You’re researching in ChatGPT.
Can your customers find you there?

What is AEO?

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the practice of improving website content so search engines and AI services can more easily find and use it when answering questions.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) provides the foundations for discovery. AEO adds a focus on how clearly and credibly a page answers a particular question. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is a related term for visibility within AI-generated responses. These practices overlap.

For example, a potential customer might ask, “What should a small business consider when choosing an IT support provider?” A page explaining service coverage, response times and security responsibilities gives both the customer and an answer engine useful material to work with.

Google confirms that established SEO practices remain relevant to its AI search features; there is no special AI markup required for inclusion. Read Google’s website guidance. Our guide to SEO, AEO and GEO explores the wider foundations.

Why businesses use AEO.

An AI-generated answer can introduce a business, explain its expertise or link to a useful product or service page. That makes AEO relevant to customer research, brand awareness and lead generation.

It also encourages businesses to answer the questions that influence a decision: What does the service include? Who is it suitable for? How does it work? What are its limitations?

A mention, a citation and a visit are different outcomes. A customer may find an answer useful without clicking through, so the value of AEO should be assessed through relevant visits, enquiries and conversions as well as visibility.

Can your website appear in ChatGPT?

Yes—ChatGPT’s search features can surface relevant website pages. That does not mean every conversation searches the web, or that any particular website will be selected.

OpenAI identifies OAI-SearchBot as the crawler used to surface websites in ChatGPT search. For pages you want available there, your technical team should check that the crawler can access them and that security rules are not unintentionally blocking its published network addresses.

Search access and model training are separate choices. OpenAI allows a website to permit OAI-SearchBot while blocking GPTBot, which collects material that may be used for model training. Allowing training access is not a requirement for search visibility. Source: OpenAI’s crawler documentation.

The aim is to make your knowledge accessible and useful. Access makes consideration possible; it does not guarantee a citation, recommendation or enquiry.

Which other AI services can show your website?

ChatGPT is one potential discovery channel. Other services can also surface website content, using their own search systems, external providers or direct page retrieval.

Google AI Overviews & AI Mode

Pages can appear as supporting links within Google’s AI search experiences. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet in Google Search to qualify. Google’s guidance.

Microsoft Copilot & Bing

Website content can contribute to AI-generated answers with citations. Microsoft identifies Bing’s search index as a foundation for these experiences. Microsoft’s guidance.

Perplexity

Pages can be surfaced and linked in search results. Perplexity documents PerplexityBot for search discovery and Perplexity-User for user-requested page access. Perplexity’s crawler guidance.

Claude

When Claude uses web search, it can incorporate website information into responses with citations and links to sources. Claude’s web search guidance.

Google Gemini

Responses can include links to public websites as sources or related reading. Those links do not appear in every response. Gemini’s source guidance.

No platform guarantees that it will index, cite or recommend a particular website. The question, content relevance, access settings and source-selection process all matter.

Being discovered is different from being cited.

There are several steps between publishing a page and appearing in an AI answer.

1. Discovery: a service finds the page through crawling, links or a search provider.
2. Indexing: a search system processes the page so it can be retrieved.
3. Retrieval: relevant information is selected for a particular question.
4. Citation: the answer includes a visible reference or link to the page.

Not every AI service maintains its own complete web index. Some use external search results or fetch pages when needed. Training a model on information is also a separate process from retrieving and citing a current website.

Where—and how—to use AEO.

AEO is particularly relevant when customers need explanations before making a decision. Apply it to the pages that already support that journey.

• Service pages: explain scope, locations, delivery and the engagement process.
• Product pages: provide specifications, compatibility, comparisons and care guidance.
• Software documentation: explain features, integrations and troubleshooting.
• Specialist articles: share original research, evidence and clearly attributed expertise.

Start with real customer questions.

Give each important question a direct answer, followed by the context needed to understand it. Use descriptive headings and language your audience recognises. Include the conditions and limitations that affect a decision.

Make your expertise visible.

Support claims with evidence: relevant experience, named authors, documented examples and current information. Microsoft’s guidance emphasises clarity, structure and trustworthy content for AI search. Read Microsoft’s content guidance.

Check access and keep information current.

Important content should be readable as text, linked from relevant pages and accessible to the search crawlers you choose to permit. Review changing information and use appropriate structured data that agrees with what readers see. Google explains these technical foundations.

Measure the value beyond a mention.

Track relevant referral visits, enquiries and conversions alongside citations. Record repeatable sample questions to understand how your business appears, while recognising that a single answer is only a snapshot.

Bing Webmaster Tools offers AI Performance reporting for supported Microsoft and partner experiences, helping website owners see where their pages are cited. Read about Bing AI Performance.

A strong AEO approach starts with a website that explains the business clearly, answers meaningful questions and provides information people can trust. That gives AI services useful material to draw on—and prospective customers a reason to engage.