AI SEO: how to get recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI and other assistants
"Who should I hire to build a website?" — today this question goes to ChatGPT, Gemini and voice assistants, not just to Google. Classic SEO fights for positions on a results page; the new discipline — AI SEO, also called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) — fights for a place inside the AI's answer itself. Here is how it works and what a business should do right now.
What changed
By 2026 a large share of commercial queries never touches a search bar:
- Google AI Overviews answer in plain text above the results — and up to half of users never scroll past them.
- ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude name specific companies when asked to "recommend a contractor".
- Voice assistants read out one or two options — you are either there or you don't exist.
A link in tenth position brings no traffic if the answer has already been spoken. The good news: AI systems have their own selection criteria, and you can influence them.
How AI decides whom to recommend
Neural networks don't rank pages — they compose an answer from what they "know" and can quickly verify. In practice four things decide the outcome:
| Factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| Machine readability | Your site is easy to parse: clean structure, markup, fast loading |
| Facts over slogans | Prices, timelines and services stated concretely — AI quotes specifics |
| Mentions beyond your site | Directories, maps, reviews, articles — AI cross-checks sources |
| Freshness | Stale content loses to regularly updated content |
The 2026 AI SEO checklist
1. llms.txt — the new robots.txt
An llms.txt file in your site root is an instruction sheet for AI crawlers: who you are, what you do, where prices and services live. The standard is young, but OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity crawlers already read it. We deployed ours in the first month — and see AI bots in our logs daily.
2. Structured data (JSON-LD)
Organization, LocalBusiness, OfferCatalog, FAQPage and BlogPosting markup turns your site from "text" into a "database of facts". That is where AI takes your name, address, prices and services from without guessing. Validate yours with Google's Rich Results Test.
3. Concrete content
An AI will never quote "a market-leading provider of innovative solutions" — there is nothing to take from it. It will quote "a turnkey website from $590 in 2–6 weeks". Write answer-pages: how much, how long, what's included, what's guaranteed.
4. Multiple languages
AI answers in the user's language and prefers sources written in it. A site in Kazakh, Uzbek or Arabic is a direct door into answers for those audiences — with minimal competition so far.
5. External proof
A Google Business profile, directories, reviews, mentions in articles — AI verifies facts against independent sources. A site with no external footprint looks as suspicious to an AI as it does to a human customer.
6. Classic SEO still matters
AI SEO is a layer on top, not a replacement. Speed, mobile experience, clear structure and quality content remain the foundation: AI crawlers rely on the same signals search engines do.
Common mistakes
- Blocking AI bots in robots.txt. Some sites block GPTBot "just in case" — and vanish from ChatGPT answers entirely.
- Hiding prices. "Price on request" means "no data" to a neural network — it will recommend whoever publishes numbers.
- Duplicating slogans instead of facts. Ten pages of "we are the best" lose to one page with a pricing table.
Cost and timeline
The technical part (llms.txt, markup, structure) takes one to two weeks and often fits into a regular SEO package. Results show up faster than classic SEO: AI systems refresh their sources more often than organic positions grow. But honestly: AI SEO is not a magic button — it is systematic work on content and reputation.
Bottom line
While competitors argue over Google positions, a second front has opened — AI answers. Entering it now is cheaper than it will ever be: the standards are young and the niches are empty, especially in Kazakhstan and the CIS. We run the full AI SEO stack on our own site and set it up for clients — from audit to implementation. Ask the AI assistant on our site where to start — it knows this topic firsthand. 😉