How to Show Up in AI Search (Without the Hype)

People really do ask AI now

In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, the share of people using ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations jumped "from 6% last year to 45%." AI is now their third most popular source. And 82% read AI summaries of reviews. Google's share fell "from 83% in 2025 to 71%." (BrightLocal)

So yes, it's worth thinking about. But it doesn't mean starting over.

What Google says it takes

Google is blunt about this: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." (Google Search Central)

A page just has to be "indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet." In other words, the normal kind of page Google can find and show. Here's how to check that.

And Google's advice for AI search is the advice it's always given. "Focus on your visitors and provide them with unique, satisfying content," and "ensure that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up-to-date." (Google Search Central blog)

Your Google profile is feeding the AI

AI is showing up inside Google Maps too. In March 2026 Google launched Ask Maps, "a new feature in Google Maps that leverages Gemini," in the U.S. and India. (Search Engine Roundtable)

And in a September 2026 test, "Google is turning the local knowledge panels, your Google Business Profile, into an AI Overview listing." (Search Engine Roundtable) That's a test, not a launch. But it shows where things are going.

Our recommendation: the AI can only say what your profile says. Fill in every field, list every service, and keep your hours right. Here's the full setup.

What experts think helps

Whitespark's 2026 survey added a new list this year: what helps a business show up in AI search. The experts' top picks:

1. Being on expert-curated "best of" lists
2. A dedicated page for each service
3. Being prominent on the key sites in your industry
4. Mentions in news, blogs, government and association sites
5. Reviews on trusted third-party review sites

(Whitespark)

These are expert opinion scores, not measured data. But notice what's on the list: nothing technical. It's service pages and real mentions, plus reviews beyond Google. The average consumer uses six review sites. (BrightLocal) Our recommendation: keep your Yelp, Facebook, BBB and industry profiles accurate, and reply to reviews there too.

One setting to check: let the AI search bots in

ChatGPT and Perplexity each send a bot to read websites for their search answers. Block ChatGPT's, and OpenAI says you won't appear in its search answers.

• ChatGPT: "OAI-SearchBot is for search." And "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." OpenAI recommends allowing it in your robots.txt file. (OpenAI)
• Perplexity: "PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity." "It is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models." (Perplexity)

Our recommendation: ask whoever runs your website to check that robots.txt doesn't block either bot. It's a quick check.

Be honest about the odds

A 2026 study by SOCi found "ChatGPT recommends just 1.2% of brand locations," against "an average 35.9% appearance rate in Google's local 3-Pack." (SOCi) It's a vendor's study, and it looked at multi-location brands, not single shops. But the point stands: AI recommends far fewer businesses than Google's map does.

So keep Google first. AI is a bonus you earn by doing the basics well.

The hype to ignore

• "You need an AI file" (like llms.txt). Google: "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup."
• "You need special AI schema." Google: "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add."

(Google Search Central)

• "We can get you recommended by ChatGPT." Nobody can promise that. Be wary of anyone selling a secret AI formula.

Drop 08 has a chapter on AI search with the facts in one place, and a checklist for everything that feeds it.