AI search tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity recommend businesses they can find, read and trust. In practice that means three things: their crawlers must be allowed to read your website, your pages must answer questions clearly enough to quote, and other trusted websites must confirm who you are and what you do. If any one of those is missing, the AI usually recommends a competitor instead.
I have worked with technology for more than 37 years, and with search since the early days of Google. The tools change, but the basics have not: search systems reward businesses that are easy to understand and easy to verify. Here is how that works for AI search today, and what you can check on your own website this week.
How does an AI tool find information about a business?
Most AI answers about businesses are not pulled from the model’s memory. When someone asks “who is the best family dentist in Pasadena?”, the tool runs a live web search, reads a handful of pages and then writes a summary. Each tool relies on a search index:
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google’s own search index, built by Googlebot.
- Copilot uses Bing’s index, built by Bingbot.
- ChatGPT search uses its own crawler (OAI-SearchBot) together with third-party search data, including Bing.
- Perplexity uses its own crawler (PerplexityBot) and other search sources.
- Claude uses web search with its own crawlers, including Claude-SearchBot.
The takeaway: if your site is not indexed well in Google and Bing, most AI tools will not see it. Many businesses ignore Bing. With AI search, that is a mistake.
Step 1: Let the crawlers in
Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they may read. Some security plugins, firewalls and old robots.txt rules block AI crawlers without the owner knowing. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure you are not blocking Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Claude-SearchBot.
One common point of confusion: blocking a training crawler is different from blocking a search crawler. For example, Google-Extended controls whether Google can use your content to train Gemini models. It does not remove you from Google Search or AI Overviews. You can decide on training separately, but search crawlers should be allowed if you want to be recommended.
Step 2: Write pages an AI can quote
AI tools build answers from short, clear passages. Pages that bury the answer under a long introduction get skipped. The pages that get quoted usually:
- Answer first. Put a direct two- or three-sentence answer at the top of the page, then explain.
- Use question headings. Headings like “How much does a roof replacement cost in Los Angeles?” match how people ask AI tools.
- State the facts plainly. Your services, service area, prices or price ranges, hours, years in business and licenses, written as text, not hidden in images.
- Show who wrote it. A named author or reviewer with real experience helps both Google and AI tools trust the page.
- Add structured data. Organization or LocalBusiness schema, and FAQ schema where you have real FAQs, label your facts in a format machines read easily.
Step 3: Get confirmed by other trusted websites
AI tools are cautious about recommending a business based only on its own website. They look for agreement across sources: your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp, industry directories, associations, local news and “best of” lists. When your name, address, phone number and services match everywhere, the AI has more confidence that you are real and relevant.
Reviews matter here too. A steady flow of recent, detailed reviews that mention your services and city gives AI tools specific language to repeat when they describe you.
What about llms.txt?
llms.txt is a proposed file that gives AI tools a short, plain-text guide to your site’s most important pages. It is cheap to add and does no harm, but as of today the major search and AI companies have not confirmed that they use it. Treat it as a small extra, not a replacement for the three steps above.
How to check your own business in 15 minutes
- Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot: “Who are the best [your service] providers in [your city]?” Write down who gets named and which websites are cited.
- Look at the cited sources. Are you listed on them? If not, those are the places to get listed.
- Open your robots.txt and confirm the search crawlers listed above are not blocked.
- Read your homepage and main service page. Does each one answer “what, where, how much and why you” in the first few sentences?
- Run a free page check with the Los Angeles SEO Inc free SEO audit tool. It includes AI search visibility checks, such as crawler access, FAQ schema and answer-first content.
Is AI search replacing Google?
Not replacing, but changing it. Google is still the largest source of search traffic for most businesses, and Google’s own AI Overviews now answer many questions directly on the results page. The good news is that the work overlaps: a fast, well-structured website with clear answers and consistent listings helps you in classic search results, in Google Maps and in AI answers at the same time.
The short version
To be recommended by AI tools, be easy to find (crawlers allowed, indexed in Google and Bing), easy to quote (answer-first pages with clear facts) and easy to verify (consistent listings, reviews and mentions on trusted sites). None of this is a trick. It is the same principle search has always rewarded: make it simple for the system to understand who you are and why you are the right choice.
If you would like a team to handle this for your business, my agency offers AI SEO services for local and nationwide businesses.
