How to Optimize Your Website for AI Search: A Checklist

Let AI search crawlers reach your pages, serve content as HTML they can read without running JavaScript, get indexed in Google and Bing, and write each page so its main answer can be quoted on its own. Then add structured data, keep your business details consistent across the web, and track AI referrals.

1. Let the right crawlers in

Check robots.txt. Most AI companies run separate crawlers for search and for model training, so you can allow one without the other:

  • OpenAI: OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search, GPTBot for training, and ChatGPT-User for pages a user asks ChatGPT to open.
  • Anthropic: Claude-SearchBot for search, ClaudeBot for training, and Claude-User for user requests.
  • Perplexity: PerplexityBot for its search index, and Perplexity-User for user requests.
  • Google: Googlebot covers Search, including AI Overviews. Google-Extended controls whether your content is used for Gemini models, and does not affect Search.
  • Microsoft: Bingbot covers Bing and Copilot.

To appear in AI answers, allow the search crawlers. Blocking the training crawlers is a separate decision and does not remove you from AI search. Also check your CDN or firewall: some bot-protection settings block AI crawlers by default.

2. Serve real HTML

Most AI crawlers fetch a page’s HTML and do not run JavaScript. If your content is assembled in the browser by a JavaScript app, they may see an empty page. Prerendered or server-rendered HTML fixes this. To check, open the page source (not the browser inspector): if your text is not in it, AI crawlers probably cannot read it either.

3. Get indexed in Google and Bing

Assistants mostly cite pages that already rank in a search index. Verify the site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap to both, and fix pages reported as excluded. Bing matters more than its search share suggests: Copilot is built on it, and ChatGPT search has drawn on it among other sources.

4. Write pages that can be quoted

  • Put the direct answer in the first one or two sentences, then the detail.
  • Use headings that match the questions people ask.
  • State facts plainly: prices or ranges, steps, requirements, and conditions.
  • Use lists for steps and tables for comparisons.
  • Keep one topic per page, so the page is the clear best source for it.
  • End with a short FAQ: real customer questions, answered in two or three sentences each.

5. Add structured data

JSON-LD markup tells crawlers what a page is and who stands behind it. For most business sites: Organization or LocalBusiness on the home page, Service on service pages, Article on guides, FAQPage where a page has a FAQ, and BreadcrumbList throughout. Google no longer shows FAQ rich results for most sites, but the markup still tells crawlers what the page contains. Validate it with Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator.

6. Be consistent across the web

Assistants cross-check sources. Use the same business name, description, address, and contact details on your site, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, directories, and social profiles. Reviews and mentions on reputable sites are part of how they judge who is credible.

7. Consider llms.txt

llms.txt is a proposed standard: a Markdown file at the root of your site that summarizes it and links to its key pages for language models. The major AI search products have not said they use it, so treat it as a cheap, low-risk addition rather than a ranking factor.

8. Measure

  • AI referrals in analytics: chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com, gemini.google.com, and claude.ai.
  • AI crawler requests in your server or CDN logs, to confirm they reach the pages you care about.
  • A monthly check of a fixed set of customer questions in the main assistants.

For the concepts behind this list, see What is AEO?. Every site we build ships with the technical side done: prerendered HTML, structured data, a sitemap, and llms.txt. To have this checklist run on your current site, see our SEO and AEO services.

Frequently asked questions

Should I block GPTBot?
Blocking GPTBot stops OpenAI from using your content to train its models. It does not remove you from ChatGPT search, which uses OAI-SearchBot. Decide the two separately.
Does llms.txt improve AI visibility?
There is no public evidence that the major assistants use it yet. It takes minutes to add and does no harm, so it is worth having, but it will not substitute for indexed, well-written pages.
How do I know if ChatGPT cites my site?
Look for referral traffic from chatgpt.com in your analytics, and ask ChatGPT the questions your customers ask, noting whether your pages appear among the sources.
Is optimizing for AI search different from optimizing for Google?
Mostly not. Crawlable, indexed, specific, well-structured pages do well in both. The differences are the extra crawlers to allow, the need for plain HTML, and the weight on quotable, answer-first writing.

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