People still search Google. More of them now also ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews to recommend a business. If those tools do not know you exist, or describe you wrongly, you lose the customer before they ever see your site.
What AI assistants look at
These tools summarise what they find across the web. They lean heavily on what other sites say about you: review platforms, directories, comparison articles, forums and videos. Your own website matters, but it is one voice among many.
Is there a special trick?
Google says there are no extra requirements for appearing in AI Overviews beyond normal search best practice. Your pages need to be indexable, clear and useful. The same basics help with other AI tools.
Practical steps
- Keep your details identical everywhere. Same business name, description and services on your site, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Fix wrong information at the source. If an old listing shows the wrong price or address, AI tools will repeat it. Find it and correct it.
- Write pages that answer questions directly. Start each section with a one or two sentence answer, then explain.
- Earn mentions on other sites. Reviews, guest articles, interviews and videos give AI tools more to go on.
- Make sure Bing can find you. Several AI assistants draw on Bing results, so submit your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google.
What about llms.txt?
It is a proposed file that tells AI tools about your site. So far there is little evidence that AI assistants use it. Your time is better spent on the steps above.
Want to know what AI tools currently say about your business? That is the first step of our SEO and AI search visibility work.