How to Get Recommended by AI Search (ChatGPT, Perplexity)

How to get recommended by AI search

AI search engines (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Google AI) recommend sources based on crawlability, structure, and authority.

The AI recommendation formula

Crawlability + Structured Data + Authority + Relevance = AI Citation

Step 1: Ensure technical access

AI must be able to crawl you first. Use the free AI SEO Score to check:

• GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot allowed in robots.txt
• No noai meta tags blocking AI
• Sitemap accessible

Step 2: Add recommendation-friendly schema

{
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Your Business",
  "description": "What you do",
  "sameAs": ["social profiles"],
  "award": ["Industry recognition"]
}

Step 3: Answer questions directly

AI prefers content that starts with direct answers:

Bad: "There are many factors to consider when optimizing for AI..."

Good: "To optimise for AI search, follow these 3 steps: 1) Allow AI crawlers, 2) Add schema, 3) Create FAQ content."

Step 4: Build citation authority

AI models learn from what's cited elsewhere:

• Get mentioned by industry publications
• Earn backlinks from reputable sites
• Appear in Wikipedia (if applicable)

Step 5: Optimise for answer engines

Create dedicated AEO content:

• FAQ pages with Q&A schema
• Glossaries with definitions
• 'What is' and 'How to' guides