What is AI SEO?

AI SEO covers answers as well as links

A growing share of searches end in an answer instead of a list of links. Google shows AI Overviews above its results and offers AI Mode. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude search the web and write one reply, often naming a handful of businesses and linking the pages they used.

AI SEO is the work of being one of those businesses. It starts where ordinary search engine optimisation (SEO) starts, with pages that can be found and understood, and adds what answer engines need to quote you with confidence.

AI answers are built from web pages

Every major answer engine names businesses from pages it can reach and has indexed. The entry rules are published, and they look like the rules of ordinary search:

• Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, with no additional requirements (Google Search Central).
• ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI).
• Perplexity uses PerplexityBot and recommends allowing it for a site to appear in its results (Perplexity).

So the first job is the oldest one in SEO: make sure the crawlers can reach your pages and that the pages are indexed. On the Australian business websites we checked, access is rarely the problem. Understanding is.

What AI SEO adds to ordinary SEO

Pages that answer in the first two sentences

An answer engine quotes the part of a page that answers the question. A service page that opens with the company history makes that harder. A page that opens with "We repair and replace hot water systems across Parramatta, usually within 24 hours" gives the engine a sentence it can use.

Structured data

Structured data is code on a page that states facts in a fixed format: this is a dentist, here is the address, these are the hours. Google is clear that no special markup is needed for its AI features, but structured data removes guesswork for every system that reads the page. Our LocalBusiness structured data guide shows how to add it.

Consistent business details

Your business name, address, phone number and services should read the same on your site, your Google Business Profile and every directory that lists you. When sources agree, an engine can connect them to one business. When they disagree, it has to guess.

Being described elsewhere

Answer engines read more than your site. Industry bodies, local media, suppliers and directories that describe what you do give an engine more than your own word for it. This is slow work, and it compounds.

Measuring AI mentions

Rankings and clicks still matter and still show in Search Console. AI SEO adds a monthly check of what the main engines say when asked about your category in your area, so you can see whether you are named and which pages they link.

What AI SEO is not

It is not a special file. Google says you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features; our llms.txt guide covers what that means for the most talked-about one.

It is not a trick that makes an AI model recommend you. The engines decide their own answers from the pages they can read, and Google says meeting its requirements does not guarantee a page will be shown. Anyone selling a guaranteed AI placement is selling something they cannot control.

And it is not a one-off. Engines recrawl, competitors publish, and your own services change. The foundations are mostly a one-off job; the answers and the measurement are ongoing.

Where to start

Check, in this order, that crawlers can reach your pages, that each page says plainly what the business is and where it works, and that you have a page answering each question your customers ask before they buy. Our comparison of AI SEO and SEO goes through what changes in more detail.