Many people now look for information in ChatGPT and other language models. At the same time, plenty still use Google and other search engines. When I promote my platforms, I take both ways of finding information into account
I work with Google, Yandex and Bing at the same time: I update the information on my site and its sitemap, and prepare articles for my own site and other publications. This takes time. Content and external promotion build up gradually, so I do not expect an instant result
What AI SEO means
You may also hear GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, and AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization. The goal is to make a page discoverable and usable as a source when an AI system prepares an answer. In traditional search, a person sees a list of pages and chooses a link. In AI search, they may get an answer with source links right in the chat
These are not two separate jobs. Google explains that the usual SEO foundations apply to its AI search features. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a search snippet. Being indexed does not mean it will be chosen for an answer
What to check on your site
Start with pages that describe your services, projects and answers to customer questions. Open them without logging in, check that the text is visible and that important pages link to each other. In Google Search Console, you can inspect a specific URL and see why it has not been indexed
A sitemap helps search engines discover URLs, but it does not guarantee indexing. Update it when pages change, not simply to produce a new date. If an article exists only as an image or behind a restricted form, a crawler may have trouble accessing its content
Check the page settings too: a noindex directive or a restriction on snippets can prevent a page from appearing in search features. If a URL has moved, make sure the old one leads to the new one and internal links still work. Check the report again afterwards: submitting a URL and seeing it indexed are different things
For ChatGPT, check robots.txt separately. OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot is used for search, while GPTBot gathers material that may be used to train models. Their permissions are independent. My site explicitly allows both; allowing a crawler does not guarantee a citation
Content and other publications
Choose questions customers ask about your service and give each one a useful answer. For example, a service page can explain the job and terms, while an article shows the process or examines a problem. You do not need to repeat a search phrase in every paragraph. Readers need an answer, not a string of keywords
Publishing on relevant sites gives people another way to find you. Answer comments and include a link where it is genuinely useful. A growing backlink count alone does not promise higher rankings or mentions in AI answers: the content and quality of the sources matter
How I track the work
My AI SEO project records growth to 117 pages in Google's index and a list of 167 search queries for choosing topics. These are figures for indexed pages and the topic list, not the number of enquiries or proof that the site appears in AI answers
After publishing, check impressions, clicks and queries for the page in Search Console, and review incoming enquiries. You can also ask important questions in AI search again and record whether your site is linked. Answers change, so a single test is not a substitute for regular checks
Keep the wording and date of each check so you can compare them. If no link appears, check that the page is accessible and answers the question fully, then return to the observations later. A search impression, a visit and an enquiry are separate results, so it helps to track each one
I use my AI SEO system to help prepare content and track search engines. If you need help with that work, get in touch