AI answer engine (AI search)

How are AI search results different from regular search results?

Regular search shows a list of links and lets customers pick one, while AI search reads several pages and shows a summarized answer first. Customers may read the answer and then click a source link, or skip the site entirely and call or get directions right from the answer.

The questions are also longer and more specific. People add conditions like "parking," "kid-friendly" or "no reservation needed," so the information that answers those conditions has to be written out as text on your website to make it into the answer.

Sometimes people just read the answer and never click a link. That's why simply having your business name appear in the answer, along with accurate hours, location and signature menu items, is a way of getting your business known.

Are AEO, GEO and AI search optimization the same thing?

Not exactly, but in practice the work mostly overlaps. All three names refer to preparing your business information so it shows up accurately in the answer when customers ask a question.

AEO (answer engine optimization) is a term that was around before AI search became widespread. It mainly meant polishing your content so your sentences get picked for the short answers at the top of search results or the answers voice assistants read out.

GEO (generative engine optimization) means getting AI that writes new answers, like ChatGPT, to use your pages as a source. "AI search optimization" and "AI SEO" are closer to umbrella terms for both, and each agency defines the scope a little differently.

A small business doesn't need to prepare for each name separately. Rather than the label, it's far more useful to check whether it's clear what will be fixed and which questions will be used to check the results.

• AEO: getting your sentences picked for short answers at the top of search results and for voice assistant answers
• GEO: getting your pages used as a source for answers AI writes from scratch
• AI search optimization or AI SEO: umbrella terms for both of the above; the scope varies depending on who uses them

Where does each AI service get its information, and how does it show sources?

The major services we checked in their official documentation all build answers from pages found on the web and show the pages they relied on as sources. But when they search, which crawler they use and how sources are displayed differ from service to service.

OpenAI says ChatGPT can search the web on its own when a question needs up-to-date information, and answers that use search may include citations. It also says it may use an approximate location estimated from your IP address for local results. The crawler it uses for search is OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says sites that block this crawler won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers (though they may still appear as plain navigational links).

Perplexity explains that when it gets a question, it searches the web in real time to build an answer and attaches numbered citations that link to the original sources. It separately documents PerplexityBot, used for search results, and Perplexity-User, which fetches pages when a user asks a question.

When Naver announced Naver AI Briefing in March 2025, it said the feature shows summarized answers in a way that makes it easy to see the creators and original content sources. It also explained that, depending on the question, it uses official sources such as government and public institutions to summarize answers and links to the related pages.

Much of how AI picks its answers isn't public. So instead of hunting for one service's secret formula, the realistic approach is to keep accurate, consistent information in many places so any service that reads it comes up with the same answer.

Do you need to do anything special to appear in Google AI Overviews?

No, Google says there are no extra requirements or special optimizations for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Any page that's indexed in regular Google Search and eligible to show with a snippet (the summary text in search results) can be included, but being eligible doesn't guarantee it will appear.

Google explains that you don't need to create special AI files or markup, and you don't need to break your content into tiny chunks or rewrite it in an "AI style." In the end, the search basics still work: don't block crawling, have good content, and link your pages together well.

Google also recommends unique content based on what you've experienced and know firsthand over content that summarizes what others have already written. For local businesses, Google says a Google Business Profile helps your business information show up in both AI answers and regular search results.

AI Overviews only appear when Google's systems decide they add something to regular search results, so many queries never show one at all. On the other hand, if you'd rather your page content be used less in AI features, you control that with regular search preview settings such as nosnippet and max-snippet.

How do you check whether your business shows up in AI answers?

The most reliable way is to pick questions customers are likely to ask and type them into several AI services yourself. AI answers to the same question can vary by person, time and location, so look at the trend from asking the same questions regularly rather than at a single result.

Impressions and clicks from Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted together under the "Web" type in the Search Console performance report. That makes it hard to separate out the effect of AI answers alone, so you also need to check by asking directly, as below. The example questions are written for a pottery studio in Mangwon-dong, so swap in your own neighborhood and industry.

1. 01Write down 5–10 questions to check, split into three types: questions with your business name, "neighborhood + business type" questions, and questions with customer conditions.
2. 02Ask the business-name questions. Examples: "What are the hours and closed days for XX Studio in Mangwon-dong?" "Is there parking near XX Studio?"
3. 03Ask the "neighborhood + business type" questions. Examples: "Recommend a one-day pottery class in Mangwon-dong." "Where's a pottery studio near Hapjeong Station?"
4. 04Ask the questions with conditions. Examples: "Find me a pottery studio in Mapo-gu I can visit with my elementary-school kid on the weekend." "Find a two-hour pottery class I can join on my own."
5. 05Type the exact same questions into ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode) and Naver Search (Naver AI Briefing). Answers can change by location, so check from the same device and place if you can.
6. 06When you get an answer, follow up with "Which page did you get that information from?" and click the source links yourself to see which content it relied on.
7. 07Record the question, service, date checked, whether your business appeared, anything wrong and the source URL in a single table.
8. 08Recheck with the same questions once a month, and compare the changes side by side with the dates you updated your website.

What should you do when an AI answer gets your information wrong?

The best order is to find where the wrong information came from, fix it at the source, and also report it through the service's feedback feature. AI answers are based on content on the web, so if the source content stays the same, the same mistake can come back.

Google says AI Overviews can make mistakes and explains how to report a problem by clicking the thumbs-down icon under the answer. Other services often let you leave feedback on each answer too, but none of them promise that reporting will change the answer right away.

Let's take a made-up example: Heukdam Pottery Studio, a pottery studio in Mangwon-dong. The owner asked an AI about closed days and got "closed Mondays," but the studio actually switched to closing on Tuesdays last spring. Clicking the source links showed the answer was based on a customer's blog review from two years ago and the website's directions page, where the closed day had never been updated.

The owner changed the closed day on the website's front page, directions page and FAQ to "Closed every Tuesday," and updated the Naver Smart Place, Google Business Profile and Instagram bio with the same sentence. Since the customer's blog couldn't be edited directly, the website now also states when the change happened, like "We've been closed on Tuesdays since April last year."

1. 01Take a screenshot of the wrong answer and note the question, service and date.
2. 02Click the source links attached to the answer to find the page with the wrong information.
3. 03If that page is your own website, map listing or social media, fix it right away, and make the same information match, word for word, everywhere else it appears.
4. 04If it's somewhere you can't edit, like a customer review or an old article, clearly state on your website what changed and when.
5. 05Ask search engines to reread the fixed pages using URL Inspection in Google Search Console and the web page crawl request in Naver Search Advisor.
6. 06For Google AI Overviews, report the problem with the thumbs-down icon under the answer, and leave feedback on other services too if they have a feedback feature.
7. 07Starting a few weeks later, recheck with the same questions. Google says it can take anywhere from a few days to a few months for a page to be recrawled.

How do you write sentences that AI answers are likely to quote?

Write sentences that answer the question in the first sentence and state numbers and proper names clearly. Instead of "Parking available," spell out the conditions, like "2 hours free in the building's underground lot, fewer spaces on weekends," so AI can easily carry it over as is.

It's also important not to describe the same information differently on different pages. If your front page says "until 20:00" and your directions page says "until 21:00," AI can't tell which one is right.

Tables and lists help too. If you write your price list as a text table instead of an image, and the steps for using your service as a numbered list, people can skim it easily and machines can read each item separately.

Write your business introduction paragraph so that it makes sense even when read on its own. AI often pulls only the part related to the question rather than the whole page, so cut back on phrases that lean on earlier paragraphs, like "as mentioned above."

• Introduction: "A space made with care" → "Flower shop 3 minutes' walk from Hapjeong Station Exit 7, fresh-flower bouquets · same-day pickup"
• Price: "Reasonable prices" → "Bouquets from KRW 30,000, delivery extra"
• Hours: just writing "Open every day" → "Daily 11:00–20:00, closed on the day of major holidays"
• Who it's for: "Everyone welcome" → "For grades 1–3 in elementary school, 6 kids per class"
• Booking: "Reservations required" → "Book through Naver Booking by the day before; call to check same-day spots"
• FAQ: "Please contact us" → "Can I come alone? Yes, 2 of the 6 spots in each class are for single guests."

Do ads, reviews and blogs affect AI answers?

All three are connected to AI answers, but in different ways. The biggest difference is that ads are placements you pay for, while reviews and blogs are part of the web information AI can read.

Whether a service runs ads, and where, varies. Some services place ads near or inside AI answers, and these spots usually come with a label marking them as ads. We found no official statement that spending on ads gets you picked as a source for AI-generated answers, so it's safest to treat ads and visibility within answers as separate things.

Reviews are real customer experiences, so AI can draw on them when describing a business's atmosphere or pros and cons. But services don't disclose which reviews they use or how much. Rather than forcing up your review count, it pays off longer to reply sincerely to the reviews you get and to answer questions that come up often in reviews on your website. There are also legal rules, such as having to disclose reviews written in exchange for something.

Customers' blog reviews, local news articles and a blog you write yourself can all serve as sources for AI. That's why old prices or closed days left in outdated blog posts sometimes get mixed into AI answers. If you run your own blog, use the same information as your website, announce changes in a new post, and link to your website.

Avoid posting many slightly reworded versions of the same content. Google says mass-producing pages to manipulate rankings or AI answers violates its scaled content abuse spam policy.

• Ads: paid placements marked as ads. We found no official statement that they affect which sources are chosen in answers.
• Reviews: real customer experiences that may be referenced. Focus on content and your replies rather than the count.
• Blogs: web content AI reads. Announce changes in new posts so outdated information doesn't linger.

What should you watch out for when hiring someone for AI visibility?

Be careful with offers that promise results, like "Guaranteed #1 in AI answers" or "Top placement on ChatGPT." AI services don't disclose how they build answers and change it often, so no one can guarantee results. OpenAI also says that allowing its search crawler doesn't guarantee where you'll appear.

Google has said that creating fake mentions across the web doesn't help as much as people think, and that its spam policies apply to generative AI answers just the same. You should avoid inflating mentions with fake reviews or auto-generated posts.

When you talk with an agency, ask the questions below. If they answer specifically and show you their check results, you'll be able to follow what has changed.

• Which list of questions do you check, on which services, and how often?
• Exactly which sentences, pages and settings on the website will you change?
• Can I get the check results as a table or screenshots?
• After the contract ends, do the changes and account access stay with my business?