AI Search Optimization

AI search optimization is the work of getting your pages cited and your business named inside answers written by AI engines such as Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. It builds on SEO, because those engines search an index before they cite a source, and it adds habits that make a page easy to quote once an engine has found it.

Start with the page being indexed and ranking for the question, since AI engines cite what they find by searching. Then put a heading that asks the question and answer it in the first two sentences under it, name the subject the way people search for it, and keep the facts about your business the same on every site that mentions you.

Pick a few questions that one of your pages answers in full, phrased the way buyers ask them. Put each question to Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and write down every source each answer cites. Ask the same questions again every month, because the answers change between runs, and compare which of your pages appear.

Often, though not always. In the check Boffin Coders ran on 7 October 2026, 11 of the 21 sources cited in Google's AI Overviews came from sites already on the first page of results for that question. Most of the cited pages also named the subject in their title: 19 of the 21 did, which makes a clear title one of the simplest changes to make.