What does an SEO strategist need to know about optimizing for AI search engines?

For an SEO strategist, AI search optimization keeps the SEO basics and changes the goal. You want ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity to name and cite your business. Let each engine's crawler in, put the answer first on every key page, and track the real answers every day with an AI visibility tool such as Amaware.

What changes for SEO when buyers ask AI?

ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity answer a buyer's question in words, with a few sources linked. The buyer reads the answer. Often they never scroll a ranked list.

The work goes by three names. AI SEO, also called GEO (generative engine optimization) or AEO (answer engine optimization), means getting those engines to name and cite your business. We say AI search from here on.

Most of your SEO skills carry over. Pages still need to be crawlable, indexed and useful. What moves is the target. You want your business named inside the answer, and your page cited as a source.

The unit you track changes too. It's the prompt: a question a buyer asks an AI engine. Our guide What is AI SEO and how is it different from regular SEO? covers the split in more depth.

What does Google say about AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Google's page on AI features and your website sets one rule for both surfaces. It says: "To be eligible to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet."

The same page says, word for word: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." It also says: "There are no additional technical requirements."

That turns into checks you already know how to run:

1. Confirm in Google Search Console that each key page is indexed.
2. Confirm nothing on the page stops Google from showing a snippet of it.
3. Put the answer to the buyer's question in the first lines, so one passage can stand on its own.

Google also publishes a longer guide to optimizing for generative AI features on Google Search. For the steps a business owner takes, read How do I get my business to show up in Google AI Overviews?

How does ChatGPT search find your pages?

OpenAI documents OAI-SearchBot as the crawler behind ChatGPT search, in its Publishers and Developers FAQ. If you want ChatGPT search to read a page, allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl your site.

Check three places:

• Read robots.txt and make sure no rule blocks OAI-SearchBot from the pages you want cited.
• Review your firewall and CDN bot rules, since a security setting can turn away a crawler that robots.txt allows.
• Search your server logs for OAI-SearchBot to confirm it reaches your key pages.

Amaware captures the ChatGPT answer a logged-out person sees, once a day. So after a fix, you can watch whether the answer your buyers read starts to name you.

How does Perplexity crawl the sites it cites?

Perplexity publishes documentation for its own crawler. Look up its user agent there, then run the same three checks you ran for OAI-SearchBot: robots.txt, firewall rules and server logs.

A page Perplexity's crawler can't reach is a page Perplexity can't cite. Treat it like any other crawler you want on the site.

Amaware, HubSpot AEO, Otterly.AI and Ahrefs Brand Radar all track Perplexity. Amaware runs it on its API with web search on, every day, when it's one of your three engines.

What does Bing Webmaster Tools show about AI answers?

Bing Webmaster Tools documents an AI Performance report for site owners. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, then read that report each week next to Google Search Console.

Amaware's six engines are ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Claude, and every plan tracks three of them, your pick. Microsoft Copilot isn't one of the six. If Copilot matters to your buyers, Otterly.AI and Ahrefs Brand Radar both track it.

How should you write pages that AI answers cite?

This guide on Amaware's blog follows an answer-first pattern, and the same pattern works on any page you own. An engine lifts a passage, so each passage has to make sense alone.

• Open with a 40 to 60 word answer that names your business and your category.
• Use the buyer's question as the heading, in the words they type.
• Give specific facts: a number with a date, a named source, a named tool.
• Use a list where the answer is a list, and a table where buyers compare options.
• Keep the same business name, category words and product names on every page.

This works the same for a dental practice's pricing page, an online store's size guide, a law firm's fee page or a software company's comparison page.

Author bios help a reader trust a page. Google's page says AI Overviews need no special optimizations, though. So spend your first hours on indexed, answer-first pages, and keep bios as part of good SEO.

How do you measure visibility in AI search?

Amaware measures AI search prompt by prompt, every day. For each prompt, you need three facts: whether the answer names your business, whether it cites your page, and which competitor it names instead.

Daily matters because a single answer is a sample, and engines change weekly. A monthly spot check shows one moment. Daily runs show the pattern.

Referral traffic is still worth reading. It counts the visits AI sent you. It misses the answers that name you with no click, so track the answers themselves as well.

Several AI visibility tools do this work. Amaware is our own product, so it comes first. The table shows each tool's entry price and the prompts it includes, from each vendor's pricing page, checked between September 30 and October 27, 2026.

Otterly.AI and HubSpot AEO cost less to start. Otterly.AI Lite is $29 a month billed monthly, or $25 a month billed annually. HubSpot AEO is $50 a month, or $45 a month billed annually, and its free version tracks 25 prompts with no credit card.

What Amaware's $97 buys is 50 prompts on three engines you pick and 4 articles a month you publish yourself. Amaware is billed monthly. Semrush's toolkit covers 1 domain and 25 tracked prompts, and Ahrefs Brand Radar's Custom Prompts start at $50 a month.

At a larger prompt count, Otterly.AI Standard is $189 a month for 100 prompts. Amaware Pro is $249 a month for 150 prompts, with 12 articles a month published to your WordPress, Webflow, HubSpot or Next.js site.

How Amaware does this

Amaware asks the engines the questions your buyers ask, every day, and shows who gets named and which websites the answers cite. Every plan tracks three of six engines, your pick. ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity run every day, and Claude runs once a week.

1. Track the prompts your buyers ask, so you see which answers name you and which name a competitor.
2. Get one thing to publish for each question that leaves you out, ranked by what gets you seen fastest, with a brief.
3. Publish it. Amaware writes the article in your brand's voice, then tracks when AI cites it.

Amaware isn't a full SEO suite. It has no backlink index, no site audit crawler and no classic Google rank tracker, so keep your SEO tool for those.

See what AI says about you, free, on the questions your buyers ask. Or start free trial: every plan has 7 days free with a card on file, and you pay nothing if you cancel before day 8.

FAQ

What does Google say about appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Google's AI features page says: "To be eligible to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet." It also says: "There are no additional technical requirements." So start with the index checks you already run.

Do you need special optimizations for AI Overviews?

No. Google's AI features page says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." Spend the time on pages that are indexed, eligible for a snippet, and answer the buyer's question in the first lines.

What is OAI-SearchBot?

OAI-SearchBot is the crawler OpenAI documents for ChatGPT search, in its Publishers and Developers FAQ. Check that robots.txt and your firewall's bot rules allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl the pages you want buyers to find. Then check again after any change to your CDN or security settings.

Is AI search optimization different from SEO?

The basics carry over: pages that crawlers can reach, that Google indexes, and that answer the question well. The goal changes. In SEO you aim for a ranked link, and in AI search you aim to be named and cited inside the answer on ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity.

How do you measure visibility in AI search?

Pick the prompts your buyers ask AI, then read the answers every day. For each prompt, note whether the answer names your business, whether it cites your page, and which competitor it names instead. Daily matters because a single answer is a sample, and engines change weekly.

Do you still need an SEO tool if you use an AI visibility tool?

Yes, for most businesses. Amaware tracks AI answers and writes the articles, and it has no backlink index, no site audit crawler and no classic Google rank tracker. Keep your SEO tool for those, and use the AI visibility tool for the answers, the citations and what to publish next.