AI search (AEO)
Show up in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI answers.
6 answers · Updated 2026-10-17
More and more buyers now ask an assistant before they ask a search engine. They type a question into ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, or they read the AI summary at the top of Google, and they act on what it says. Getting named in those answers is what we call AEO, answer engine optimization. Some people call it GEO, generative engine optimization. It is the same idea: make it easy for an AI system to find, understand and trust what your business says about itself.
The honest starting point is that nobody outside the AI companies knows exactly how these systems pick sources, and the companies do not publish their formulas. What we do have is a small amount of official guidance, some public research with disclosed methods, and a lot of practical experience about what makes a page easy to quote. This section sticks to those. Where something is unknown, we say so. You will not find promises about rankings or mentions here, because nobody can honestly make them.
The work breaks into four jobs. First, measure: ask the assistants your customers use the questions your customers ask, and write down what comes back, the same way each month. Second, publish: give every important question a clear, factual answer page on your own site, built from real details about how you work. Third, protect: make sure the facts about you are the same everywhere, including your profiles and third-party listings, and that AI crawlers can reach your pages if you want them to. Fourth, correct: when an assistant gets something wrong, fix the source it learned from, then use the feedback tools.
Most of this overlaps with good SEO. Google says there are no extra technical requirements to appear in its AI features beyond being indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. That is why AEO vs SEO is a question of emphasis, not two separate disciplines. The shared numbers are in the Open Index, our dated library of AI search research. If you are a Webtec client and want a hand, see our AEO service or send a request through the support form.
All answers in ai search (aeo)
- How to check what AI says about your businessYou tried an assistant and did not like what you saw. A 20-minute first look, how to sort what you found and what to send us.
- How AI chooses which businesses to mentionWhy an assistant named a competitor instead of you, and the five checks to run, in order, before you change anything.
- What to send us so your AEO pages are strongThe evidence an answer page needs: real questions, process details, credentials, proof and ranges.
- AI crawlers and your website: what to allow and blockSomeone told you to block AI bots, or you suspect they are blocked. How to check, what to decide and what to send us.
- What to do when AI gets facts about you wrongWhy assistants are wrong, and a correction playbook that starts with your own sources.
- AEO vs SEO: how they overlap and where they differYou are deciding whether to pay for SEO, AEO or both. A decision guide, the questions to ask any provider and what to send us.
Questions about ai search (aeo)
What is AEO in plain English?
AEO, answer engine optimization, is the work of making your business easy for AI assistants to find, understand and quote. Instead of only competing for a blue link on Google, you aim to be named when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI summaries a question about your field. In practice it means clear answer pages, accurate facts across the web, and crawlable pages. It builds on SEO rather than replacing it.
Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. The assistants do not publish how they choose sources, their answers vary from one run to the next, and the products change often. Anyone promising a specific mention or position is guessing. What can be done honestly is to improve the evidence an assistant has to work with, measure the results each month, and adjust. We never promise mentions or rankings, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Do I need special code or markup to appear in Google AI Overviews?
No. Google's documentation says there are no additional technical requirements and no special schema.org markup for AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. Standard SEO fundamentals still apply, such as crawlable text and good internal links. Structured data is still useful, but it should match what the page visibly says.
Should I block AI crawlers like GPTBot?
It depends on what you want. Blocking a training crawler such as GPTBot tells OpenAI not to use your content to train models, while blocking a search crawler such as OAI-SearchBot can remove you from ChatGPT search answers. Many businesses that want to be recommended allow the search crawlers and decide separately on training. See AI crawlers and your site for the trade-offs.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
Nobody can say with confidence. Changes to your own pages can be picked up by search-connected assistants within days to weeks once crawled, but a model's built-in knowledge only changes when it is retrained, which you cannot see or schedule. Results also vary between runs. Judge progress over several monthly checks rather than a single test, and treat any firm timeline with suspicion.
An assistant says something wrong about my company. What do I do?
Find where it could have learned the error, then fix that source first: your own pages, your profiles and any third-party listings. After that, use the feedback buttons in the assistant, and record the wrong answer with the date. Corrections are not guaranteed and the timing is uncertain. The full steps are in fix wrong AI answers.
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