Picture someone in your city asking ChatGPT, "Who's a good plumber near me?" A few names come back. You'd want yours to be one of them.
There's no secret trick to it. Google says you don't need to do anything special to show up in its AI answers. ChatGPT finds websites with its own search bot, so you just need to make sure your site doesn't block it. Beyond that, it's the same basics as regular search: accurate listings, a website that clearly says what you do and where, and real reviews. And be careful with anyone who promises to get you into ChatGPT.
What are Google's AI answers?
You've probably seen them already. AI Overviews are the AI summaries at the top of some Google results, and Google began rolling them out fully in Canada on October 28, 2024. AI Mode is built for longer, back-and-forth questions, and it started rolling out in English in Canada on August 21, 2025.
Both pull from websites Google already knows about, and both show links to the pages they used.
How do you show up in Google's AI answers?
The same way you show up in regular Google. Google's guidance for site owners says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."
To be shown as a link, a page has to be "indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet." In other words, Google needs to have your page on file, and your site can't be telling Google not to show a preview. If someone left a nosnippet or noindex setting on your important pages, even by mistake, that keeps them out.
So if your business isn't showing up on regular Google yet, start there. We wrote a whole post on why a business might not show up on Google.
How do you show up in ChatGPT?
ChatGPT's web search is available on every plan, including the free one, and even to people who aren't signed in (OpenAI Help). It works with outside search partners and uses its own crawler, called OAI-SearchBot, to find websites for its answers.
OpenAI's crawler page says it clearly: "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." That opt-out lives in a small file on your site called robots.txt, which tells search bots what they're allowed to visit. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in it, and changes take about 24 hours to kick in.
There's also a second OpenAI bot, GPTBot, that's used for training AI models. It's a separate setting, so you can block GPTBot and still let OAI-SearchBot in. Saying no to training doesn't have to cost you a spot in search answers.
When someone asks for something "near me," OpenAI says ChatGPT uses their approximate location and may turn the question into a search like "top restaurants San Francisco." That's why your website and listings need to say your city and what you do in plain words.
Which business listings matter for AI answers?
This part is a bit of a mystery. OpenAI says ChatGPT may share a user's location with "trusted third-party providers" for things like "nearby business listings," but it doesn't say which ones. SEO blogs have guesses, and they don't agree with each other.
So we wouldn't bet on any single one. Keep your name, address, phone number, hours and category the same everywhere they appear. Start with your Google Business Profile, then claim your free listing on Bing Places for Business and check your Apple Maps listing. If the details match everywhere, it doesn't really matter which one an AI tool happens to read.
What should your website say?
Think about the questions people ask you on the phone before they book. What do you do? Which neighbourhoods do you cover? When are you open? Your website should answer those, in the same words your customers use.
ChatGPT, for one, turns a question into a search and then reads the pages that come back. A page that says "we offer comprehensive solutions" gives it nothing to work with. A page that says "we repair furnaces in Calgary and Airdrie, same-week appointments" does.
Should you pay for "AI SEO"?
Be careful here. Google says there are no special optimizations needed for its AI answers, and OpenAI itself warns that ChatGPT's search results "can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect." Nobody outside those companies controls what the answers say.
So if someone promises to get you recommended by ChatGPT, ask them exactly what they'll change on your site and listings. If the answer is vague, keep your money. The useful parts of any "AI SEO" package are things you can check yourself: your listings are accurate, search bots can see your site, and your pages answer real questions.
How do you check where you stand?
Try it yourself. Ask ChatGPT and Google "best [your service] in [your city]," the way a customer would, and note who comes up. Results change with location and over time, so check every month or two instead of reading too much into one try.
Then peek at your robots.txt file by adding /robots.txt to the end of your website address. If you see OAI-SearchBot next to Disallow, or Disallow: / under User-agent: *, ask whoever built your site why. For what it's worth, our own robots.txt lets every search bot in.
What to do this week
Here's the short list:
- Make sure your business shows up on regular Google first.
- Open your robots.txt and confirm it doesn't block OAI-SearchBot or every bot.
- Match your name, address, phone and hours across Google, Bing Places and Apple Maps.
- Add your city and a plain description of what you do to your home page.
- Ask ChatGPT and Google about your service in your city, and write down what comes up.
If you'd like a second pair of eyes on any of this, our websites come with basic SEO built in, and we're happy to look at what you have now. Book a free call and bring the search you want to show up for.
Drafted with AI help from our notes and checked against the sources above.
This post is general information and our own take, not legal, financial or professional advice for your situation. Rules and features at Google, OpenAI and other companies change often, so check the linked sources before you act. Accurate as of November 3, 2026. See our terms.
