AI SEO is the work of getting your business recommended when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews instead of scrolling a list of links. It goes by several names (generative engine optimization, GEO SEO, answer engine optimization, LLM SEO) and most of what is sold under them is unproven. Here is what AI search optimization actually is, what the research measured, how assistants find businesses, and what an AI SEO service should do for you.
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is making sure AI assistants can find your business, understand what you do and choose to mention you. When someone asks an assistant for a plumber, an accountant or the best local bakery, the assistant builds one answer from the sources it can reach and trusts, and names a few businesses in it. Being one of them is the goal. The same work is called generative engine optimization (GEO), after the research that first measured it, and answer engine optimization (AEO), after the idea that assistants answer rather than rank. The names differ; the work does not. It rests on three things: a website that answers questions clearly, with sources and numbers; business information that is complete and consistent everywhere assistants look; and the ordinary SEO that gets pages found in the first place, which none of the new names replaces.
Is AI SEO different from regular SEO?
Less than the sales pitches suggest. Google says of its AI Overviews and AI Mode: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." It adds that "all existing SEO fundamentals continue to be worthwhile" and that "you don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features" (Google Search Central, updated 10 December 2025). So AI SEO is SEO, plus one addition that matters: assistants also draw on sources beyond your website, such as business listings and reviews. A tactic that has no ordinary SEO justification, like special AI files, chunking pages for machines or rewriting content with AI, should be treated as unproven until someone shows the numbers.
Why does AI search matter for a business now?
Because customers moved quickly. BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US consumers found that 45% now use AI tools like ChatGPT for local recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier, while the share using Google for local business reviews fell to 71% from 83% (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey, 11 February 2026). The same survey found that 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses. For a business, that means a growing share of first impressions now happens inside an assistant's answer, before anyone visits a website. If an assistant does not know your business, or has its details wrong, you are not on the shortlist, and you will not see the customers you lost. The chart shows how fast the change came.
What actually works in generative engine optimization?
Evidence, not tone. The research that named GEO tested methods against real generative engines and found that "GEO can boost visibility by up to 40% in generative engine responses" (Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, KDD 2024). The detail matters more than the headline. For a source that ranked fifth, citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics roughly doubled its visibility in the answer. For a source already ranked first, the same methods lowered it. An authoritative tone barely moved anything, and keyword stuffing did nothing at all. The authors add that "the efficacy of these strategies varies across domains". For most businesses, which rank nowhere yet, the lesson is simple: pages that cite real sources and carry real numbers get used in answers; confident adjectives do not.
| Method | Source ranked first | Source ranked fifth |
|---|---|---|
| Cite sources | −30.3% | +115.1% |
| Add quotations | −22.9% | +99.7% |
| Add statistics | −20.6% | +97.9% |
| Authoritative tone | −6.0% | +6.1% |
| Keyword stuffing | about 0 | about 0 |
How does ChatGPT find and recommend websites?
Through its own crawler, which a website can block by accident. OpenAI states that "OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features. Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links" (OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI Crawlers). The first ChatGPT SEO check is therefore a line in your robots.txt: if it blocks OAI-SearchBot, no amount of content will get you into ChatGPT search answers. The second is what the assistant can read about you elsewhere: your listings, your reviews and the pages that mention you. That is why AI search optimization covers business listings, not only your own site. Other assistants run their own crawlers, so the same rule holds across them: be reachable, be consistent, and be worth citing.
What should an AI SEO checklist include?
Seven checks, each with an ordinary SEO reason behind it. Work through them in order; the first two cost nothing and fix the most common reason a business never appears in AI answers at all:
- Allow the AI crawlers in robots.txt, including OAI-SearchBot.
- Answer real questions on your pages, one clear answer per section.
- Cite sources, quote them and add numbers, the methods the research measured.
- Mark up your business with structured data search engines can read.
- Keep your details identical on every listing: name, address, phone and hours.
- Collect and answer reviews; 97% of consumers read them.
- Make every page fast on a phone, measured on mobile data, not office wifi.
What do our AI SEO services include?
The checklist above, done for you and kept up every month. Our Growth plan, at $149 a month with the website included, covers AI search optimization alongside SEO: we claim and complete the listings assistants can read, including Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Foursquare and Yelp, keep your name, address and phone identical on every one, and add the structured data that describes your business. We write and publish content that answers what your customers ask, with sources and numbers. And we check what the assistants actually say about you, and report it to you each month, because an assistant with your details wrong is worse than one that has never heard of you. No AI text files and no tricks: whichever AI SEO agency you choose, ask to see each of these in writing. See SEO services for small business, the pricing, or start with a free homepage redesign.
Common questions
- What is AI SEO?
- AI SEO is the work of getting a business recommended in AI answers, from ChatGPT and Gemini to Google's AI Overviews. It is also called generative engine optimization (GEO) or answer engine optimization (AEO). It rests on ordinary SEO, plus complete and consistent business listings and pages that answer questions with sources and numbers.
- Is GEO different from SEO?
- Less than it is sold as. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that all existing SEO fundamentals continue to be worthwhile. The practical difference is that assistants also read business listings and reviews, so those need the same care as the website.
- What actually works in generative engine optimization?
- The GEO study (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024) measured it. For a source ranked fifth, citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics roughly doubled its visibility in AI answers. An authoritative tone barely moved anything and keyword stuffing did nothing. For a source already ranked first, the same methods lowered its visibility.
- How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
- First, make sure robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot: OpenAI says sites that opt out of it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. Then keep your business details identical on every listing, collect and answer reviews, and publish pages that answer your customers' questions with sources and numbers.
- Do I need an llms.txt file for AI search?
- Not for Google. Google says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in its AI features. An llms.txt file may help other systems and costs little to publish, but it is not a ranking signal.