--- title: "AI search optimisation: what it is and what works · Avouch" description: "What AI search optimisation means, what Google and ChatGPT require, and how to read research on visibility without mistaking correlation for proof." url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-optimisation markdown_url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-optimisation.md --- # AI search optimisation: what it is and what works The evidence is useful when you separate platform requirements, observed patterns and actual recommendations. **Steen Stones** · Reviewed 6 Oct 2026 AI search optimisation means improving how your content appears in answers that AI systems generate. Google's guidance still points to established SEO and content that adds something useful beyond common knowledge. ChatGPT has its own access requirements, and research patterns cannot promise that a change will bring more visibility. ## What does AI search optimisation mean? AI search optimisation is about making content more visible within generated answers, as the GEO research paper describes. The researchers tested their approach using a benchmark, a set of queries with web sources against which to evaluate it. The researchers found that their strategies worked differently across subject areas, rather than producing the same result everywhere. Their benchmark gives a reason to test an approach in context before assuming it will work for a business. ## What works for Google's AI search features? Google says established SEO still matters because its AI search features draw on its core ranking and quality systems. It also recommends original expert content that gives readers something useful beyond what is already common knowledge. Google requires a page to be indexed and eligible for a search snippet before it can appear. The site must also be included in generative AI features through Search Console, but eligibility does not prove selection. Google says generative AI search does not require structured data, and there is no special schema.org markup to add. So that markup should not be sold as something a website must have to appear in Google's AI answers. ## What does ChatGPT require from a website? ChatGPT search needs access to your website through OAI-Searchbot, the crawler named in OpenAI's eligibility guidance. Your website host must also allow requests from OpenAI's published searchbot IP addresses, rather than blocking them elsewhere. ChatGPT's access requirement needs checking alongside Google's requirements, because they concern different ways of reading your site. A page meeting Google's indexing conditions does not establish that OpenAI's searchbot can reach and read it. ## What does the research say about being mentioned? Ahrefs researched 75,000 brands to examine patterns in mentions across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews. YouTube mentions showed the strongest association with AI visibility among the factors it tested across those platforms. Ahrefs warns that improving a factor it measured does not automatically bring an increase in AI visibility. Its research can guide what a business investigates, but cannot establish what adding more mentions would deliver. > We've spotted patterns between search metrics and AI mentions, but that doesn't mean improving these metrics will automatically boost your AI visibility. [ahrefs.com, Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied) (opens in a new tab)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/) ## Does being cited mean influencing the recommendation? Being cited did not necessarily mean deciding the recommendation in Avouch's published Google AI Overviews analysis. YouTube was cited, but those citations were not judged to have decided which business was picked. The published re-judgement covers 6,517 answers and is dated 4 Aug 2026, with every verdict stored. An independent model also challenged the influence claims, so readers are looking at recorded judgements about the answers. Avouch's Google AI Overviews result asks a different question from Ahrefs' association between YouTube mentions and visibility. They measure different outcomes, so they cannot be combined into a universal rule or read as contradictory results. ## Common questions ### Is SEO still relevant to AI search? Google says SEO practices remain relevant because its generative AI features are rooted in its core Search ranking and quality systems. ### Does Google require special structured data for AI answers? Google says structured data is not required for generative AI search and there is no special schema.org markup to add. ### Do more YouTube mentions prove that AI visibility will improve? Ahrefs found a strong association, but explicitly cautions that improving a measured factor does not automatically improve AI visibility. ## Sources 1. [arxiv.org, 2311.09735 GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (opens in a new tab)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735), checked 6 October 2026 2. [help.openai.com, Searching the web with ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center (opens in a new tab)](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt), checked 6 October 2026 3. [ahrefs.com, Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied) (opens in a new tab)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/), checked 6 October 2026 4. [developers.google.com, Google's Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search, Google Search Central, Documentation, Google for Developers (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide), checked 6 October 2026 5. [avouchedfor.com, What actually decides who AI recommends · Avouch (opens in a new tab)](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-decides-who-ai-recommends), checked 6 October 2026 AI can't recommend what it doesn't know. [Check if AI recommends you](https://avouchedfor.com/assessment) Start free. No commitment.