AI search optimization: what it is, how AI search engines choose, and what to do
AI search optimization is the work that gets a business found, named and recommended by AI search engines: ChatGPT search, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini. It is the umbrella over GEO (being named and recommended in generated answers) and AEO (being the page the engine uses as the answer), and it is measured by asking the engines and reading what they answer.
- AI search optimization is the umbrella: GEO (named and recommended) plus AEO (used as the answer), across every AI search engine.
- Google: no special optimization, files or markup. OpenAI: let OAI-SearchBot crawl; ranking is unpublished, placement not guaranteed.
- Baselines from our data: named 35.2%, recommended 20.6%, own site cited 0.6%.
- Only about 12% of AI-cited URLs sit in Google's top ten (Ahrefs); ranking on Google is not being read by AI.
What is AI search optimization?
Buyers now ask a question and get an answer instead of a list. AI search optimization is everything that puts a business inside that answer: named among the options, presented as the recommendation, and cited as a source. The term is the broad one; generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization are the two halves of the work, and they are compared in their own guide.
Which AI search engines matter?
| Engine | What it is | How it searches |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI's assistant with web search | Searches when the question benefits from current information, through partner providers, with the query rewritten; cites sources |
| Google AI Overviews | The generated summary above Google results | Google's index; a wider set of links than classic search; no extra requirements |
| Google AI Mode | Google's conversational search tab | Google's index, in a dialogue; measured separately from AI Overviews |
| Perplexity | An answer engine built on web search | Searches for every question and cites; leans on Reddit, LinkedIn and TripAdvisor in our data |
| Gemini | Google's assistant | Grounded in Google Search when it chooses; leans on Reddit, Wikipedia and YouTube in our data |
| Claude | Anthropic's assistant with web search | Searches when needed; leans on Wikipedia and developer sites in our data |
The engines Citeon AI measures. Microsoft Copilot answers are not measured; visits it sends are counted.
How AI search engines choose what to show
There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary. You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features.
Google Search Central, AI features and your website
ChatGPT ranks search results using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information. Placement is not guaranteed. To make a website eligible for inclusion, allow OAI-Searchbot to crawl the site.
OpenAI Help Center, Searching the web with ChatGPT
Two engines, two published rules, both minimal: be crawlable, be snippet-worthy. Everything else is unpublished and has to be measured. What the measurement shows is that the engines read third-party pages far more than yours: across our answers the sources cited most are reddit.com, en.wikipedia.org, youtube.com, linkedin.com, github.com, and the business's own site appears as a source in 0.6% of answers.
AI search optimization vs SEO, GEO and AEO
| Term | Scope | Measured in |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Ranking pages in search result lists | Positions, impressions, clicks |
| AI search optimization | Everything that gets a business into AI answers | Named, position, recommended, cited, across engines |
| GEO | Being named and recommended in generated answers | Named and recommended rates, share of voice |
| AEO | Being the page an engine uses as the answer | Citations, snippets, answers taken from the page |
SEO is the floor; both engines say so in their own way. AI search optimization is what happens above it, and most of it concerns pages that are not yours.
What the answers look like, measured
| Engine | Answers | Business named | Recommended | Own site cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 1,777 | 32.2% | 20.1% | 0.6% |
| ChatGPT | 1,776 | 31.8% | 21.6% | 0.3% |
| Claude | 1,687 | 33.8% | 18.8% | 0.7% |
| Gemini | 1,543 | 40.7% | 26.1% | 0.5% |
| Google AI Overviews | 769 | 42.4% | 12.7% | 1.2% |
7,552 answers, 35 businesses, 24 August to 7 October 2026. Full tables on the data page.
How to do AI search optimization
- Be crawlable by every engine. Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and the rest allowed in robots.txt and not blocked by the CDN. The only rule the engines publish.
- Measure before you change anything. Your buyers' questions, every engine, every answer scored. Without this, there is nothing to optimise against.
- Earn the mentions where the engines read. Reviews, directories, forums, comparison articles, the platforms in the table above. Named is 35.2%, cited is 0.6%: the names come from elsewhere.
- Make your own pages the answer to the rewritten query. One question per page, the answer first, the facts a model can quote, consistent with your listings.
- Re-measure daily and report the trend. A rolling average over four weeks, per engine, because they disagree.
AI search engine optimization tools
The tool's job is the measurement: put the questions to the engines, read the answers, score them, list the sources and the competitors, keep the history. Citeon AI does this daily across five engines, and then does the second job most tools stop short of: it crawls your site, pairs each losing question with what is missing, and writes the fix, applied in one click on WordPress, Astro and Next.js. How the tool works; the service that does it for you; or start with the free audit.
Questions people ask
What is AI search optimization?
The umbrella term for making a business visible in AI search: being named, recommended and cited in the answers of ChatGPT search, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini. It includes generative engine optimization (being named and recommended in generated answers) and answer engine optimization (being the page an engine uses as the answer).
Is AI search engine optimization different from SEO?
It starts from the same site and ends somewhere else. Google says its AI features need no special optimization beyond the standard search fundamentals, so SEO is the floor. Above the floor the result is a generated answer, not a list, measured in names and recommendations rather than positions, and built from sources that overlap with Google's top ten by only about 12% according to Ahrefs.
Which AI search engine should I optimise for?
All of the ones your buyers use, because they disagree. In our data two engines name the same business first only 26 to 35.7% of the time, and they cite different platforms: Reddit and Wikipedia for ChatGPT and Gemini, Wikipedia and developer sites for Claude, Reddit and LinkedIn for Perplexity, YouTube and social platforms for Google AI Overviews.
What are AI search engine optimization tools?
Software that asks the AI engines the questions buyers ask, on a schedule, and records whether a business is named, where, whether it is recommended, and which sources were used. Citeon AI does this daily across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and turns each losing question into a fix on the site.
Do I need llms.txt or special markup for AI search?
Google says no new files or markup are needed for AI Overviews and AI Mode. OpenAI's one requirement for ChatGPT search is that OAI-SearchBot can crawl the site. Beyond that, what the engines read is mostly third-party pages: in our data a business's own site is cited in 0.6% of answers.
How long does AI search optimization take to work?
Answers change from day to day, so progress is a rolling average, not a single check. In the one business we have measured from start to finish, a restaurant in The Hague, the named rate went from 4.7% in June 2026 to 57% in August 2026. One business, not a benchmark.
Sources
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website. no additional requirements; no new files or markup; a wider set of links than classic search
- OpenAI Help Center, Searching the web with ChatGPT. partner search providers, rewritten queries, OAI-SearchBot required, placement not guaranteed
- 5WPR, The state of AI citations 2026. Ahrefs: 12% of AI-cited URLs in Google's top ten; about 11% of domains cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity
- Citeon AI measurements, 24 August to 7 October 2026. 7,552 answers, 35 businesses, five engines