You cannot guarantee that ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or another AI service will recommend your business. You can make it easier for search systems to discover, understand and assess your business by maintaining accessible pages, providing useful and accurate information, demonstrating relevant experience, and building a trustworthy online presence.
This work is often called generative engine optimisation (GEO). It overlaps heavily with traditional SEO: if a page cannot be found, understood or trusted, adding a few AI-related tags is unlikely to solve the problem.
TL;DR
- Make important pages crawlable, indexable and clear about what your business does.
- Publish useful, original content that answers real customer questions better than a generic summary.
- Keep business facts consistent and support claims with evidence and credible sources.
- Measure actual citations and referral activity; do not rely on one manual AI prompt as proof of progress.
What does AI search visibility mean?
AI tools can answer a question directly, cite web pages, suggest businesses or combine information from several sources. These behaviours are not identical across products. A brand may appear for one prompt and be absent from another, and a citation does not necessarily mean the user will visit the website.
Google's own guidance for AI features in Search says its established SEO practices remain relevant and that there are no separate technical requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Pages still need to meet normal Search eligibility requirements, and inclusion is not guaranteed.
Seven practical ways to improve your chances of being found
1. Fix crawl and index problems first
Important pages need to be accessible to the systems you want to reach them. Check for accidental noindex directives, blocked paths, broken internal links, incorrect canonical tags, server errors and missing sitemap entries. Use Search Console to inspect key URLs and review the rendered page, not just what you see in a browser.
2. Explain precisely what the business does
Make your services, audience, location, process and limitations explicit. A page that says “We deliver innovative solutions” is less informative than one that names the service and explains who it helps. Include the practical details a potential customer needs to decide whether you are relevant.
3. Answer real questions directly
Write about the questions prospects ask before buying: what the service includes, what changes the price, how to choose a provider, common mistakes, trade-offs and what happens after purchase. Give a concise answer near the top of each section, then explain the reasoning and exceptions. This structure helps people scan the page and makes its subject easier to interpret.
4. Add information that is not a generic rewrite
A page that repeats widely available advice without adding anything may have little reason to be chosen over stronger sources. Add practical examples, original comparisons, screenshots, worked calculations, first-hand observations or clearly explained methodology. If you have no client case studies yet, use transparently labelled demonstrations rather than invented results.
5. Support important claims
Link to primary sources for technical, legal or statistical statements. Name the source and explain what it supports instead of listing links without context. Keep claims current, remove obsolete advice and make authorship or editorial responsibility clear where it matters to your readers.
6. Strengthen the wider picture of your business
Keep your business name, services, contact details and location information accurate wherever you legitimately maintain them. Earn genuine reviews and relevant mentions by doing good work and making it easy for customers to share honest feedback. Do not buy fake reviews, create false business listings or manufacture citations to simulate authority.
7. Make the page useful on more than one surface
Use descriptive titles, helpful headings, relevant internal links, readable page layouts and meaningful images with appropriate alternative text. Structured data can help eligible systems interpret specific information, but it must match visible page content and it does not guarantee a rich result or an AI citation.
Pro Tip: Pick five real questions a prospective customer asks. Write one genuinely useful page or section for each, and link them to the service page that answers the commercial question. This is more defensible than generating dozens of thin pages around minor wording changes.
GEO myths that waste time
There is no universal “AI ranking score” that every assistant follows. There is also no reliable way to guarantee an answer through keyword repetition, hidden text, or a special llms.txt file. Google says ordinary technical and content fundamentals apply to its AI Search features; Bing has started exposing citation activity through its own reporting, which is a better starting point than guessing what may have influenced a single response.
Avoid treating a brand mention in one AI conversation as proof that a strategy is working. Results can vary with wording, location, personalisation and product behaviour. Use repeatable prompts as exploratory checks, then look for corroborating data.
How to track AI visibility
Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and check the AI Performance report if it is available for your property. Microsoft's announcement explains that the report surfaces citations and referenced URLs across supported AI experiences. In Google Search Console, monitor available Search performance data and any AI-feature reporting exposed to your account. In analytics, review referral sources and meaningful conversions, while recognising that not every AI visit will be clearly attributed.
Keep a baseline: which pages are cited, which customer questions you test, which sources mention the brand and whether qualified enquiries change over time. Do not claim a result that your reporting cannot support.
How The Super Shoppe can help
The Super Shoppe's SEO & GEO service combines technical review, content planning, publishing and visibility tracking. The useful first step is to check whether your site is technically accessible and whether it gives customers and search systems enough specific, credible information to understand your offer.
Sources
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
- Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools: AI Performance public preview
- Google Search Central: General structured data guidelines