are not flying blind.

• Google Search Console. Google says traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Performance report under the Web search type. It is not broken out separately, so watch overall trends for the pages you are improving.
• Analytics referrals. In Google Analytics, look for sessions from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and similar sources. ChatGPT’s UTM tag makes its traffic easy to spot.
• A simple prompt log. Once a month, ask a handful of AI tools the questions your customers ask, such as “best family dentist in Fleming Island.” Record who gets mentioned and which sources are cited. Expect variation between runs and look for trends over months, not single answers.
• Ask new customers. “How did you hear about us?” now needs an “AI assistant” option.

What not to waste time on

• Hidden text or keyword stuffing aimed at AI. It is the same old spam, and it can hurt you in regular search.
• Hundreds of AI-written location pages. Thin, near-duplicate pages are exactly what Google’s spam policies target.
• Tools that promise guaranteed AI rankings. No one controls these answers.

How we help

Our AI search optimization service builds on the same foundation as our Jacksonville SEO work: a fast, crawlable site, pages that clearly answer customer questions, a complete Google Business Profile, accurate structured data and a plan for earning real mentions. We report on what we can measure and are upfront about what we cannot.

If you want to know whether AI crawlers can read your site today, start with our free website speed and SEO report.

Frequently asked questions

Talk about AI searchCall (904) 574-9775