- Google’s 2026 guidance treats optimising for its AI features as SEO: a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet.
- The biggest wins are clarity and structure: one page per question, the answer first, real proof.
- Special AI files such as llms.txt are optional. Google has said its Search doesn’t use them.
Start with what Google has actually said
Google’s own documentation is plain about it: there are no extra technical requirements for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode. To be shown as a supporting link, a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in Search with a snippet. In 2026 Google added an optimisation guide that goes further and names things you can ignore for its Search, including AI text files and rewriting content into small chunks for machines.
Other assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity run their own crawlers and may weigh signals differently. The good news is that the work that helps one helps the others: pages that are easy to find, read and believe.
Make your business unambiguous
AI answers are built from sentences that clearly connect a company to what it does. If your homepage says “innovative solutions for tomorrow”, there is nothing to quote. If it says “We source and manufacture private-label products for European brands, with factories in Europe and Asia”, there is.
- State what you do, for whom and where, in one sentence near the top of the homepage.
- Use the same company name, address and contact details everywhere.
- Keep an About page that explains who is behind the business.
Write pages that answer one question well
When a European sourcing company we worked with listed seven services across six industries on one page, nobody could tell whether their product was covered. Giving each service and each industry its own page created 13 precise entry points, each one answering a single question a buyer might search for.
Open every page with the direct answer, then add depth. That pattern serves a skimming buyer and a summarising machine equally.
Keep the important words in the HTML
If key copy only exists inside an image, a carousel, a PDF or text that appears after scripts run, assume a crawler may miss it. Put your core service descriptions, prices or ranges where relevant, and FAQs in plain HTML on the page.
Show proof that can be checked
Specific, attributable results travel further than adjectives. “Enquiries rose 15% in the four months after relaunch” is a claim a reader can weigh. Date your articles, name the team behind them, and only publish numbers you can stand behind.
Measure what you can
Google Search Console includes AI feature traffic in its overall Search reporting, and Google has been rolling out more detailed generative AI reports to some sites. Track enquiries as conversions so you can see whether visibility turns into business.
Questions people ask
Do I need an llms.txt file?
No. Google has said its Search doesn’t use llms.txt or similar AI text files. Some other tools may read one, so it is harmless to add, but it should be the last thing on your list, not the first.
Is AEO or GEO different from SEO?
For Google’s AI features, Google describes it as SEO: the same ranking and quality systems apply. Other AI assistants may weigh signals differently, but clear, crawlable, well-evidenced pages help across all of them.
Should I block AI crawlers?
It depends on your business. Blocking can keep your content out of some AI products; allowing it can make you easier to find there. Make it a deliberate decision in robots.txt.