Hub · Updated
The AI Search Playbook
Learn · Fix · Decide
People now ask ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude the questions they used to type into a search box, and the assistants name a handful of sources. This playbook maps every Webvello guide, glossary term, comparison and tool on becoming one of those sources, organized by where you are rather than by acronym.
Maintained by George Shvaya, founder of Webvello.
Where to start
Each stage answers a different question. Pick the one that sounds like you.
Learn
AI search is new to you and you want the mechanics before the tactics.
Fix
You know you are missing from AI answers and want the shortest path to showing up.
Decide
You are weighing a budget, a tool or an agency and want to compare before you commit.
Four things every AI system needs from a website
The engines differ and none of them publishes a full recipe. These four needs are the common ground, and nearly every page in this playbook serves one of them.
Reachable
The search-type AI agents and Googlebot must be able to fetch the page and read its content in the HTML they receive. A robots rule, a firewall challenge or a client-side-only render keeps a page out of every answer.
Unambiguous
The site should state plainly who you are, what you offer, where and for whom, and say it the same way everywhere. Inconsistent names, addresses and descriptions leave a model guessing, and models do not guess in your favor.
Quotable
Definitions, steps, prices, comparisons and direct answers in plain sentences are easy to lift into a response. Long, general copy is not. Every important page should contain something an assistant can quote verbatim.
Corroborated
Assistants weigh what other sources say about you: your Google Business Profile, directories, press and reviews. A site that is only confirmed by itself is a weaker source than one confirmed by three others.
The order we do it in
A sensible sequence for most businesses. Access first, identity second, content third, confirmation and measurement last. Each step links to the page that covers it.
- 1
Find out where you stand
Ask the main assistants the questions your customers ask and record whether you are mentioned, cited or absent.
How to measure AI search visibility - 2
Make sure you can be fetched
Check robots.txt, your CDN or firewall rules and server rendering so search-type AI agents are not shut out by accident.
The 10-minute CDN check - 3
Fix index coverage first
For Google AI Overviews and AI Mode a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Everything else sits on top of that.
Your index coverage is the problem - 4
State who you are, once, everywhere
One organization node, one founder node, one set of facts, reused on every page and matched on every profile.
Entity SEO - 5
Give every key page a quotable answer
Rework service pages so each one answers its question in the first 60 words and backs it with a table or a list.
AI content optimization guide - 6
Mark it up to match
Structured data that mirrors the visible text helps engines parse the page; structured data that does not is noise.
Validate your schema - 7
Earn confirmation off-site
Claim and complete your profiles, keep the facts identical to the site, and collect real reviews.
Google Business Profile guide - 8
Measure monthly and adjust
Re-run the prompt panel, read the agent hits in your logs and track assistant referrals. Report trends, not single answers.
What a GEO audit should include
Not sure which step you are on?
The free audit checks access, indexation, identity and quotability on your site and tells you which of the eight steps to start with.
How AI search works
The vocabulary and the mechanics: what an answer engine is, how retrieval works, and why a citation is not a ranking.
Engine by engine
Each assistant fetches, indexes and cites differently. These pages stay close to what the vendors document.
- Which AI crawlers visit your site, and what each one doesNew
- What are AI crawlers? GPTBot, ClaudeBot and more
- Study: we fetched 81 agency homepages as the AI search agentsNew
- AI crawler checker toolNew
- Does blocking Google-Extended remove you from AI Overviews?New
- Google AI Overviews optimization
- ChatGPT: getting recommended
- ChatGPT for local businesses
- Perplexity business visibility
- Voice assistants: Gemini, Siri and Alexa+
Why you are not showing up
Diagnosis before treatment. Most missing businesses fail one of the four needs above, usually the first.
GEO, SEO and AEO
Three names for overlapping work. The comparisons below say where they differ and where they are the same job.
Technical foundations
Access and indexation. If a page cannot be fetched, rendered and indexed, nothing further on this list matters.
Structured data and entities
Markup that mirrors the page, and one clear identity for the business, its people and its services.
Content AI can quote
Answer-first intros, definitions, steps, tables and FAQs that are visible on the page and lift cleanly into a response.
Local businesses
Service-area businesses win or lose on corroboration: profiles, reviews and consistent facts across the web.
Measuring AI visibility
Four data sources exist. None is complete on its own, and a monthly trend beats any single screenshot.
Cost, tools and partners
What the work costs, when software is enough, and what to ask anyone you consider hiring.
Common questions
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of becoming a source that assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode draw on and cite. Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the closely related work of structuring content so a direct answer can be lifted out of it, for featured snippets, voice assistants and AI answers alike. In practice they overlap heavily and both sit on top of ordinary SEO.
Do I need special markup or a special file to appear in Google AI Overviews?
No. Google documents that a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, that there are no additional technical requirements, and that no special schema.org structured data or AI-specific text file is needed. Structured data still helps engines parse a page, but only when it mirrors the visible text.
Can anyone guarantee a place in an AI answer?
No. Nobody can buy or guarantee a citation, each engine works differently, and answers vary between runs. The work is to make your business the easy, well-supported choice across all of them and to measure the trend monthly.
Should I block AI crawlers?
Separate the two decisions. Blocking the search-type and user-initiated agents removes you from the answers those assistants give. Blocking the training agents is a separate choice about whether your content trains future models, and the vendors document it as independent. Decide each on its own.
How long does GEO take to show results?
Access and indexation fixes can change what an assistant fetches within days, but recrawling and re-indexing is governed by the engines and Google says it can take from several days to several months. Corroboration and authority build over months. Measure monthly and judge the trend, not a single answer.
Where do I start if I only have an hour?
Run the seven checks in the ChatGPT diagnostic, then the 10-minute CDN and robots check, then look up your indexed-versus-submitted ratio in Search Console. Those three tell you whether your problem is access, indexation or content, and the fix order follows from that.
Want this done rather than read?
Webvello builds and runs the whole sequence: access, identity, quotable content, markup, corroboration and monthly measurement, as one program across Google and the assistants.