Quick summary

What it is: AI search optimisation means making your business easy for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to find, read and recommend.

The five jobs, in order: let AI crawlers into your website, make it clear what you do and where, answer customer questions in the first two sentences of a page, get mentioned on other trusted websites and check every week who AI names.

If you only have an hour: check your robots.txt, ask AI your 10 key questions, fix mismatched business details and rewrite one page.

Free download: the full 31 Point AI Optimisation Checklist is a printable PDF. Download the checklist.

AI search optimisation is about being the business AI names when a customer asks who to use. Get the five jobs done in the right order and you give yourself a proper shot at it.

The short version is below. The full 31 point version is the free PDF, so print it and stick it above your desk.

None of it needs a big budget. Most of it is tidying up what you already have. The rest your web person can do in an afternoon.

What does AI search optimisation involve?

Five jobs. That's it.

• Let AI in. Make sure its crawlers can actually reach and read your website.

• Be clear. Say what you do, where and for whom, the same way everywhere.

• Answer the questions. Write pages that answer what customers really ask.

• Get vouched for. Get mentioned on other websites that AI trusts.

• Check and track. Ask AI the same questions regularly and see who gets named.

Do them in that order. There's no point writing brilliant answers if AI can't read the page they're on.

Is AI search optimisation different from SEO?

Not really. It sits on top. Many AI tools search the web to build their answers, so good SEO still helps them find you.

The difference is what happens next. Google shows a list and lets people choose. AI picks a few businesses and names them. So you're not only trying to rank. You're trying to be the obvious answer. This piece on how GEO and SEO fit together goes deeper if you want it.

Can AI get into your website?

This is the first thing to check because nothing else works without it. Some websites block AI crawlers by accident through a robots.txt rule or a firewall setting. Google gets in and ChatGPT gets turned away at the door.

Open yourwebsite.com/robots.txt and look for OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT) and PerplexityBot (Perplexity). If either is blocked, or there's a rule blocking everything, that's your first fix. This walkthrough on how to tell if your website is blocking AI bots covers the hosting side too. The Site Health scan in Midwaver also tests the main AI crawlers for you.

Then run through these:

• Get indexed on Bing as well as Google. ChatGPT's search is reported to use Bing's index among other sources. Bing Webmaster Tools is free.

• Check your key details are in plain text. Right click your page, choose View Page Source and look for your services and prices. If they're missing, a script is probably loading them and some AI crawlers won't see them.

• Keep pages quick and open. Slow pages and login walls put crawlers off.

• Add an llms.txt file. It's a short plain text file that tells AI what your business does and where your key pages are. We recommend having one.

Is it obvious what your business does?

AI builds a picture of you from lots of places. If those places disagree, it may skip you or get you wrong.

Start with one clear sentence: what you do, who for and where. Use it on your website, your Google Business Profile and every directory listing. Make sure your name, address, phone number and opening hours match everywhere. Spell out your services, locations and prices in plain text. Put real names and real experience on your About page. Make your contact details easy to find.

Then ask AI about your business and read the full answer. If something's wrong, fixing the sources behind the mistake is the quickest way to put it right.

Does your website answer the questions customers ask?

This is where most businesses lose out. Google matches a search to a page. AI takes a question and hunts for a page that answers it. You can rank for "boiler repair Leeds" and still have nothing that answers "who can fix a boiler on a Sunday in Leeds?"

So write for questions:

• Write down the 10 questions your customers ask most. Your emails, sales calls and Search Console are good places to look.

• Give each one a page or a section that answers it.

• Put the answer in the first two sentences. Then explain.

• Write your headings as questions.

• Be specific. Prices, timescales, named examples and "last updated" dates all help.

• Add an FAQ to your key pages using real questions.

How do you find the questions customers ask?

Start with the places where customers already tell you. You don't need every source below. Two or three will give you plenty.

• Google Search Console. Open Performance, then Search results. Add a Query filter, choose Custom (regex) and paste ^(who|what|why|how|when|where|can|does|is|are|should|best) to see searches phrased as questions. Try .{30,} for longer, more conversational ones. It only shows searches where you already appear.

• Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Business Profile. Both show the searches that found you. Both are free.

• Your own conversations. Check customer emails, sales calls, live chat and social messages. The questions people ask before they buy make the best prompts.

• Google autocomplete and People also ask. Type in your service and town, then note the suggestions and questions.

• AI itself. Ask ChatGPT what someone would ask before choosing your kind of business in your town. It won't be perfect, but it shows how AI sees your market.

• Reviews and competitor pages. Customers repeat the same worries about price, speed and trust. Each worry is a question to answer.

Pick the ones asked most often, closest to buying and that you could answer well. Write them the way a customer would type them into ChatGPT, as a full sentence with their location. This guide to prompt research for AI search goes further.

Do other websites vouch for you?

Your website says you're brilliant. Of course it does. AI looks for other places that agree, like review sites, directories, trade bodies, local press and best of lists. A competitor with weaker pages but more mentions around the web can easily win the recommendation.

The basics are claiming and completing your Google Business Profile, getting listed in the main directories for your industry and collecting reviews on at least two platforms. Reply to them too. Then look further afield for trade sites, local press and your trade body.

To know where to aim, look at which websites AI uses when it answers your questions. The Sources page in Midwaver lists them and separates your own site and competitor sites from everything else. You can't get listed on a competitor's own website, so go after the third party ones that keep coming up.

How do you check it's working?

Ask AI the same questions every week and write down who gets named. Take your 10 questions, ask them in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and note which businesses and which websites show up.

Doing it by hand is fine for a first look. The catch is that AI answers change from run to run, so one check tells you very little. Midwaver asks your questions every day and records whether you were mentioned, whether your site was cited and which competitors appeared. Judge progress over weeks and change one thing at a time.

What should you do first?

If you only have an hour, do these in order:

1. Check your robots.txt. Make sure the AI search crawlers can get in.

2. Ask AI your 10 questions. Write down who gets named instead of you.

3. Fix mismatched business details. Start with your Google Business Profile.

4. Rewrite one page. Make it answer one question in the first two sentences.

Mentions on other websites are the slowest job but they matter a great deal over time, so start them next. Once you know where you stand, this guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT goes deeper on the fixes.

What's in the free AI search optimisation checklist?

All five jobs as 31 actions you can tick off on printable A4 pages. There's also a guide to finding your questions and a worksheet for your 10, with space to note who AI names instead of you. Use it as a one off audit or come back to it each month.

Download the free 31 Point AI Optimisation Checklist (PDF)

Do you need a developer to do AI search optimisation?

Not for most of it. Writing pages, fixing your business details and getting listed are all jobs for you. Blocked crawlers and content that only loads through scripts may need your web person, but they're quick fixes.

How long does AI search optimisation take to work?

There's no fixed timeline. Letting AI in can help quickly because it can finally read your pages. Building mentions on other websites takes longer. Track your questions weekly so you can see the direction even when the daily answers wobble.

Is AI search optimisation the same as GEO or AEO?

Pretty much. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) and answer engine optimisation (AEO) are different names for the same job. Nobody has settled on one term yet so you'll see AI visibility and AI search used too.

Is the checklist really free?

Yes. There's no sign up so you can download it straight away.

Can you check your AI search visibility for free?

Yes. The free AI visibility report shows whether AI tools mention your business. The free 7 day trial adds daily tracking of your own questions.

Don't let AI search send your customers to a competitor

See who's being recommended, find where you're missing out and start improving your visibility today with Midwaver.

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• See who's winning in your industry

• Get data backed recommendations to improve

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