How do I make my business visible to AI?

Priority 1: Can AI search crawlers reach your website?

Everything else depends on access. Each major AI company documents the crawler it uses for search or answers, and most separate it from crawling for model training. Your robots.txt file, which sits at the top level of your site ^[3], is where you allow or block each one by name.

Training and search are separate decisions. OpenAI gives the example of allowing OAI-SearchBot while disallowing GPTBot ^[1]. Google says robots.txt rules for Googlebot are the control for its AI features in Search, while Google-Extended covers AI training and grounding in some of Google's other systems ^[2]. Anthropic says disabling Claude-SearchBot may reduce a site's visibility in user search results ^[6].

Robots.txt is a request, not a lock. The standard describes its rules as ones crawlers are requested to honor, and says they are not a form of access authorization ^[3]. Some fetchers that act on a user's direct request behave differently: OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply to ChatGPT-User ^[1], and Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores them ^[5].

Check your hosting layer as well. Google recommends making sure crawling is allowed both in robots.txt and by any CDN or hosting infrastructure ^[2]. OpenAI recommends allowing requests from its published IP ranges as well as allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt ^[1].

Priority 2: Are your core facts on your website as plain text?

Once crawlers can reach your site, give them something definite to read. Google recommends making important content available in textual form ^[2]. Microsoft says to place essential information near the top of a page, state facts explicitly and keep each page focused on one primary topic ^[4].

For most small businesses, the essentials are:

• The business name exactly as you want it used
• Street address, or the towns and neighborhoods you serve if you go to customers
• Phone number, email and how to book or request a quote
• Opening hours, including holiday changes
• Each main service or product, in the words customers use
• Prices or price ranges, if you publish them
• Licenses, certifications or memberships customers care about

A simple structure works well: a contact page, an about page and one page per main service. Avoid putting hours, menus or price lists only in images or PDFs.

Priority 3: Are your details the same everywhere?

AI systems combine information from many places, so contradictions can spread. Microsoft recommends clear, consistent naming for organizations and locations, and says this improves grounding visibility and citation accuracy ^[4]. If your website, your profiles and a directory each give a different phone number, an assistant has to guess which one is right.

Keep a short list of everywhere your business appears: your website, your Google Business Profile, social profiles, industry directories and booking platforms. When something changes, update every entry on the same day. If a cause is hard to pin down, the diagnostic guide can help.

Priority 4: Should you add structured data?

Structured data is code on a page that labels facts using a shared vocabulary, most often from Schema.org. Google says LocalBusiness structured data can tell it about business hours, different departments within a business and more ^[7]. Google also says to define each business location as a LocalBusiness and to use the most specific subtype available, such as Restaurant or DaySpa ^[7].

Google's example of a simple local business listing uses the JSON-LD format, and Google says the markup can go on any page of your site, though it may make more sense to put it on a page about your business ^[7]. Many website builders and plugins can add it for you.

Keep expectations realistic. Google says there's no special schema.org structured data you need to add to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that structured data should match the visible text on the page ^[2]. Microsoft says structured data may support clearer grounding but doesn't guarantee visibility, and markup must accurately reflect visible content ^[4]. Treat structured data as a clarity aid, not a shortcut.

Priority 5: Are trusted outside sources current?

Your own website is only part of the picture. Google's guidance for its AI features includes checking that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up to date ^[2]. If you have a Google Business Profile, verify it, complete every relevant field, and reply to reviews.

Microsoft lists external links from relevant websites among the ways Bing discovers pages, and says strong linking supports authority evaluation and grounding eligibility ^[4]. In practice, that means listings with your trade association, chamber of commerce or licensing body, and genuine coverage from local organizations. Whether ChatGPT draws on Google Business Profile data is a separate question; see what is documented about ChatGPT and Google Business Profiles.

Priority 6: Do search engines know when something changes?

Out-of-date facts are a common source of wrong answers. Microsoft recommends XML sitemaps with accurate last-modified dates, and IndexNow notifications when pages are added, updated or removed, saying this helps reduce outdated references in Copilot responses ^[4]. Google recommends verifying your site in Search Console to find technical issues quickly ^[2].

Many website platforms create a sitemap automatically. Check that yours exists, and set a reminder to review your key pages whenever hours, prices or services change.

What about llms.txt and other AI-specific files?

llms.txt is a proposal to place a Markdown file at a website's root that gives AI agents background information and links to the site's key content ^[8]. It is a proposal, not an adopted web standard, and none of the AI search documentation cited here requires it.

Google says you don't need to create new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features ^[2]. Adding an llms.txt file is unlikely to hurt, but it belongs after the five priorities above. For how these ideas fit together, see what AI search optimization means.