AI Search SEO Checklist: Get Found in AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity

Step 1: what Google officially says

Google's page on AI features, updated December 2025, is short and clear (Google Search Central):

• "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."
• You do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special schema.org markup.
• Traffic from AI features is counted in Search Console's Performance report, inside the "Web" search type. There is no separate filter for it.
• To limit what shows in AI features, use the normal preview controls: nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex.

So for Google, AI search SEO is normal SEO: indexed pages, helpful content, and nothing blocking snippets.

Step 2: allow the right crawlers

Each AI company now runs separate bots for search and for model training. Block training if you want; blocking search bots can keep you out of answers.

Sources: OpenAI crawlers, Google common crawlers, Perplexity crawlers, Anthropic's crawler article. Checked October 2026.

Then check the layer above robots.txt. Many CDNs, hosts and security plugins block AI bots by default. A firewall rule overrides whatever robots.txt allows. Look at your CDN's bot settings and your server logs for these user agents.

Step 3: write facts AI answers can quote

AI answers lift short, self-contained statements. Pages that bury facts in long paragraphs get paraphrased or skipped.

Rules of thumb:

1. Put the main answer in the first two sentences under the heading.
2. Use the full name of your business and product in the sentence, not "we" and "it".
3. Keep prices, hours, areas and specs in plain text, not only in images or PDFs.
4. Use tables for comparisons and numbered lists for steps.
5. Keep facts the same everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles.

(Both examples are fictional businesses.)

Step 4: get mentioned where assistants look

Assistants build answers from pages they find in search. If every "best X in Y" list mentions three competitors and not you, you are unlikely to be in the answer. Ask the 10 questions your buyers ask in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, note which sites they cite, and work on getting listed there: reviews, directories, comparison articles, partner pages and local press. Earn these honestly; paid links for ranking are against Google's spam policies.

Step 5: measure AI visits

• Google: AI Overview and AI Mode clicks are inside Search Console's Web totals. Watch impressions and clicks per page as usual.
• ChatGPT: OpenAI says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links (OpenAI Publishers FAQ). In GA4, look at Traffic acquisition by session source.
• Others: in GA4, filter session source for perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com, gemini.google.com and claude.ai.
• Answers themselves: once a month, ask your 10 buyer questions in each assistant and record who is cited.

What not to spend time on

• llms.txt as a ranking fix. Google says no special AI text files are needed. It does no harm, but it will not get you into Google's AI features.
• "AI schema" or special markup. Google says none is needed. Use normal structured data that matches visible content.
• Rewriting every page "for AI". Fix access first, then make your top 10 pages quotable.