1. Make the site easy to crawl
Use a secure, fast, mobile-friendly site where every important page can be reached from a link and isn’t blocked by robots.txt or a login. Each page needs a clear title, description and one main heading.
Visibility guide by Mark Parfenov, published 10 November 2026
SEO, GEO and AIO: how to get found in Google and AI answers
SEO helps you rank in Google and Bing. GEO, generative engine optimization, helps AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity understand and mention your business. AIO, AI overview optimization, is about Google’s AI Overviews at the top of search results. Google says its AI features rely on the same practices as good SEO, and the same foundations work for the other AI tools too. This is the order I work in.
2. Connect Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
Add your site to both, submit your sitemap and fix the errors they report. Use IndexNow, which Bing supports, to tell search engines when pages change.
3. Claim your business listings
Check eligibility before claiming Google Business Profile or Bing Places, and claim your profile in ChatGPT’s Business Hub where available, and keep your name, phone number, website and description the same everywhere. The business listings guide covers each step.
4. Collect the questions buyers really ask
Write down the questions you hear on sales calls, in emails and in reviews, check the related questions Google shows, and ask AI tools what people want to know about your kind of service. These questions are your content plan.
5. Answer each question directly
Give each important question a clear answer near the top of a relevant page, in a sentence or two, then add detail, examples and proof. Use the words your customers use, not industry jargon.
6. Add structured data
Mark up your business, services, questions and articles with schema.org structured data, so search engines and AI tools can read the key facts reliably.
7. Say the same facts everywhere
Keep a clear about page with who you are, what you do, for whom and where, and make sure your LinkedIn, directories and listings say the same. Consistent facts make it easier for AI tools to describe you correctly.
8. Earn mentions and reviews elsewhere
Reviews, client stories, directory listings, guest articles and mentions on other trusted sites all help search engines and AI tools trust what you say about yourself.
9. Decide which AI crawlers to allow
Search crawlers such as Googlebot, Bingbot and OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot need access for you to appear in their results. Crawlers that collect training data, such as GPTBot, are a separate choice you can make in robots.txt.
10. Add an llms.txt summary
An llms.txt file is a short plain-text summary of your site for AI tools. It isn’t an official standard and nobody guarantees it’s used, but it takes minutes to add.
11. Track search and AI visits
In GA4, look for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and similar sites, and track which ones become inquiries. Check Business Hub insights and Search Console regularly.
12. Keep it current
Update key pages when your prices, services or details change, refresh guides once a year and add new questions as clients ask them. Fresh, accurate pages get crawled more often.
Practical notes
What I’ve learned and use in practice, checked against current benchmarks and official checklists on 10 November 2026. Experience and benchmarks, not guarantees.
- Google’s AI Overviews draw heavily on pages already ranking on page one, so classic SEO is still the base.
- Being cited is less about ranking and more about being the clearest, easiest source to quote.
- Unlinked mentions of your business in relevant discussions and in “best of” lists that rank well seem to help AI tools recommend you.
- Which community threads AI tools cite changes month to month, and communities punish promotion, so track your own citations rather than chasing one platform.
Sources
What to expect
Listings and technical fixes can show up within weeks; content and reputation build over months. Nobody can guarantee a ranking or a mention in an AI answer, but this is how my own coaching business came to get most of its new clients through ChatGPT and Gemini. The AI search visibility checklist shows where you stand today.
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