What AI SEO actually involves
AI search optimisation is not a separate replacement for SEO. Google states that the same foundations used for conventional search remain relevant to AI Overviews and AI Mode, including crawlable pages, useful original content, clear site structure and eligibility for normal Google Search results.
Other AI products have their own retrieval systems and crawler controls. OpenAI, for example, distinguishes between OAI-SearchBot, which is used for ChatGPT search, and GPTBot, which is associated with model training. That distinction matters because allowing search discovery does not necessarily mean accepting every form of AI crawling.
Our £499 AI Search Visibility Package reviews how clearly your site describes the business, its services and its important pages. We then work on the parts that can be improved directly, including structured data, crawler access policy, content clarity and an llms.txt file where it is useful. The package is a one-off service and
Technical signals behind AI search visibility
When we review a site for AI search visibility, we look beyond whether an AI assistant happens to mention the company during one test. Individual answers change according to the query, model, location, available sources and retrieval method. A useful audit therefore checks the underlying website rather than treating one generated answer as a ranking report.
Typical technical checks include whether important pages can be crawled, whether canonical tags point to the correct URLs, whether key information is rendered in accessible HTML, whether structured data agrees with visible page content and whether important pages are buried behind weak internal linking.
We also check crawler policy. A robots.txt rule, CDN security setting or firewall rule can prevent an automated service from reaching pages even when the website works normally in a browser. The correct response is not to allow every bot automatically. It is to decide which access supports the site's objectives and configure it deliberately. Our AI crawler management guide explains the difference.
Content that AI systems can understand and cite
Machine readability starts with ordinary good writing. A service page should state precisely what is offered, who it is for, where it is available and what important limitations apply. Pages made largely from vague marketing claims give both people and automated systems less concrete information to work with.
Google's 2026 guidance for generative search places particular emphasis on useful, original and non-commodity content. That means demonstrating knowledge that could not be produced by simply rewriting competitors: practical processes, technical constraints, evidence, measurements, examples and clear explanations of trade-offs.
Structured data can help machines interpret entities and page content, but it should describe information that genuinely exists on the page. Adding excessive schema or unsupported properties does not turn weak content into a reliable source. We review both the markup and the visible content so they tell the same story.
Where llms.txt fits into AI SEO
An llms.txt file can provide AI agents with a concise Markdown overview of a site and links to important resources. The specification has developed since it was first proposed in 2024, and version 2 was published in 2026.
It is important not to oversell it. Google specifically says that llms.txt is unnecessary for appearing in Google's generative search features. There is no credible basis for promising that adding the file will improve rankings or make a business appear in an AI answer.
We use llms.txt as an additional machine-readable reference where it makes sense, not as a substitute for crawlability, strong pages or conventional technical SEO. Our llms.txt guide explains the current format and limitations in detail.
What the £499 AI Search Visibility Package includes
The package is designed to establish a technically sound starting point rather than sell an indefinite AI SEO retainer. We review current visibility, inspect the site's machine-readable signals, identify access problems and make the agreed technical changes.
- AI visibility audit covering major search and assistant environments
- llms.txt created and published where appropriate
- Site-wide structured data review and upgrade
- Important content reviewed for clarity and citation usefulness
- AI crawler access policy checked and configured
- Written before and after visibility report
The price is £499. No ongoing retainer is required. Businesses that want continuing development work can also review our website support plans.
AI SEO still starts with a useful website
There is no reliable shortcut that forces ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google to cite a particular business. Each platform selects information using its own systems, and those systems continue to change.
The practical approach is to remove technical barriers, publish information worth retrieving, identify the business and its services clearly, keep important facts consistent and use machine-readable markup where it genuinely adds context. Those improvements benefit ordinary search and human visitors as well as AI-driven discovery.
You can also use our free SEO checker to identify basic technical issues before reviewing the wider AI search picture.