AI & search
How to get found in AI search: ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
More people now get answers from AI before they ever see a list of links. That changes what it means to be visible. Here's what the data shows, how answer engines pick their sources, and a practical checklist you can work through.
For twenty years, being found online meant ranking on Google. That still matters, but a growing share of discovery now happens inside an AI answer. A customer asks ChatGPT for the best accounting firms in Mississauga, or reads a Google AI Overview about switching payroll providers, and makes a shortlist without visiting a single website.
The work of showing up in those answers goes by several names: AI search optimization, generative engine optimization, answer engine optimization. The labels matter less than the mechanics, which are more grounded than the hype suggests.
How many people use AI search?
- Google AI Overviews: in its Q2 2025 earnings remarks, Google said AI Overviews had over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories.
- ChatGPT: OpenAI reported 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, according to TechCrunch.
- US adults: Pew Research's 2026 survey found 44% of US adults use ChatGPT, up from 18% in 2023. Pew notes the 2026 question wording changed, so the jump isn't strictly comparable.
- Canadians: Leger's 2026 AI Index found 18% of Canadians turn to AI first when searching for information online, triple the share since Leger began tracking in 2024. Among AI users, 25% use it to compare products and services, and 46% say AI has already influenced them to buy, choose or avoid something.
Search engines are still the first stop for most Canadians. But for considered purchases, AI is increasingly part of the research.
What AI Overviews do to clicks
Several independent studies point in the same direction. Most are US-based and correlational, so treat the exact numbers as estimates.
| Source | Finding | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pew Research (2025) | Users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits with an AI summary, versus 15% without one. Links inside the summary were clicked in 1% of visits. | 900 US adults, browsing data from March 2025 |
| Ahrefs (2026) | Top-ranking pages on keywords with an AI Overview had an estimated 58% lower click-through rate than forecast. | 300,000 keywords, December 2023 vs. December 2025 |
| Seer Interactive (2025) | Organic CTR on queries with AI Overviews fell 61% between June 2024 and September 2025. | 3,119 informational queries across 42 organizations |
| BrightEdge (2026) | AI Overviews appeared on about 48% of tracked queries, up from about 30% a year earlier. | Vendor data from its own keyword tracking |
Sources: Pew Research Center, Ahrefs, Seer Interactive, BrightEdge.
There is one encouraging finding. In Seer's data, brands cited inside the AI Overview earned 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than brands that weren't cited. Seer is careful to note that stronger brands may simply be more likely to be cited, so this isn't proof of cause. Still, if the answer is going to appear either way, you want to be in it.
Fewer clicks also make attribution harder. Our piece on marketing measurement and signal loss covers how to measure when more of the journey is invisible.
How answer engines choose their sources
No AI company publishes a full ranking formula, but there is enough public guidance and research to work from.
- They have to be able to reach you. Google's guidance for site owners says a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, with "no additional technical requirements." ChatGPT search relies on OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot crawler, and Perplexity on PerplexityBot. Block those and you're largely out.
- They search widely. Google describes a "query fan-out" technique that runs multiple related searches across subtopics. That's why BrightEdge found only about 17% of sources cited in AI Overviews also rank in the organic top 10. Pages that answer a specific sub-question well can be cited even if they don't rank first for the main term.
- They lean on reputation. In Ahrefs' 2025 study of 75,000 brands, branded web mentions had the strongest correlation with appearing in AI Overviews (0.664), well above backlinks (0.218). Pew found Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit were the most cited sites in AI summaries. Answer engines reflect what the wider web says about you, not just what you say about yourself.
A practical AI search visibility checklist
1. Check crawler access
Review your robots.txt and any firewall or CDN bot rules. Make sure Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot can reach your public pages. You can block AI training crawlers like GPTBot separately without affecting ChatGPT search visibility, according to OpenAI's documentation.
2. Write answer-first pages
Put a clear, direct answer near the top of each page, then the detail. Use headings that mirror real questions. Keep important information in text, not only in images or PDFs. A good test: could someone lift one paragraph and get an accurate answer?
3. Add FAQs that reflect real questions
Pull questions from sales calls, support tickets and search data. Answer each one plainly. These map neatly onto the conversational, longer queries people type into AI tools.
4. Use structured data accurately
Organization, LocalBusiness, Article, Product and FAQ markup help machines understand what a page is about. Google says no special schema is required for AI features, and that structured data should match what's visible on the page. Treat it as clarity, not a ranking hack.
5. Keep your entity consistent
Your business name, description, address, phone, services and leadership should match across your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories and review sites. Inconsistent facts make it harder for an AI system to be confident about who you are.
6. Earn credible mentions
Given the Ahrefs findings, being discussed on trusted third-party sites matters a lot: industry publications, local media, associations, partner pages, podcasts and genuine community discussion. This is PR and reputation work, not link buying.
7. Publish original data and clear citations
Answer engines need something to quote. Original research, benchmarks, pricing ranges and specific examples give them a reason to cite you rather than a competitor's rewrite. When you use other people's numbers, link to the source, as we do throughout this article.
8. Treat llms.txt as optional
An llms.txt file is a proposed way to point AI tools to your key content. It costs little to add. But Google says you don't need special AI text files, and in June 2025 Google's John Mueller said "no AI system currently uses llms.txt," as reported by Search Engine Roundtable. Don't let it distract from the items above.
9. Measure what you can
AI Overview traffic is included in Google Search Console's Performance report under the "Web" search type. Track referrals from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in analytics, and run a monthly set of real customer prompts through the main AI tools to see whether and how you're mentioned.
Much of this overlaps with good positioning work. If your brand can't explain clearly what it does and for whom, AI tools won't either. Our pieces on digital strategy vs. digital marketing and AI in digital marketing in Canada go deeper.
How Three Dots Brands approaches this
We treat AI search visibility as part of strategy, not a separate trick. Using our Think, Plan, Execute approach, we start by checking how AI tools describe your brand today and where the gaps are, plan the content, technical and reputation work that matters most, then put it in place and track the results. If you're not sure whether AI search is your biggest issue or something else is holding your marketing back, our marketing diagnostic is a useful first step.
Frequently asked questions
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization, sometimes called GEO or AI search optimization, is the work of making your brand easy for AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to find, understand, trust and cite. It builds on SEO fundamentals and adds a stronger focus on clear answers, consistent brand information and being mentioned by credible third parties.
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Make sure OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, is allowed in your robots.txt, keep your business details consistent everywhere they appear, publish clear pages that answer the questions customers actually ask, and earn mentions on credible sites in your category. There is no paid or guaranteed way to be recommended.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It is optional. Google says you do not need special AI text files to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and in June 2025 Google's John Mueller said no AI system currently uses llms.txt. It is cheap to add, but treat it as a small extra, not a strategy.
Do Google AI Overviews reduce website traffic?
The available data says they usually reduce clicks on informational searches. Pew Research found users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits with an AI summary versus 15% without one, and Ahrefs estimated a 58% lower click-through rate for top-ranking pages on keywords with an AI Overview. Being cited inside the overview appears to soften the drop.
Sources
- Google, Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings remarks from Sundar Pichai (2025)
- TechCrunch, ChatGPT reaches 900M weekly active users (2026)
- Pew Research Center, The share of Americans who say they use ChatGPT has more than doubled since 2023 (2026)
- Leger, AI Index: AI usage in Canada (2026)
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (2025)
- Ahrefs, AI Overviews reduce clicks: 2026 update (2026)
- Seer Interactive, AIO impact on Google CTR: September 2025 update (2025)
- BrightEdge, AI Overviews at the one-year mark: presence, size and what they're citing (2026)
- Ahrefs, An analysis of AI Overview brand visibility factors (2025)
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website (2025)
- OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers (2026)
- Perplexity, Perplexity crawlers (2026)
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google: no AI system currently uses llms.txt (2025)