How to Show Up in AI Search
Search is splitting in two. There's the blue-links Google you know, and there's the answer-engine layer — AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot — that increasingly reads your page and summarizes it instead of linking to it. Getting cited there is a different game with different rules. It's called GEO: generative engine optimization.
The good news: most of GEO is just good SEO done with a little more discipline. Here's what actually moves the needle.
Let the AI crawlers in
You can't be cited by a model that can't read you. Check your robots.txt — if you're blocking GPTBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, or similar, you've opted out of the answer layer. Decide deliberately. For most businesses that want visibility, you allow them.
Then make sure your content is in the server-rendered HTML. Many AI fetchers don't run JavaScript. If your key text only appears after hydration, the model sees a blank page.
Answer the question in the first two sentences
Classic SEO rewards a slow build-up. GEO punishes it. Answer engines lift passages — a self-contained chunk that answers a question. So lead with the answer, then elaborate.
Instead of "In this article we'll explore the many factors that…", write "The fastest way to X is Y, because Z." That sentence is quotable. A model can lift it cleanly and attribute it to you.
Structure for extraction
Clear headings phrased as the questions people actually ask.
Short paragraphs and lists — easy to lift, easy to cite.
One idea per section, with the conclusion at the top of it.
Concrete numbers, dates, and named methods. Specificity reads as authority.
Build entity clarity with structured data
AI search engines resolve entities — who you are, what you do, how things relate. Person, Organization, Article, and BreadcrumbList schema (in your server-rendered HTML, not injected late by JS) help a model connect your name to your expertise with confidence. This is the difference between being mentioned and being cited.
Authority still wins
None of this replaces being genuinely good. Models, like Google, lean on signals of trust: real expertise, a consistent identity across the web, being referenced by others. GEO gets you readable and quotable; authority gets you chosen.
The GEO checklist
[ ] AI crawlers allowed in
robots.txt[ ] Key content server-rendered (no JS-only text)
[ ] Each page answers its core question in the first 2 sentences
[ ] Headings match real questions; short, liftable passages
[ ]
Person/Articlestructured data present[ ] A clear, consistent identity across your site and profiles
This is exactly how I approach SEO and GEO for clients. If you're weighing classic SEO against AI search, the underlying technical work overlaps heavily — see Technical SEO for Founders, or let's talk about your site.