AI Search Optimization: Get Named by ChatGPT and Google AI

AI search optimization is the work that helps AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews find, understand and mention your business. It combines technical access, structured data, answer-first content and off-site signals like reviews and listings, then tracks how often you’re named.

They overlap. AI search optimization is the umbrella term. Answer engine optimization (AEO) focuses on being the answer an assistant pulls from your page, and generative engine optimization (GEO) focuses on being named inside AI-written responses. We do both as one program. Read more about AEO and GEO.

Make sure OpenAI’s crawlers can reach your site, describe what you do and where you work in plain, answer-first language, add schema, keep your business details identical on Google, Bing, Apple and the major directories, and build steady reviews. ChatGPT can only recommend businesses it can read and verify.

ChatGPT combines what it learned in training with live web results, which lean on Bing’s index. Businesses that appear consistently across trusted sources, with clear pages, reviews and third-party mentions, get named more often. No one outside OpenAI controls the final answer.

Google builds its AI answers from pages it already ranks and trusts. Strong SEO, pages that answer one question per section, FAQ and Organization schema, and a complete Google Business Profile give you the best chance of being cited. Google describes how sites appear in these features in its AI features guide.

Mostly no. Crawler access, schema, clear pages and consistent business details help with all of them. Each has quirks: ChatGPT leans on Bing, Gemini on Google’s index, Perplexity on recent and specific pages, and Claude on careful, detailed sources. We cover the shared work once and tune where it pays off.

llms.txt is a plain-text file at your site’s root that gives AI tools a short, organized summary of your business and your most important pages. It’s an emerging convention, not a guarantee of anything, but it’s quick to add and every site we work on gets one. The proposal is published at llmstxt.org.

If you want AI assistants to cite you, usually yes. Blocking a crawler keeps your pages out of that assistant’s answers. We review your robots.txt with you and set clear rules for each crawler.

The AI Visibility Snapshot is free. The full AI Visibility Audit is $1,500 one time, credited to your first month if you start a plan within 30 days. The ongoing AI Visibility Plan is $1,500 a month, or $750 a month added to our $950 SEO Foundation plan. SEO Acceleration at $3,200 a month includes the full program.

Most clients see their first new mentions within 60 to 120 days, with steadier visibility over the first six months. Starting authority, reviews and how competitive your category is all affect the pace.

No. No one controls what an AI model says, and any agency that guarantees it is guessing. We guarantee the work and honest tracking: which questions mention you, how often, and what changed.

Each month we run the questions your customers really ask across five AI tools, record whether you’re named and how you’re described, compare you with your top three competitors, and report visits that came from AI assistants in your analytics.

Yes. AI assistants rely on the same web Google indexes, and Google’s own AI answers come from pages it already ranks. Good SEO is the foundation AI visibility is built on. See SEO services.

Regular SEO aims for a ranking position in Google’s results. AI search optimization aims for a mention inside an AI-written answer. The foundations overlap, but AI search adds crawler access for AI bots, answer-first page structure, entity and schema work, and tracking of AI mentions.

Yes. We’re based in Greater Cincinnati and work with businesses in Greater Cincinnati and across the U.S. AI search work is done remotely, so location doesn’t limit who we can help.

Yes. Blueprint Companion Care paired a brand refresh with AEO and GEO work and content strategy, with AI citations tracked in a custom dashboard, and Ekhaya Crashpad built visibility across niche pilot platforms and Google. See every project on our projects page.