You do not need to chase every algorithm to show up in AI search. You need to get the fundamentals right so AI engines can read, trust, and quote your site. Here is the checklist we use.
1. Let the AI crawlers in
Open your robots.txt and make sure you are not blocking GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, or Applebot-Extended. Blocking them means you can never be cited. Need a clean file? Use our free Robots.txt Generator.
2. Add structured data
Mark up your business with Organization or LocalBusiness schema, and add FAQ schema to pages with questions and answers. AI engines lean heavily on this to identify entities and lift direct answers. Our free Schema Generator builds valid JSON-LD in seconds.
3. Write real, extractable answers
Lead each section with a clear, factual sentence that answers a specific question. Avoid burying your content in JavaScript that crawlers may not run. Depth wins — pages with substantive, accurate information get quoted; thin pages do not.
4. Publish an llms.txt file
The emerging llms.txt standard lets you tell AI engines what matters most on your site. Few competitors have one — it is a quick, high-signal win.
5. Show freshness and authorship
Dates, author names, and Article schema build the trust AI engines reward. Keep cornerstone pages updated.
6. Measure it
Run the free AI Search Visibility Checker to score your site against all of the above and see exactly what to fix first.
Work through the list, or let our AI SEO team do it for you. Get a free consultation.