What is the difference between SEO and AI search optimization?
SEO aims to rank pages in search results. AI search optimization aims to have your business named and cited inside the answers AI tools write. They share foundations, such as crawlable pages, accurate facts and trusted mentions, so good SEO helps AI visibility, but AI answers also lean on third-party sources and short, quotable facts.
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google decide their own answers, and nobody can guarantee a mention. We remove the reasons you are left out, build genuine mentions on the sources the answers cite, and show you every month whether you are being named.
Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitors and not me?
Usually because it cannot read your site, finds conflicting facts about you, or sees your competitors mentioned on the sources it trusts and not you. Our guide on
why AI mentions competitors covers the common causes.
Does my robots.txt file matter?
Yes. OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Server firewalls and some hosting providers can also block AI crawlers without anything showing in robots.txt, so we test what each crawler actually receives.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It is optional. It is a short summary of who you are and your key pages, and it is quick to add, but no major AI provider has confirmed that it changes their answers. We treat it as a small extra, not a strategy.
How long does AI search optimization take?
Access and on-site fixes can be done in the first weeks. Mentions on third-party sources and changes in AI answers take longer and vary by tool and by how competitive your market is. We report the same questions each month so you can see the trend.
How do you measure AI visibility?
We ask the AI tools the questions your customers ask, for your service and area, and record whether your business is named and which websites are cited. Asking the same questions each month shows whether mentions are rising.