How to Get Featured in ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode
More and more people are researching decisions, from where to eat to which local business to hire, by asking AI tools directly rather than typing a query into a traditional search box. ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode, and similar tools are becoming genuine discovery channels in their own right. If your business isn’t showing up when these tools are asked relevant questions, you’re missing out on a growing slice of how customers find businesses like yours. This post covers what actually influences whether these tools mention your business, and practical steps to improve your chances.
How These Tools Actually Decide What to Mention
It helps to understand, at a basic level, how these systems work. Tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode don’t have a single, fixed answer stored for every possible question. For many queries, especially ones involving current, local, or specific information, they search the web in real time (or draw on recently indexed content) and then generate a response based on what they find, often citing a handful of sources along the way.
This means the same fundamental principles that help a website rank well in traditional search also strongly influence whether it gets pulled into an AI-generated answer. Being crawlable, having clear and well-organised content, and being seen as a credible source on your topic all matter enormously here.
There’s an added layer, though. These AI systems tend to favour content that answers questions clearly, concisely, and directly, since that’s exactly the kind of material that’s easiest for them to extract and repurpose into a natural-sounding response.
Practical Steps to Improve Your AI Visibility
1. Make sure your website is actually crawlable and indexed. This sounds basic, but it’s worth checking. If your site has technical issues blocking search engines from properly crawling and indexing it, you have no chance of appearing in AI-generated answers, regardless of how good your content is. A technical SEO audit can quickly reveal whether this is holding you back.
2. Answer questions directly and clearly, especially early in your content. AI tools favour content that gets to the point. If someone might ask “what’s the best time to book a wedding photographer in Cardiff,” having a clear, direct answer near the top of a relevant page (before going into more nuanced detail further down) makes that content far easier for an AI system to lift and use accurately.
3. Use structured formatting. Headings, bullet points, numbered steps, and clear paragraph breaks all help both search engines and AI systems parse your content accurately. Dense walls of text are much harder to extract clean, accurate information from.
4. Build genuine topical authority, not just isolated pages. As covered in more detail in our piece on topic clusters, AI systems favour sources that demonstrate broad, connected expertise on a subject rather than a single standalone page. If your website only has one page loosely related to a topic, it’s a weaker candidate for citation than a site with a well-developed cluster of genuinely useful, connected content.
5. Keep your information current. AI tools, particularly those that pull from recently crawled content, favour up-to-date information. If your pricing, service details, or industry information is outdated, it becomes both less useful and less trustworthy as a source. Regularly reviewing and refreshing key pages helps here.
6. Strengthen your presence beyond your own website. Mentions, reviews, and citations from other credible websites (local directories, industry publications, review platforms) all help establish your business as a genuine, recognised entity, which increases the chances that an AI tool considers you a reliable source when generating an answer related to your industry or location.
7. Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile fully. For local queries specifically, Google’s AI Mode leans heavily on Business Profile data, reviews, and location information. A complete, accurate, well-reviewed profile significantly improves your chances of being surfaced for local, AI-assisted searches.
What Doesn’t Work Here
It’s worth being upfront that there’s no reliable way to directly “buy” or force your way into an AI-generated answer the way you might with a paid search advert. These systems generate responses based on genuine assessments of relevance and credibility drawn from real content and data. Any service promising guaranteed AI citations through shortcuts or manipulation tactics should be treated with real scepticism, since this space is still evolving and these systems are specifically designed to resist manipulation.
The sustainable path here is the same one that’s always underpinned good SEO: build genuinely useful, well-organised, trustworthy content and maintain a credible, consistent online presence. AI visibility is best understood as a natural extension of strong fundamentals, not a separate hack to chase.
Setting Realistic Expectations
It’s also worth remembering that AI visibility, much like traditional SEO, tends to build gradually rather than overnight. Making the changes above won’t guarantee an instant appearance in ChatGPT’s next answer to a relevant question, but it steadily improves your odds over time, particularly as these systems continue to refine how they identify credible sources.
For local Cardiff businesses, this is genuinely good news. It means the same disciplined, honest approach to building your online presence, useful content, strong local signals, real credibility, pays off across both traditional search and this newer generation of AI-driven discovery.
Want a Clear Plan for AI Visibility?
If you’re not sure where your website currently stands when it comes to being crawlable, structured well, and positioned as a credible source, we’re happy to take a proper look. At OmniSEO, we build AI visibility into our broader SEO strategy for Cardiff businesses, rather than treating it as a separate afterthought. Reach out whenever you’d like a straightforward assessment of where you stand.