AI search optimisation is the work of making your content easy for AI systems to find, understand, and cite when they answer a question.
That covers Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. Most of it overlaps with good SEO. The parts that don’t are worth understanding.
Key Takeaways:
- Google states there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond standard SEO practice.
- In Google’s largest markets, AI Overviews drove more than a 10% increase in Google usage for the query types that show them (Google I/O 2025).
- GA4 groups ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot referrals under an AI Assistant channel, so the traffic is measurable.
What Is AI Search Optimisation?
AI search optimisation is the practice of structuring content so AI systems can extract, verify, and cite it in a generated answer. Google reported at I/O 2025 that AI Overviews drove more than a 10% increase in Google usage for the query types that show them in its largest markets.
The answer box is now part of the results page. Businesses are either cited in it or absent from it.
You’ll also see it called generative engine optimisation (GEO) or answer engine optimisation (AEO). Same discipline, one shift: from earning a click to earning a citation.
Where Do AI Search Answers Come From?
Each AI surface draws on a different index, and that decides what you can influence. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on the standard Search index, and Google’s own documentation says no special optimisations are needed to appear in them.
ChatGPT search relies on OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot crawler, controlled separately from the GPTBot training crawler.
| AI surface | Finds your content via | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Standard Google Search index | Normal indexing, plus snippet controls |
| Gemini app | Google index plus grounding | Google-Extended robots.txt token (no effect on Search) |
| ChatGPT search | OAI-SearchBot crawler | A robots.txt rule for OAI-SearchBot, separate from GPTBot |
A blanket robots.txt block on AI crawlers can remove you from ChatGPT search while doing nothing to your Google visibility.
Google’s crawler documentation confirms Google-Extended isn’t a ranking signal in Search. Check each token before you touch the file.
What Changes in Practice?
In our experience, the content AI systems cite shares four traits: a direct answer near the top of each section, one idea per paragraph, consistent terminology, and a named author with a reason to be believed.
Google’s guidance for its AI search experiences asks for unique, non-commodity content. That’s the same bar, stated plainly.
The bigger change is off-site. AI systems weigh what other sources say about you, so reviews, directory listings and industry mentions carry more weight than they did for ten blue links. Publishing on your own site is necessary. It’s no longer sufficient.
How Do You Tell Whether It's Working?
GA4 assigns sessions from ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, Copilot and Grok to a default AI Assistant channel, so AI referral traffic is visible without custom setup. Google’s channel definitions confirm the group excludes AI Overviews and AI Mode, so it’s a partial view.
We covered what the AI Assistant channel captures and misses separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mostly no. Google states the same SEO best practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no extra requirements. The differences are in emphasis: clearer passage-level answers, stronger author signals, and more attention to how your business is described on other websites.
Not without checking what each token controls. Google-Extended only affects Gemini training and grounding, not Google Search. Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search results. Decide per crawler, based on whether that surface sends you customers.
Where to Start
If you’re not sure whether your site is being cited in AI answers, start with the GA4 AI Assistant channel and the state of your search engine optimisation foundations.
For a second set of eyes on both, a free audit is the simplest first step, or get in touch with a question.
