How to make your website visible in AI: 5-step check
Use 5 concrete checks to see whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI can read and use your website as a source — without citation promises.
Key takeaways
Why your website is missing from AI answers
AI search systems do not invent their sources — they cite pages they can crawl, understand and attribute. The most common blockers we see in audits: AI bots shut out in robots.txt or by bot protection; content that only exists after JavaScript rendering; pages without a clear answer to a concrete question; no external mentions.
Good AI visibility starts with solid SEO. It is not separate magic — it extends the same foundations.
Step 1 — let AI crawlers in (robots.txt)
Check whether GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended can fetch your site — in robots.txt and in your CDN bot protection. One distinction matters: OAI-SearchBot controls visibility in ChatGPT search results, while GPTBot concerns model training and is a separate business decision.
On our own website these bots are explicitly allowed — a conscious decision documented right in the robots.txt.
Step 2 — answers in HTML, not behind JavaScript
Many AI crawlers cannot read what only appears after JavaScript runs. The simplest test: open the page source (Ctrl+U) and check whether your key statements exist as text.
That is why our pages are prerendered: headings, answers and FAQ sit in raw HTML before any script executes.
Step 3 — one question, one clear answer, clean structure
AI systems cite passages, not whole websites. Every important page needs: a recognisable question (H1/H2), the answer in the first sentences rather than after long intros, structured data that describes the visible content (no schema theatre), and unambiguous facts about company, location and service.
Step 4 — external sources: directories and mentions
Review the answers for your own industry and note whether models cite directories, media, industry profiles or other external sources. Then check whether your company has credible mentions beyond its own domain. That is a common gap even when the website itself is technically sound.
Step 5 — measure instead of guessing
Define 3-5 prompts your ideal clients would ask and check regularly (logged out) whether your site gets cited. Note the prompt, date and cited sources. Record a zero point even when the brand is never mentioned; it is a baseline for comparison after 2-4 weeks, not a result to publish.
The fastest start: our free AI visibility check tests your website's technical basics automatically. For a prioritised review of technical, content and external signals, see our SEO and AI visibility service.
FAQ
Do I need an llms.txt?
It does no harm and we use one ourselves; it is not an official standard with any ranking guarantee though.
How fast will my site get cited?
After technical fixes, indexing and pickup typically take weeks. There are no citation guarantees — the only honest metric is the trend across repeated measurements.
Is a plugin or overlay enough?
No. Visibility comes from accessible, answering content and external signals, not from a widget.