More people now ask ChatGPT, Claude or Google's AI Overviews a question before they click on a single website. "How much does a dry stone wall cost?" "Who's a good accountant for a small business in Cheltenham?" "Which dentist near me does Invisalign?" Instead of ten blue links, they get an answer, with a handful of businesses named in it.
So the question we hear most from clients is a fair one: how do we get mentioned in those answers? The honest answer is less mysterious than a lot of the advice out there suggests. Here is what actually matters, what doesn't, and what we have seen work for our own clients.
AI search still starts with ordinary search.
ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI features don't invent a list of businesses from nowhere. When they answer a question about the world today, they search the web first and then write an answer from what they find. That means the first step is the same as it has always been: your pages need to be found, crawled and understood.
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on Google Search. Google's own guidance says there are no extra requirements to appear in them. If a page is indexed and can show a snippet in normal search, it is eligible.
ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's own search crawler, called OAI-SearchBot. If your site blocks it, OpenAI says your pages won't appear in ChatGPT's search answers.
Claude searches the web when a question needs up-to-date information, and has been reported to use Brave Search's index to do it.
The practical takeaway: if your website is weak in ordinary search, it will be weak in AI search too. There is no back door.
Make sure AI search tools are allowed to read your site.
This sounds obvious, but it catches people out. Some websites, plugins and security settings block AI crawlers by default, often because of worries about content being used for AI training. The trouble is that training and search are separate. OpenAI, for example, runs one crawler for training, GPTBot, and a different one for search, OAI-SearchBot. You can block the first and still allow the second.
Ask whoever looks after your website to check your robots.txt file and any firewall or CDN settings. If the search crawlers are blocked, nothing else in this article will help.
Answer the exact questions your customers ask.
AI tools are answering questions, so the pages they quote are the ones that answer those questions clearly. A services page that says "we offer a wide range of solutions" gives them nothing to work with. A page titled "How much does dry stone walling cost in Gloucestershire?" that gives real price ranges, explains what changes the price and says what's included gives them a ready-made answer.
Start with the questions you get asked on the phone every week:
How much does it cost?
How long does it take?
What's the difference between this option and that one?
Do you cover my area?
What should I look for when choosing someone?
Give each important question its own page, or its own clearly headed section, and answer it in the first few sentences before going into detail. Write the way a knowledgeable person would explain it to a customer, not the way a brochure would.
Be specific, because vague pages don't get quoted.
AI answers favour content with concrete detail: real prices or price ranges, timescales, locations, named services, and clear steps. "Affordable, high-quality work" is not something an AI can repeat to a customer. A clear price range per square metre, with an explanation of how stone type and site access change it, is.
Being specific about where you work matters too. If you serve Stroud, Cheltenham and the Cotswolds, say so plainly on the pages that matter, not just in the footer.
Make it obvious who you are and why you can be trusted.
AI tools try to avoid recommending businesses they can't verify. The signals that help are the same ones a careful customer looks for:
A complete Google Business Profile with the right name, address, phone number, opening hours and categories. Google specifically recommends keeping it up to date for its AI features.
Consistent details everywhere, so your website, Google profile and directory listings all say the same thing.
Reviews, and replies to them.
Real expertise on the page: who does the work, their experience, accreditations and examples of past projects.
Mentions elsewhere: local press, trade bodies, partners and suppliers linking to you or naming you.
Keep the important information in plain text.
If your prices are in a PDF, your opening hours are in an image and your best content is hidden in a slider, search tools may not read it properly. Put the information that matters in normal text on the page. Use clear headings, short paragraphs and lists where they help. Google also recommends good page experience and sensible internal links, so each important page can be found from others on your site.
Structured data, the hidden code that describes your business to search engines, is still worth having and helps ordinary search. But Google is clear that there is no special markup or AI file you need to add to appear in AI Overviews, so be wary of anyone selling one as a shortcut.
What this looked like for one of our clients.
Barrons Building Services is a stonemasonry and building specialist in Stroud. When we rebuilt their website, we also started writing content around the questions their customers ask, including a guide to dry stone walling costs in Gloucestershire.
That cost guide became the site's most-clicked page from Google in June and August 2026, ahead of the homepage. Barrons is now cited in Google's AI Overview for "cost of dry stone walling", and the owner has seen the business come up in ChatGPT and Claude for relevant searches. None of that came from a trick. It came from a fast, clear website and genuinely useful answers to real questions. You can read the full Barrons case study.
What not to waste money on.
AI search has attracted a lot of sales pitches. Be cautious of anyone promising guaranteed mentions in ChatGPT, special AI files that unlock rankings, or hundreds of thin AI-written pages stuffed with keywords. None of the AI companies publish a way to pay for or force a mention, and low-quality pages are exactly what both Google and AI tools try to filter out.
A simple checklist to start with.
Check your robots.txt and firewall aren't blocking search crawlers, including OAI-SearchBot.
Make sure your important pages are indexed in Google, using Google Search Console.
Complete and update your Google Business Profile.
List the ten questions customers ask most, and answer each one clearly on your site.
Add real detail: prices or ranges, timescales, locations and examples of your work.
Show who you are: your team, experience, accreditations and reviews.
Keep key information in text, not PDFs or images.
Every few months, ask ChatGPT, Claude and Google the questions your customers ask, and see who gets mentioned.
How we can help.
We build websites and run SEO and AI search for small businesses across the UK, with a focus on dental, financial and professional services. We look at how you show up today, in Google and in AI answers, and work out the pages and content that will make the biggest difference. If you would like a second pair of eyes, book a discovery call.