To be mentioned by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Mode, your business needs three things: pages that AI crawlers are allowed to read, content that answers a specific question in the first paragraph, and consistent facts about your company across the web. There is no paid placement and no trick. Google and OpenAI both say so in their own documentation.
Key takeaways
- Google states there are no additional requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Normal SEO applies.
- ChatGPT search uses OpenAI’s own crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Sites that block it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- AI engines quote passages, not pages. A direct answer in the first 40 to 60 words of a section is what gets lifted into the response.
- Your name, address, services and prices must match everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, directories, LinkedIn.
- Clicks from ChatGPT carry
utm_source=chatgpt.com, so you can measure this in your analytics today.
How do AI tools decide which businesses to mention?
They search. When someone asks ChatGPT or Gemini for a web developer in Dubai, the model does not rely on memory. It runs a live search, reads the top results, and writes an answer from what it finds, with citations. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode work the same way on top of Google’s index. If your pages are not in the index or are not retrievable, you cannot be cited, however good your business is.
That is why the first step is the boring one: make sure the crawlers can reach you. OpenAI documents three bots. GPTBot collects training data. ChatGPT-User fetches a page when a user asks for it. OAI-SearchBot powers ChatGPT search, and OpenAI states that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot “will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers”. Many security plugins and CDN rules block all AI bots by default. Blocking GPTBot is a reasonable choice if you do not want your content used for training; blocking OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search.
Google separates the two as well. Googlebot controls Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. The Google-Extended token only controls training and grounding in some other Google systems, so blocking it does not remove you from AI Overviews, and allowing it does not get you in.
What does Google say about optimising for AI Overviews and AI Mode?
Google’s own guidance is short: “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.” Pages are chosen using the same systems as regular results. Traffic from these features shows up in Search Console under the Web search type, and Google adds that clicks from result pages with AI Overviews tend to be higher quality.
So the work is ordinary SEO done well, with one shift in emphasis. Classic SEO aimed to rank a page. AI engines lift a passage. Your content needs to contain passages that can stand alone as the answer.
What actually gets a business cited?
1. A direct answer at the top of every page and section
Open with the answer, then explain. “A basic company website in Dubai costs between X and Y and takes three to six weeks” is a citable sentence. “In today’s digital landscape, having a website is essential” is not. Do the same under each heading: first sentence answers the heading’s question.
2. Headings written as the questions people ask
AI assistants match user questions to headings. Use the real phrasing: “How much does a WhatsApp AI agent cost in the UAE?” rather than “Pricing”. Add an FAQ section with four to six short questions and answers, and mark it up with FAQPage schema so machines can read it as questions and answers.
3. Facts with sources
Models are tuned to prefer pages that cite sources, name specific products and regulators, and include numbers with dates. A page that says “as of October 2026, Meta bills WhatsApp Business messages per message” with a link is more useful to an answer engine than a page that says “pricing may vary”.
4. The same facts everywhere
Answer engines cross-check. If your website says you are in Business Bay, your Google Business Profile says Deira and your LinkedIn says Abu Dhabi, the model’s confidence drops and it picks a competitor it can describe cleanly. Keep name, address, phone, services and founding year identical across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Clutch and any directory. Put Organization schema on your site with the same details.
5. Mentions on other sites
Because the engines search first, your prominence in search carries over. Reviews on Google, a profile on agency directories, a client’s “website by” footer link, a quote in a local news piece: each one is another retrievable page that says you exist and what you do. The business that appears in six places gets described; the one that appears only on its own site gets skipped. Where the mention sits matters too. A paid slot on a site that exists only to sell links counts as link spam, not coverage, so check the site before you pay for a spot: our guide to UAE guest posting sites sets out the tests.
6. A page the crawler can actually read
Content rendered only by JavaScript, behind a cookie wall or inside an image is invisible to most AI crawlers. Serve the text in HTML. Keep pages fast. Add an llms.txt file at your root with a plain list of your key pages and what each covers; its effect is not proven, but it costs nothing and some crawlers read it.
What does not work?
| Claim | Reality |
|---|---|
| “We can guarantee a spot in ChatGPT’s answers” | No one controls what a model says. OpenAI and Google sell no such placement. |
| “Stuff the page with the question 50 times” | Models summarise meaning. Repetition adds nothing and hurts normal rankings. |
| “Block all AI bots to protect content” | Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search. Decide bot by bot. |
| “AI visibility is separate from SEO” | Google says the same systems choose the pages. Fix SEO first. |
| “Publish ten AI-written posts a day” | Thin pages dilute the site. Two well-sourced posts a week outperform them. |
A Gulf-specific note
Buyers here ask in two languages and often add a place: “best AI automation company in Dubai”, “شركة تطوير مواقع في دبي”. If your Arabic pages are thin copies or missing, the Arabic question goes to a competitor. Make the Arabic version of each key page a real page, link the two with hreflang, and keep the facts identical in both. Mention the emirates and areas you serve in plain sentences. Price in AED and SAR where you can. Platforms matter too: a WhatsApp number on every page is a trust signal an engine can see.
How to measure it
- Analytics: filter sessions by
utm_source=chatgpt.com, and by referrers such as gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai and copilot.microsoft.com. - Search Console: AI Overview and AI Mode traffic is included in the Web report. Watch impressions for question-style queries.
- Monthly spot check: ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity ten real customer questions and record who they name. Rank Math’s AI Visibility report automates part of this.
How Virtuloom helps
Our SEO, AEO and GEO service restructures your pages around direct answers, fixes crawler access and schema, and builds the mentions that answer engines look for. We write Arabic and English as separate, complete pages, and if your website itself is the blocker, we rebuild it so the text is readable by every crawler. For the broader picture, read our guide to GEO, AEO and SEO in the UAE.
Curious about the llms.txt file mentioned above? We explain what it does and does not do in llms.txt explained.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT or Gemini?
No. Neither OpenAI nor Google offers paid placement inside AI answers, and Google states there are no special requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Visibility comes from pages the crawlers can read, direct answers in your content, and consistent mentions of your business across the web.
Should I block AI bots in robots.txt?
Decide bot by bot. Blocking GPTBot stops OpenAI using your content for training and does not affect ChatGPT search. Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes your site from ChatGPT search answers. For Google, Googlebot controls Search including AI features; Google-Extended only affects training and grounding elsewhere.
Does FAQ schema help with AI visibility?
It helps machines read your questions and answers as structured pairs, which suits how answer engines quote content. It is not a guarantee of citation. Write the questions the way customers ask them and keep each answer to a short, complete paragraph of 40 to 60 words.
How long until my business appears in AI answers?
For specific, low-competition questions such as “AI agent for a clinic in Sharjah”, weeks after the page is indexed. For broad queries like “best web developer in Dubai”, months, because the engines rely on search prominence that takes time to build. Measure monthly rather than daily.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It is optional. llms.txt is a plain text file at your site root listing your key pages and what they cover. Its effect on citations is not proven, but it is cheap to add and harmless. Treat it as a tidy index for machines, not as a substitute for readable pages.
How do I know if ChatGPT is sending me visitors?
OpenAI appends utm_source=chatgpt.com to links clicked inside ChatGPT, so filter your analytics by that parameter. Add referrer filters for gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai and copilot.microsoft.com. Google’s AI traffic is not separated and appears inside normal Search Console web data.
Sources
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAI
- Publishers and developers FAQ, OpenAI Help Center
- How to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help
Want to know whether AI engines can read your site today? Ask Virtuloom for a check or message +971 52 544 4109 on WhatsApp.
