SEO in the age of AI: show up in the answers

What you'll see in this lesson

1. From clicks to citations: what has changed in SEO

   More and more searches end in an answer written by an AI; the goal is no longer just the click, but also getting cited and named.

2. How AI Overviews and AI Mode build the answer

   Google's AI splits your question into several searches, reads pages from its index and writes a summary with links to the ones it used.

3. ChatGPT and Perplexity: let their bots in

   To show up in ChatGPT search, your robots.txt must allow OAI-SearchBot; blocking GPTBot only stops them from using you for training.

4. Content the AI wants to cite

   AI cites what answers best and most clearly, and above all what it can't find anywhere else: your own data and real experience.

5. Tech and structured data: help it understand you

   Structured data doesn't guarantee a citation, but it helps the AI understand who you are, what you sell and at what price.

6. Authority: get talked about elsewhere

   Assistants name the brands mentioned across many reliable sources, not just the ones that say so on their own website.

7. Measure visits and mentions from assistants

   GA4 now separates assistant visits in its AI Assistant channel; Search Console measures your visibility in Google's AI.

8. llms.txt: what's true about it

   llms.txt is a proposal to give AI an index of your site in Markdown; useful for technical docs, but it won't get you into Google.

9. Summary: SEO for AI answers

   The basics still rule: indexing, useful content and authority. Add open bots, your own data, mentions and dedicated measurement.