AI Search Optimisation: How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude

To get recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and similar assistants, your business needs to be easy for them to read, consistent everywhere it’s described, and mentioned by sources other than your own website. Nobody can guarantee a recommendation, because each assistant chooses its own sources. You can, however, make your business a much clearer and safer choice for them.

What are AEO and GEO?

AEO, or answer engine optimisation, and GEO, or generative engine optimisation, both mean preparing your content to be used in AI-generated answers. They build on SEO rather than replacing it, since many assistants draw on web search results when they answer questions about businesses. Weak SEO usually means weak AI visibility too.

Why it matters in Sri Lanka

In a study by BCG and The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (October 2026), 18% of Sri Lankan consumers said they already use generative AI tools, rising to 25% in the Western Province. Among Gen Z AI users, 39% use them to research brands. Our ChatGPT Ads guide covers more of this research.

How AI assistants find businesses

• Their training data. What the model learned about your business from the web, which can be out of date.
• Live web search. Many assistants look up current sources, which is why search visibility matters.
• Third-party sources. Directories, reviews, press, forums and social profiles help assistants confirm what you claim.

A practical checklist

1. Let the crawlers in

Check that your robots.txt and firewall don’t block search and AI crawlers such as Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, unless you have a reason to. Make sure important text is present in your HTML, not only loaded through scripts or shown in images.

2. Answer the question first

Open each important page with a direct, factual answer: who you are, what you do, where you work and what it costs. Assistants can lift a clear sentence far more easily than a clever slogan.

3. Give each service its own page

“We do marketing” is hard to cite. A dedicated page on SEO for Sri Lankan businesses, with its process, pricing and FAQs, is much easier to use.

4. Publish facts people can check

Include prices, timelines, founding year, locations and named sources. Specifics are easier to trust and to quote. Vague claims such as “best-in-class” give an assistant little to work with.

5. Add structured data

Schema markup for your organisation, services, FAQs and articles makes your facts machine-readable. Keep it truthful and matched to what’s visible on the page.

6. Keep your business details consistent

Use the same name, address, phone number and description on your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Facebook and directories. If your name has changed, say so clearly. Inconsistent details make an assistant less certain about you.

7. Earn mentions elsewhere

This is often the biggest gap. Client reviews, press coverage, awards, interviews, industry directories and genuine discussion all act as independent evidence. A business that only praises itself on its own website gives assistants little to confirm.

8. Register with the search engines

Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, then submit your sitemap. Google’s index supports Gemini and AI Overviews, and Bing’s index is used by several other AI tools.

9. Keep content current

Update prices, facts and dates when they change, especially on fast-moving topics. Out-of-date content is less likely to be trusted.

How to measure it

There’s no complete rankings report for AI answers yet, so track it in simple ways:

• Each month, ask several assistants the same 10 to 20 questions a customer would ask, and record who gets named.
• Check analytics for referral traffic from sites such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com.
• Ask new leads how they found you, and include AI assistants as an option.

What to avoid

• Fake reviews or invented awards. They can damage trust and may breach platform rules.
• Hundreds of near-identical pages. Search engines treat these as spam, and they add nothing for readers.
• Publishing “we are the best” lists about yourself. This kind of self-promotion is a weak signal, and it can undermine your credibility.

Synctris helps Sri Lankan brands build this foundation through our SEO and AI search service. For the technical side, start with our technical SEO checklist or book a 15-minute call.