AI Search Optimisation: Worth Paying For?

A version of the same pitch keeps turning up in local business inboxes: pay extra for AI search optimisation and your business will start being mentioned when someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews a question. Before agreeing to that line item, it is worth reading what Google itself says a page actually needs to appear in its own AI features. The short version is less than the pitch implies.

Do you need to pay extra for AI search optimisation?

Not according to Google. Google's own documentation on what it takes to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." It goes further on the specific thing most "AI search optimisation" packages sell: "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features. There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add."

What decides whether a page can appear in an AI answer

The same page names the real bar, and it is a familiar one: "To be eligible to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet, fulfilling the Search technical requirements." That's the ordinary bar for turning up in a normal search result. Nothing new was invented for AI.

So what actually helps a business show up in an AI answer?

The same things that help it show up in Search generally. Google's guide to its generative AI search features recommends content that is helpful and written for people rather than recycled, a site that meets its ordinary technical requirements and is crawlable, decent internal linking, and, for a local business, an accurate and complete Google Business Profile. We wrote the fuller version of that last point in our Google Business Profile guide, and it is worth doing regardless of what any AI assistant ever does with it, because it is also how a customer finds you on an ordinary Tuesday.

A five-minute check before you pay anyone

Search your own trade and town on Google. See whether an AI Overview appears above the results at all. Google's documentation is explicit that these only show when its systems judge one adds something beyond the ordinary results, so for plenty of searches none appears. If one does show, look at what it links to. If your site is not indexed, does not come up for that search normally, or the page itself does not answer the question being asked, that is the fix, and it is the same fix a normal search problem needs. Nothing about it changes because the word "AI" is attached.

The add-ons Google names and says to ignore

Google's guide is unusually direct about what not to bother with. It names an "llms.txt" file, splitting content into "chunks" for AI to read, rewriting pages specifically for AI models, and chasing "inauthentic" mentions of a business, and says to skip all four. If a quote for AI search optimisation itemises any of those as the paid work, that is worth a direct question: what does this actually change, according to Google's own documentation, and if the answer is nothing, why is it on the invoice.

What a legitimate quote should actually include

Stripped of the AI framing, a fair quote for this is a fair quote for ordinary SEO: a site that loads properly, is written for the person reading it rather than stuffed with a phrase, and a Business Profile kept accurate. None of that is new work invented for 2026, and none of it needs a separate line item called AI anything. Before signing anything with "AI" in the name, it is worth asking the person selling it three plain questions:

• Which of Google's own eligibility requirements is my site currently failing? Indexed, showing up with a snippet in ordinary Search, and meeting the basic technical requirements. If the answer is vague, the diagnosis was probably skipped.
• What does this specific piece of work change, in Google's own terms? A rewritten page, a fixed Business Profile category and a faster load time are real changes. An "llms.txt" file is not, by Google's own account.
• Would this be worth doing even if AI Overviews did not exist? If the honest answer is no, it is being sold on the trend rather than on the work.

A site we render for a client ships structured data and a complete Business Profile setup as part of the build, not as an extra sold afterwards, because Google's own documentation says that groundwork is the thing that actually counts, for AI features and for everything else.

The trade-off worth admitting

Everything above is Google's own account of Google's own AI features, and that is a real limit on it. ChatGPT is built by a different company. It does not publish the same kind of documentation, and nothing here should be read as a claim about how it, or any other AI assistant, decides what to mention. We would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise. Doing the fundamentals well is the honest, verifiable answer for Google's AI features specifically. Whether it also moves the needle elsewhere is not something anyone can promise you today, us included.

None of this is an argument against a website doing its basics properly. It is an argument against paying twice for the same basics under a newer name. If you want to see what that groundwork looks like on a finished site, have a look at what we have rendered for other local businesses, or start the form and preview your own before anything is owed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need schema markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode?

No. Google's own documentation says there is no special schema.org structured data you need to add for its AI features. Structured data still helps with ordinary rich results in Google Search, so it is worth having, just not because an AI feature demands it.

What is 'llms.txt', and do I need one for my site?

It's a proposed file some agencies now sell as a must-have for AI visibility. Google's own guide to performing well in its generative AI search features names it directly as something to ignore, alongside content 'chunking' and AI-specific rewrites of existing pages.

Does my Google Business Profile affect whether AI Overviews mention me?

Yes. Google names Business Profiles specifically, alongside content quality and technical basics, as part of what its generative AI search features draw on. A profile with the wrong category, no photos or old hours is a worse foundation for AI visibility as well as ordinary search.

Will paying for 'AI search optimisation' guarantee an AI assistant mentions my business?

No one can honestly promise that, including us. Google says a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in ordinary Search with a snippet before it can ever be shown as a supporting link in an AI Overview. Beyond that, which businesses get named is not something any agency controls.

Is AI search optimisation different from normal SEO?

According to Google, not much. Its documentation states plainly that generative AI features on Search are rooted in the same core ranking and quality systems as everything else, and recommends the same foundational SEO work rather than a separate discipline.