/InsightsAI6 min read
How brands appear in AI search answers
A brand appears in an AI answer when the assistant can reach its pages, index them and judge them to answer the question well. Google says there are no extra technical requirements beyond normal search eligibility, and there is no separate switch to flip. The work is access, clarity and being the source worth citing.
Key points:
- Google says a page needs to be indexed and eligible for a snippet to be a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
- ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude each use separate crawlers for search, so one robots.txt rule can hide you from one assistant and not another.
- Questions and longer searches trigger AI summaries far more often than short ones.
- Clicks fall when a summary appears, so being cited matters more than being ranked.
- Check your own visibility by asking the assistants the questions your buyers ask.
How does Google decide what to show in AI answers?
Google's guidance for site owners says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use "query fan-out", which means issuing several related searches across subtopics to build one response. That lets the answer link to a wider set of pages than a single classic search would. Google also says the two features may use different models, so the links they show will differ.
The eligibility rule is plain. A page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet, and Google states there are no additional technical requirements. It lists the usual fundamentals as still worthwhile: crawling allowed in robots.txt and by your CDN, important content in text, structured data that matches the visible page, and up-to-date Business Profile information.
There are no additional technical requirements.
That line is Google's own wording. Visits from AI features are reported inside the normal Web search type in Search Console, so there is no separate report to watch.
Which searches trigger an AI summary?
Pew Research looked at 68,879 Google searches made by 900 US adults in March 2025. Around one in five (18%) produced an AI summary. The study covers US users in one month, so treat the figures as a snapshot rather than a current rate.
Length and phrasing made the difference. Only 8% of one- or two-word searches produced a summary, against 53% of searches of ten words or more. Of searches that began with a question word such as who, what, when or why, 60% produced one.
For a marketing lead, that points at the pages that answer a full question. A page titled "Forex broker marketing" competes with a short search. A page that answers "how does a broker get found in AI answers" competes with the kind of search that triggers a summary.
Do people still click when an AI answer appears?
Less often. In the same Pew study, users clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits with an AI summary and 15% of visits without one. Clicks on a source inside the summary happened in 1% of visits. Users also ended their browsing session on 26% of pages with a summary, against 16% without.
The same study found that 88% of summaries cited three or more sources, and the median summary was 67 words long. Most summaries name several sites, so being one of them counts for something even when few people click. Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit were the most frequently cited sources, and .gov sites made up 6% of sources in AI summaries against 2% in standard results.
Which crawlers do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude use?
Each assistant publishes its own crawlers, and the search crawlers are separate from the ones used for training. A blanket robots.txt rule or a firewall setting can block them without anyone intending it.
| Assistant | Search crawler | What the company says |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OAI-SearchBot | Surfaces sites in ChatGPT search. Opted-out sites will not be shown in search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links. |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot | Surfaces and links sites in Perplexity results. Not used for training foundation models. |
| Claude | Claude-SearchBot | Indexes content to improve search results. Disabling it may reduce visibility and accuracy in search results. |
OpenAI says each setting is independent. A site can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in search while disallowing GPTBot to signal that content should not be used for training. Anthropic describes the same split between ClaudeBot for training and Claude-SearchBot for search. OpenAI also says it can take about 24 hours for its systems to adjust after a robots.txt change.
Two further details matter. Perplexity says its user-triggered fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules, and OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply to ChatGPT-User, which acts on a user's request. Perplexity also advises allowing its bots through a web application firewall, using the IP ranges it publishes.
How can you check whether your brand appears?
There is no ranking report for AI answers, so the check is manual. This is our suggestion, built from the sources above, and it makes no promise about results.
- List ten full-sentence questions a buyer would ask when choosing a provider in your category.
- Ask each question in Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, and record whether your brand is named and whether your site is linked.
- Open your robots.txt and look for blanket disallow rules or rules naming the crawlers in the table above.
- Ask your developer whether a firewall or CDN setting blocks those crawlers, using the IP lists each company publishes.
- For every question where you are missing, check whether you have a page that answers it in plain text near the top.
- Repeat monthly and keep the answers, because the responses change.
What should you publish to be cited?
Google's own advice is the baseline: helpful, reliable, people-first content, important information in text, and structured data that matches what is on the page. None of the sources we opened describes a tactic that replaces those basics.
For a prop firm or a forex broker, we would start with the rules, pricing, payout terms or account conditions a buyer asks about, stated in a few plain sentences on a crawlable page. BrandSeeder lists answer engine optimisation among the services for prop firms and AEO and GEO for forex brokers, and the wider SEO service covers search visibility.
Common questions
Is there a different strategy for AI Overviews and ChatGPT?
The access rules differ because each assistant uses its own crawler, but none of the sources we opened describes a separate content strategy. Google says the usual SEO fundamentals apply to its AI features.
Can I see AI Overview traffic in Search Console?
Yes, but not separately. Google says sites appearing in AI features are included in the overall search traffic reported under the Web search type in the Performance report.
Should I block AI crawlers?
It depends on what you want. Blocking a search crawler such as OAI-SearchBot means your site will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Blocking a training crawler such as GPTBot or ClaudeBot is a separate choice.
What to do next
Run the ten-question check this week and open your robots.txt alongside it. If a search crawler is blocked by accident, fix that first. If you would like help with the pages that answer your buyers' questions, contact BrandSeeder.