To show up in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers, a small business needs a website the AI crawlers are allowed to read, pages indexed by Google and Bing, and plain sentences that state what you do, where and for how much. After that, reviews and other sites that mention you decide how often you get named. Nobody can guarantee a mention.
Each assistant reads the web with its own crawler. OpenAI uses GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot, Anthropic uses ClaudeBot, and Perplexity uses PerplexityBot. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt. If any of them is disallowed, that assistant cannot read your site. Many small business sites block them by accident, often through a security plugin or a hosting setting.
Google is different. Its AI answers in Search use the normal Googlebot. Google-Extended is a separate setting that only controls whether your content is used for Gemini models. Google says it does not affect your place in Google Search.
An assistant cannot recommend a page that search engines do not know about. Search site:yourdomain.com on Google and count the results. Set up Google Search Console and submit your sitemap. Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools. It is free and takes ten minutes, and some AI search tools rely on Bing's index.
AI answers lift clear sentences. Put one near the top of your home page that a stranger could quote: your business name, what you do, the cities you serve and your price range. For example: "Fouro Digital builds hand-coded websites for San Jose small businesses for a fixed $975 to $3,200." Then answer the questions customers ask, one per heading, in two or three sentences each.
Put the important words in plain text on the page. Prices inside an image, or services that only show up in an Instagram embed, are close to invisible.
Structured data is code that states your name, phone, hours, address area, services and prices in a format machines read directly. Use LocalBusiness or ProfessionalService for the business, and FAQPage for your questions. It must match what the page says. Google says no special file or markup is required to appear in its AI features. Structured data helps it understand you, but it is not a shortcut.
Your name, phone number, hours and cities should read the same on your website, your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps and Bing. When the details disagree, assistants and Google trust none of them.
Assistants like to repeat what other places say about a business. Google reviews, local directories and articles that mention you give them something to quote. Ask every happy customer for an honest Google review. Never buy reviews or write them yourself.
llms.txt is a short plain-text file at the root of your site that sums up your business for AI tools. It is a proposed standard, not a requirement, and Google does not use it for Search. It costs nothing and does no harm, so I add one to every site, written as plain questions and answers.
Anyone selling guaranteed placement in ChatGPT. Hidden text stuffed with keywords. Fake reviews. Thousands of pages written by AI. These either do nothing or put your Google listing at risk.
Apollo Plumbing already had a website. I rebuilt it with separate residential and commercial pages and included the Search Visibility Setup: Search Console with the sitemap submitted, structured data, one address per page, and Bing Webmaster Tools. The case study shows each step.
The free SEO and AI search checker tests your robots.txt, indexing basics, structured data and more, and explains each fix in plain English. If something needs fixing, Structured Data and AI Readability is $275 alone, or part of the $750 Search Visibility Setup, which is included with every Starter build and up.
Make sure your robots.txt does not block GPTBot or OAI-SearchBot, that your pages are indexed by Google and Bing, and that your site states what you do, where and for how much in plain sentences. Reviews and other sites that mention you make it more likely you get named.
Google's AI answers use the same index as regular Search, so the basics are the same: indexed pages, clear text, structured data that matches the page and a complete Google Business Profile. Google says no special markup is required.
No. Assistants decide for themselves which businesses to name, and their answers change from day to day. Anyone promising guaranteed placement is selling something they cannot control.
No. Google says Google-Extended only controls whether your content is used for its Gemini models, and it does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search.
Run the free SEO and AI search checker, or call or text (408) 620-4106.