Get found in Google and in AI answers.
AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT. Everyone's selling a new discipline for them. Google's own guidance says it isn't one: it's SEO, done properly. Twenty years in search, Google Partner since 2013. I make sure your site is the one that gets cited.
AI search isn't a new discipline. It's SEO, done properly.
Being the source the answer cites.
When someone asks Google, ChatGPT or another assistant a question in your market, the answer is pulled together from web pages, and those pages are linked as sources. AI visibility is whether yours is one of them, for the questions your customers actually ask.
Keyword research has become prompt research. The question isn't only what people type. It's what they ask, and who gets cited when they do.
Google says it's still SEO.
In May 2026 Google published its own guide, Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search. The short version: AI Overviews and AI Mode run on the same core ranking and quality systems as normal search, grounded in the same index. Google says optimising for them is still SEO, even when people call it GEO or AEO.
Its page on AI features is blunter still: there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode".
Technical SEO is the gate.
To be cited, a page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. If Google can't crawl it, render it or index it, the AI can't use it. Every technical problem that holds back your rankings holds back your AI visibility too.
First-hand experience is what wins.
Google says content with a unique point of view and first-hand experience is likely to have the most long-term influence. Commodity content, the stuff anyone or any AI could write, adds little. That's the case for hiring someone who has done the work, not read about it.
The fundamentals didn't change. The stakes did.
Five things I check first.
- Indexation and crawlability. Pages indexed, nothing accidentally blocked by robots.txt, noindex or nosnippet, and JavaScript content that actually renders for Google.
- Technical health. Page experience, duplicate content, canonical tags, redirects, and Search Console set up and clean.
- Entity clarity. Google knows who you are, what you do and where. Consistent business details, clear service pages, structured data that matches the page.
- First-hand content. Your own data, cases, prices and opinions. The things an AI can't produce from what's already out there.
- Authority from other sites. Citations are links by another name. Real mentions from real sites in your market, not bought ones.
What Google says you can skip.
A new industry has sprung up selling AI tricks. Google's guide names most of them.
- llms.txt files. Google Search doesn't use them. They won't hurt, and some other AI services read them, but they won't move you in Google.
- Special "AI schema". There isn't any. Structured data still helps your SEO overall. It isn't a key to AI answers.
- Chopping content into chunks. Google says there's no need, and no ideal page length.
- Rewriting for AI. No special writing style needed. Write for people.
- Mass-produced pages for AI questions. That's scaled content abuse under Google's spam policies.
- Buying mentions. Google says chasing inauthentic mentions isn't as useful as it seems, and its spam systems are built to catch manipulation. It's the link-buying story again, and I've watched how that one ends.
Google also says no third-party tool has access to its ranking or AI systems. Treat any tool's "AI score" as a guide, not the truth. Mine included.
ChatGPT and the rest.
Google's guide covers Google only. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and the others pull from their own search sources, and none of them publishes a playbook like Google's. What they share is the same need: pages they can read, from sources they can trust, saying something worth citing. The same fundamentals apply.
Not ready to hire? Run the checks yourself.
I build Search Principle for owners who want to see the problem before paying someone to fix it. The SEO Audit is free, once a month, and covers the technical side. AI Visibility, on the Pro plan, tracks where you show up in AI answers.
If the report shows problems you'd rather not fix yourself, that's what I'm here for.
Good fit, bad fit, honest about both.
Good fit. Owner-operated UK businesses with real lead or order value, who want one person accountable for search: Google, AI answers and, where it fits, Google Ads.
Bad fit. Anyone wanting guaranteed AI citations by a set date. Nobody controls those, and anyone promising them is guessing. Anyone wanting hundreds of AI-written pages to "flood" the answers. Google calls that spam, and so do I.
Want the wider SEO picture? See the SEO consultant page, or the SEO audit if you'd like a prioritised list of what to fix.
Things owners ask before booking.
Is AI visibility different from SEO?
Not for Google. Google's own guide says its AI features run on its core ranking and quality systems, and that optimising for them is still SEO, even when people call it GEO or AEO. What has changed is where the results show up, not the work that gets you there.
Do I need an llms.txt file to appear in AI answers?
Not for Google. Google Search doesn't use llms.txt. It won't hurt, and some other AI services read it, but it won't move you in Google's AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Can you guarantee my business appears in AI Overviews or ChatGPT?
No, and nobody honestly can. Google says indexing and serving aren't guaranteed even when every requirement is met. What I can do is remove every technical reason not to cite you, and make sure your site says something worth citing.
How do I know if I'm showing up in AI answers now?
Start by asking the questions your customers ask, in Google and in ChatGPT, and see who gets cited. Search Console counts traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode inside your normal search traffic, so it isn't split out.
For ongoing tracking, Search Principle's AI Visibility tool does it for you.
How much does AI visibility work cost?
It's SEO work, priced the same way. Ongoing retainers typically sit between £750 and £3,000+ per month. Audits and project work are quoted separately, always after the free 15-minute call. Full detail on the pricing page.
A free 15-minute AI visibility audit.
Before the call I'll check whether Google can crawl, index and cite your site. On the call I'll tell you what's stopping you showing up and what I'd fix first. No sales pitch, no commitment.