How to get found in AI search engines: strategy per platform

You get found in AI search engines by creating content that answers your customer’s question directly and factually, by making sure AI crawlers can fetch your page without JavaScript, and by building mentions on sites these platforms consider trustworthy. The pillars are the same everywhere; only the way each platform picks its sources differs. The bigger picture across all platforms is called AI visibility.

The way people look for information has fundamentally changed. More and more consumers and professionals no longer ask Google, but ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot. These AI search engines give an answer directly, often with only one or two sources.

If your business does not appear in those answers, you are missing a growing share of your potential customers. In this guide we cover each major AI platform, how it selects sources, and what you can do to become visible.

Why AI visibility is urgent now

The numbers are clear. Google AI Overviews lower click-through rates by 34 to 46 percent in studies. In Google’s AI Mode, most searches end without a click. Meanwhile ChatGPT and Perplexity keep growing in users.

That means even businesses with strong SEO positions lose visibility. The answer is not to stop SEO, but to extend your strategy to AI search engines. That approach is called GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. The basics are in what is GEO?.

The landscape: which AI search engines are there?

There are now six major AI platforms relevant to your findability. Each works differently, but the basic principles overlap.

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

ChatGPT is the best-known AI assistant in the world, with hundreds of millions of users a week. For current information its search function uses OpenAI’s own index plus third-party providers such as Bing.

How it selects sources: ChatGPT fetches content from the web through OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User. The model combines these search results with its trained knowledge to put together an answer. Sources that OAI-SearchBot can read, that are findable in Bing and that offer clear, factual information have the best chance of being cited.

What to know: let OAI-SearchBot in and treat Bing SEO as cheap insurance. It also helps to structure content with direct answers and structured data.

The full strategy is in getting found in ChatGPT.

Perplexity

Perplexity stands out for transparent sourcing: every claim has a numbered reference. It has its own crawler (PerplexityBot) and values content freshness highly.

How it selects sources: Perplexity searches the web in real time for every question. It picks sources on relevance, freshness and authority. Every claim in the answer gets an inline citation.

What to know: Perplexity rewards current content, specific data and clear authority.

More in getting found in Perplexity.

Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google integrates AI-generated answers directly into its search results. AI Overviews appear above the traditional blue links. AI Mode goes a step further and offers a full conversational search experience.

How it selects sources: Google uses its existing search index and E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Pages that rank well in regular Google Search have a better chance of appearing in AI Overviews, but it is not one-to-one.

What to know: A strong SEO foundation matters most here. Google values structured data, clear answers and proven expertise.

The details are in getting found in Google AI Overviews.

Google Gemini

Gemini is Google’s standalone AI assistant, separate from the search results page. It is multimodal (it understands text, images and video) and is built into Android, Google Workspace and Chrome.

How it selects sources: Gemini uses Google Search as a grounding tool for current information. It leans heavily on Google’s index, but adds the ability to answer more complex, compound questions.

What to know: Gemini is increasingly the default assistant on Android phones and in Google Workspace. Visibility in Google Search is the foundation.

More in getting found in Gemini.

Claude (Anthropic)

Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant, known for its focus on safety and accuracy. It can search the web for questions about current topics.

How it selects sources: Claude’s crawlers fetch content from the web. Claude puts weight on reliable, well-supported sources and is cautious with claims, preferring sources with clear expertise.

What to know: Claude values nuance and accuracy. Content that is nuanced, cites sources and shows expertise has a better chance.

The full explanation is in getting found in Claude.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is the AI assistant built into Bing, Edge, Windows and Microsoft 365. Its foundation is the Bing index.

How it selects sources: Copilot fetches search results through Bing and generates an answer from them. In the business version (Microsoft 365 Copilot), it combines web results with internal company data.

What to know: Bing optimization is the key. If you are easy to find in Bing, you are easy to find in Copilot, and it helps in ChatGPT too.

More in getting found in Microsoft Copilot.

How AI search engines select sources: the common ground

Although each platform works differently, five factors come back across all of them.

1. Relevance

The content must match the question. AI models understand meaning; they do not look for exact keywords, but for content that covers the topic fully.

2. Direct, citable answers

AI models prefer sources that answer a question directly. A page that starts with “It depends…” has less chance than a page that says “A CRM system costs on average $25 to $85 per user per month” and then adds nuance.

3. Authority and reliability

All platforms weigh how reliable a source is. That is determined by:

• Consistent information about your business across platforms
• Mentions on trusted websites
• Clear author information and expertise
• Sources cited in your own content

4. Structured data

Schema markup helps AI models interpret your content in a machine-readable way. Article, FAQPage, Organization and Product schema are the most relevant for GEO.

5. Technical accessibility

AI crawlers must be able to reach your site. That sounds obvious, but in practice many websites block AI bots without knowing it, through robots.txt or a web application firewall.

How to configure this is in how AI crawlers read your site.

For which questions are you mentioned now? That is the starting point of every strategy. With the prompt tracker you see every day, per platform, whether you or your competitor is in the answer.

The universal strategy: 7 steps to AI visibility

Whichever platform you prioritize, these seven steps work everywhere.

Step 1: Check your technical accessibility

Make sure AI crawlers can reach your site:

• Check robots.txt for blocks on GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot
• Keep load times fast (under 2.5 seconds)
• Use HTTPS
• Check that your firewall or CDN bot protection is not too strict

Step 2: Optimize for Bing (not only Google)

Microsoft Copilot runs on Bing, and ChatGPT search also uses Bing results. Many businesses only optimize for Google and forget Bing.

• Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools
• Use IndexNow for faster indexing
• Submit your sitemap to Bing too

Step 3: Structure content with direct answers

Start every important page with a short, direct answer to the central question. Then use H2 and H3 headings that answer sub-questions.

Example:

• Bad: “In this article we discuss the possibilities of CRM software…”
• Good: “A CRM system automates customer management and costs on average $25 to $85 per user per month. The three most used options for small businesses are…”

Step 4: Add structured data

Implement at least these schema types:

• Organization: business information, logo, contact details
• Article: for blog posts and knowledge articles
• FAQPage: for pages with frequently asked questions
• Product or Service: for what you offer

Step 5: Build entity authority

Make sure information about your business is consistent on:

• Your own website
• Google Business Profile
• Your LinkedIn company page
• Trade associations and directories
• Wikipedia (where relevant)

Consistent details across platforms help AI models recognize you as a reliable entity.

Step 6: Make claims specific and supported

Replace vague statements with specific, factual claims:

• Vague: “We offer excellent service”
• Specific: “Our average response time is 2 hours and 94% of our clients rate our service 4 stars or higher”

AI models prefer to cite concrete, verifiable information.

Step 7: Monitor and measure your results

Measure your AI visibility structurally:

• For which questions do you appear in AI answers?
• How often are you cited compared with competitors?
• Is your branded search volume going up?

Which KPIs to track is in how to measure AI visibility.

Platform tips at a glance

Platform	Main source	Most important tip
ChatGPT	Its own index (OAI-SearchBot) plus providers such as Bing	Let OAI-SearchBot in; Bing as insurance
Perplexity	Own crawler plus web	Keep content current, be specific
Google AI Overviews	Google Search	Strong SEO plus structured data
Gemini	Google Search	Multimodal content, Google ecosystem
Claude	Web search	Accuracy, nuance, cited sources
Copilot	Bing	Bing Webmaster Tools, IndexNow

Want the in-depth comparison? Read how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini choose their sources.

Working in more than one language or country? Then there is an extra layer: which language version a model picks and how to keep your versions from competing. See multilingual GEO.

Common mistakes

Focusing only on Google

Google matters, but it is no longer the only platform. ChatGPT and Perplexity use other sources. A strategy that only leans on Google SEO misses the Bing layer that feeds Copilot and part of ChatGPT search.

Blocking AI crawlers

Check your robots.txt. Many default WordPress security plugins and firewall configurations block unknown bots, including GPTBot and PerplexityBot. If these crawlers cannot read your site, you cannot appear in their answers.

Waiting until it is “proven”

GEO, like SEO, runs on accumulated authority. Businesses that start now build a head start. Businesses that wait will have to catch up.

Writing for machines instead of people

AI models value content that is good for human readers: clear, factual and well structured. If your content feels unnatural, it does not work for AI either.

Start today

The shift to AI-driven search is not a distant future, it is happening now. Every month more searches are answered by AI, and every month click-through rates on traditional results drop.

The businesses that start optimizing their AI visibility systematically now are building a position that will feel obvious in two years.

Start with the technical foundation (steps 1 and 2), optimize your most important pages (steps 3 to 6) and measure your results (step 7). Then pick the platform most relevant to your audience and go deeper there.

GreatCompany helps businesses measure and improve their visibility in AI search engines, from the baseline to daily monitoring.

Read the platform guides for your specific strategy:

• Getting found in ChatGPT
• Getting found in Perplexity
• Getting found in Claude
• Getting found in Google AI Overviews
• Getting found in Gemini
• Getting found in Microsoft Copilot