AI search visibility: being found in ChatGPT, Google AI answers and Perplexity

How AI search chooses sources

Most AI search products work in two steps: they search an index (their own or a partner's) for relevant pages, then a language model reads and summarises them, often citing some. Some rely on major search indexes — OpenAI has said ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers along with its own crawler — so traditional search visibility, including in Bing, still matters. Google's AI features draw on Google's index.

What makes a page likely to be used: it is indexed, relevant to the question, clearly written, specific, current and from a source the system considers reliable.

1. Access

• Check robots.txt for the crawlers of AI search products you want to appear in — for example OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), PerplexityBot, and the crawlers of other assistants. Blocking them can remove you from their answers.
• Decide separately about training crawlers (such as GPTBot or Google-Extended); allowing or blocking training is a policy choice with different consequences.
• Deliver content in the initial HTML; many crawlers do not run JavaScript.
• Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google Search Console.

See XML sitemaps and robots.txt.

2. Content that can be cited

• Answer first: start pages and sections with a direct answer, then the detail.
• Explicit facts: what you do, where, for whom, since when — stated plainly, not implied by design.
• Definitions and comparisons in clear sentences and tables.
• Specific, local information that general sources lack: Azerbaijani payment options, local regulations, local examples.
• Dates and sources for figures, so a model can judge currency.
• Questions as headings matching how people ask.

This site's library follows these principles: short summaries at the top, questions as headings, sources for figures.

3. Entity consistency

AI systems build a picture of your business from many sources. Keep consistent:

• business name, description and services;
• address, phone and service area;
• founding facts and key people, where public;
• links between your website and your real profiles (LinkedIn, Business Profile, directories).

Structured data for your organisation helps. See structured data.

4. Third-party presence

When someone asks "which companies are best for X in Baku", assistants often rely on directories, review platforms, rankings, media articles and community discussions. For many categories in Azerbaijan, these sources are thin — for example, directory rankings where leading companies have only a handful of verified reviews. Genuine reviews on relevant platforms, accurate directory profiles, media coverage and participation in industry lists can influence answers significantly. See link building in Azerbaijan.

5. llms.txt

llms.txt is a proposed convention: a plain-text file at the site root summarising the site and linking key pages, intended for language models. Support by major AI products is not established; it is cheap to provide and does no harm, but it is not a substitute for crawlable content.

6. Measure

• Test a fixed set of prompts monthly in the assistants your customers use, in each language, and record whether and how you are mentioned.
• Track referral traffic from AI tools (for example chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai) in analytics.
• Watch Search Console for queries and pages appearing in Google's AI features where reported.

What not to do

• Mass-produce thin pages hoping AI will pick them up; search engines and AI systems both devalue low-quality scaled content.
• Hide text for bots or show different content to crawlers.
• Invent reviews, rankings or claims; AI answers repeating false claims create real liability.