How do brands get recommended by AI tools?
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini now hand buyers a short list instead of a page of links. Here is what decides who makes that list, in plain terms.
Ask ChatGPT for the best running shoe, the best project management tool or the best creative agency in your city, and you get a short list. Three names, maybe five. No page two.
That list is the new shop window, and most brands are not in it. Usually not because their work is weak, but because the machines reading the web cannot tell who they are.
What does it mean to get recommended by AI tools?
It means that when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude or Google's AI Overviews about your category, your brand is named, described accurately and ideally linked. These tools answer from what they learned in training and what they fetch from the live web, so you want to be easy to find, read and trust in both.
Search engines versus GEO
A classic search engine gives you ten links. Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is about earning a good spot on that page.
A generative engine reads those pages for you and writes one answer. Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is about being one of the sources that answer is built from, and being named in it.
The foundations are the same: crawlable, fast, clearly written pages. What changes is the reward. In search, the win is a click. In an AI answer, the win is being named and described correctly, often with no click at all. So GEO puts more weight on plain answers, consistent facts and what other sites say about you.
What Google's latest earnings say about discovery
Google runs both kinds of engine at once, so it is a useful signal. In its third quarter 2026 results, published on 28 October 2026, Alphabet reported:
- Google Search and other revenue grew 12% year on year to US$63.35 billion (Alphabet earnings release).
- Search query growth was the highest in five years, including commercial queries, which Google credits to its AI features (Sundar Pichai's remarks).
- Queries in AI Mode are on average three times longer than traditional searches, and one in five AI Mode searches globally use voice, images or documents.
- Ads in AI Mode are expanding to international markets for the first time (earnings call transcript).
On the call, Google also said AI Mode currently earns less per query than classic search, which weighed on search ad growth this quarter (Search Engine Land).
My read: people are not searching less. They are asking longer, more specific questions, and more of the answers are written by AI. Being the brand those answers name now matters as much as ranking.
How do AI tools decide which brands to recommend?
Nobody outside these companies knows the exact recipe, but public guidance and testing point to four questions. Can the tool reach your site? Can it understand your pages? Do other sites back up what you say? And do you answer the question the buyer actually asked?
Start with the first. AI tools send crawlers such as GPTBot, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot. Some templates and security settings block them by default, and a blocked crawler means you are invisible to that tool.
What to fix on your own site
Think of an AI crawler as a very literal new hire. Four changes help it get you right.
- An llms.txt file. A short plain text summary at the root of your site: who you are, what you do and where your key pages are.
- Structured data. Schema markup that labels your company name, address, services, articles and case studies.
- Real text in the page. One clear heading, a unique title and description, key content in the HTML and descriptive alt text on images.
- A current sitemap. So crawlers know what changed and when.
If an AI tool cannot describe you in one accurate sentence, it will not recommend you.
Why your reputation elsewhere matters
Your site can tell an AI tool what you do. It cannot prove you are good at it. That proof comes from clients, directories, trade press and partners who mention you. Use the same one line description of your company everywhere, so the tool never has to guess.
Content helps only if it answers something. Write down the questions buyers actually type and give each important one a page that opens with the answer.
How to tell if it is working
List ten to fifteen questions a buyer in your category would ask. Each week, ask them in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google, and note whether you are mentioned, described accurately and linked. Look at the trend over weeks, not a single reply.
The RegenLFG view
AI search is not a new channel to bolt on. It is a test of whether your brand is clear. The brands that get named will be the ones whose story is consistent everywhere and whose work other people talk about. That has always been good brand practice. AI just made skipping it easier to spot.
FAQ
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO helps your pages rank in a list of search results. GEO, or generative engine optimisation, helps AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode use your content and name your brand in their answers. GEO builds on SEO rather than replacing it.
Should I block AI crawlers like GPTBot?
If you want AI tools to recommend you, usually not. Blocking them can stop those tools from reading your site.
What is an llms.txt file?
A short plain text summary at the root of a website, written for AI tools. It is an emerging convention, so treat it as helpful rather than guaranteed.
How long does it take to appear in AI answers?
For tools that search the live web, days or weeks. For answers drawn from training data, often months.
Related reading and work
Cliff
Writes The Monthly Ramble on AI, creativity, brand and social.