Guide · AI search and SEO

SEO for AI search: a checklist built on what Google actually says

By Giovanni Rasulo Updated 23 October 2026 Sources checked October 2026

Short answer

Google's own guide says generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode rely on its core Search ranking and quality systems, and that AEO and GEO are SEO for the search experience. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet; no special markup or file is required. So the checklist is mostly classic SEO: crawlable, indexed pages with non-commodity content, a deliberate policy for AI crawlers, and measurement in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Skip llms.txt as a lever, special schema, chunking and rewriting for AI.

This is a documented guide, not a test. It is built from Google Search Central's AI optimization guide (last updated 10 July 2026 when read) and its AI features page, OpenAI's and Perplexity's crawler documentation, and Microsoft's announcement of Bing's AI Performance report. CheaperStack has not measured whether any item here changes citations, and does not claim it. For the difference between GEO and SEO as concepts, see GEO vs SEO, explained. This page is the action list.

What Google says, in one table

Common AI search advice compared with what Google's guide says
The advice	What Google's guide says
"AI search needs its own strategy"	Generative AI features rely on core Search ranking and quality systems. AEO and GEO are SEO for the search experience.
"Add an llms.txt file"	Google Search does not use llms.txt or special markup. You can keep one for other services.
"Break pages into small chunks"	Not required. Google understands several topics on one page, and there is no ideal page length.
"Rewrite content for AI"	Not necessary. AI systems understand synonyms and intent, so long-tail keyword hunting is not required.
"Get mentions everywhere"	Seeking inauthentic mentions is not helpful.
"Add special schema for AI"	No special schema.org markup exists for AI features. Markup still helps with rich result eligibility.
"Use a tool that sees Google's AI data"	No third-party tool has access to Google's internal ranking or AI systems.

From Google's AI optimization guide (updated 10 July 2026) and AI features page (updated 10 December 2025). Google also clarified its llms.txt position in June 2026, per its documentation changelog.

The checklist

1. Make sure pages are indexed and snippet-eligible

Google's eligibility rule is simple: to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Search with a snippet. Check the Pages report in Search Console for pages that are not indexed, and make sure important pages carry no noindex or nosnippet. If you want to limit what appears, nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex are the controls Google names. Indexing and serving are never guaranteed.

2. Keep the site crawlable and clean

Google recommends crawlable content, JavaScript SEO best practices, a good page experience with a clear main content area, and fewer duplicate pages. Semantic HTML is recommended but not required. Verify the site in Search Console.

3. Write non-commodity content

This is the item that matters most. Google defines non-commodity content as content with a unique point of view, such as first-hand experience, rather than a restatement of what already exists. The test it gives: would your visitors find the page satisfying? Add something a model could not write for you: your own numbers, a decision you made, a screenshot. The E-E-A-T guide shows what that looks like on a page.

4. Decide a policy for AI crawlers

Each AI company runs several bots with different jobs. The settings work independently, so you can appear in search and still opt out of training.

AI crawlers, what each is for and what blocking it does
Bot	What it does	If you block it
OAI-SearchBotOpenAI	Surfaces sites in ChatGPT's search features	Your site will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though it can still appear as a navigational link
GPTBotOpenAI	Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's models	Signals you do not want your content used for training; does not decide ChatGPT search visibility
ChatGPT-UserOpenAI	Fetches a page when a user asks ChatGPT or a custom GPT about it	May have no effect, because user-initiated fetches may not follow robots.txt
PerplexityBotPerplexity	Surfaces and links sites in Perplexity search; not used for foundation model training	Your site is less likely to appear in Perplexity results; Perplexity recommends allowing it
Perplexity-UserPerplexity	Fetches pages for a user's question	Generally ignores robots.txt because a user triggered the fetch
Google-ExtendedGoogle	Google points to it to limit AI training and grounding in other Google systems	Does not control Google Search; use snippet controls for that

From OpenAI's bots page, Perplexity's bots guide and Google's AI features page, October 2026. Changes can take about 24 hours to apply. If you use a firewall, Perplexity recommends allowing its bots by user agent and its published IP ranges.

# Example only: appear in ChatGPT and Perplexity search, opt out of OpenAI training
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

Whether to allow training is a business decision, not an SEO one. The example shows the mechanics, not a recommendation.

5. Make the facts easy to lift

Google says chunking is not required, so do not restructure pages for it. Microsoft's guidance for Bing's AI citations is complementary rather than contradictory: use clear headings, tables and FAQ sections so key information is easy to reference, support claims with examples, data and sources, and keep text, images and video consistent about the same entities. Good structure helps readers first.

6. Keep it current, and tell search engines

Update pages when something really changes, not just the date; Google lists changing dates to look fresh as a warning sign. Microsoft suggests IndexNow to notify search engines of changes.

7. Local and shop details

For local businesses and ecommerce, Google points to Merchant Center feeds and Business Profiles. Microsoft points to Bing Places for Business.

8. Measure in the places that exist

Google Search Console, Generative AI performance report. Shows impressions of your links in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country, device and date, with no clicks; Discover has its own report. The same data is part of the Web search type in the main Performance report. How to read it is in Search Console and Bing AI reports.
Bing Webmaster Tools, AI Performance. In public preview since 10 February 2026. It shows total citations, average cited pages per day, grounding queries and page-level citation activity across Copilot, Bing's AI summaries and select partners. It does not show rankings, clicks or the role of a page in an answer, and grounding queries are a sample.
Google Analytics for engagement and conversions, combined with the two reports above.

Treat all of this as directional. Free ways to check mentions without a paid tool are covered in Free ways to check your AI visibility.

9. Skip the myths

No llms.txt as a Google lever, no AI-only schema, no chunking, no rewriting for AI, no manufactured mentions. This site keeps an llms.txt file anyway, because it costs nothing and some services may read it, but it is not a ranking tactic.

10. Watch agentic experiences

Google notes that AI agents can perform tasks such as comparing products, and that browser agents may read screenshots, the page structure and the accessibility tree. A clean, semantic page serves readers, screen readers and agents alike. Beyond that, nothing in the guide asks for action yet.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one and later make an eligible purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Where Rank Math fits

Rank Math covers the technical half of this list for WordPress. It handles titles, descriptions and robots settings, XML sitemaps, schema (guide), redirects and a Search Console connection, and its site audit flags crawl and indexing problems. Its MCP tools can read your robots.txt and llms.txt and run an audit from Claude (setup guide). The free plugin covers these, and none of it is an AI-search trick: it is the crawlability and structure Google asks for. Get Rank Math (affiliate link).

Where GrowGanic fits, and where it does not

GrowGanic is an autonomous SEO engine: add a domain and it researches the keywords, writes and scores the articles, publishes them to your site or a hosted blog, and tracks the rankings. Every article is grounded in the site's own context and in evidence the engine can cite, and with Google Analytics connected it reads how organic visitors engage with each article. It helps with item 5, consistent and well-structured pages, and with steady publishing.

It does not do the part Google emphasizes most. Non-commodity content needs a point of view or first-hand experience that you supply, so read each draft and add one thing only you know. Google also warns against pages made mainly to rank, so keep volume to what you can review. It has no backlink index, and, by GrowGanic's own account, the hosted copy of the free article stays out of Google until the plan is paid (connecting your site or a subdomain first avoids that). The free tier gives you one article, with no card. Try the free tier (affiliate link).

Who should not spend money on this yet

Sites with indexing problems. Fix the Pages report first. An AI visibility tool cannot cite a page Google has not indexed.
Anyone buying a tool to "get into AI answers". Google says no third-party tool sees its internal systems. Start with the free reports.
Sites with thin, generic pages. More pages of the same will not meet the non-commodity test.
Anyone who has not decided on training. Settle the GPTBot question before editing robots.txt.

The verdict, by situation

What to do for AI search by situation
If you are…	Do this
A WordPress blogger	Check indexing, add first-hand detail to key pages, set your crawler policy, read the two free reports.
Wanting to appear in ChatGPT and Perplexity	Allow OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot in robots.txt and check your firewall.
Unhappy about AI training	Block GPTBot. It does not remove you from ChatGPT search.
Publishing AI-assisted articles	Add first-hand detail to each, name the author and see Does Google penalize AI content?
Considering a paid tracker	Compare them in Best AI visibility tools after the free checks.

What changed since July

The guide itself. Google's AI optimization guide still showed 10 July 2026 as its last update when we read it on 23 October, and the advice above is unchanged.
The content page. On 1 October 2026 Google updated its generative AI content guidance to say it is "critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing", including titles, descriptions, structured data and alt text. If you publish AI-written pages at volume, that review is the step that matters most.
Third-party tools. The guide cautions that no third-party tool has access to Google's internal ranking or AI systems, so check any tool's advice against Google's own guidance. That includes the trackers in best AI visibility tools: they measure mentions in answers, not Google's ranking.
The spam update. Google's September 2026 spam update ran from 24 September and, per Search Engine Roundtable, finished on 8 October. Google does not say what each update targeted; see does Google penalize AI content.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a separate strategy for AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Google says no. Its guide states that generative AI features rely on its core Search ranking and quality systems, and that AEO and GEO are SEO for the search experience. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet.

Do I need an llms.txt file?

Not for Google Search, which says it does not use llms.txt files. You may keep one for other services, but it is not a ranking lever and should not displace work on content and crawlability.

Which AI crawlers should I allow?

To appear in ChatGPT search, allow OAI-SearchBot; to appear in Perplexity, allow PerplexityBot. GPTBot is OpenAI's training crawler, so blocking it opts out of training without affecting ChatGPT search. That is a business choice for you to make.

How do I measure whether AI features send me traffic?

Use the Generative AI performance report in Google Search Console and the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools, which is in public preview. Treat both as directional: neither shows rankings, and Bing's grounding queries are a sample.

Are third-party AI visibility tools worth paying for?

Only after the basics above are done. Google warns that no third-party tool has access to its internal ranking or AI systems, so treat any claim of inside Google data with caution. Free checks are enough to start.

Sources

Google Search Central's guide to optimizing for generative AI features and its AI features page; OpenAI's crawler documentation; Perplexity's bots guide; and Microsoft's announcement of AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools; plus Rank Math's MCP tools reference. These pages change often, so check the dates before you rely on a detail.