How AI search tools find pages and choose what to quote.

What happens when someone asks an AI search tool

An AI model on its own only knows what it learned up to its training date, and it can make things up. So AI search tools look up current pages first and write the answer from what they find.

Behind the scenes, most tools follow roughly these steps:

1. Rewrite the question: a long, chatty question is turned into a few shorter searches.
2. Look up pages: the tool searches for pages that match both the exact words, such as names, and the meaning of the question.
3. Pick the best passages: it scores short passages from those pages on how well they answer the question.
4. Write and credit: it writes an answer from the chosen passages and often links to where each part came from.

One question becomes several searches

In ordinary search, someone types a short phrase such as "invoicing software for consultants". In an AI tool they might ask: "I run a four-person design consultancy in the UK. I need invoicing software that handles several currencies and VAT and works with Xero. What are three good options?"

To answer, the tool may quietly run several searches, such as:

• "invoicing software for consultancies, several currencies, UK"
• "invoicing tools that work with Xero for small agencies"
• "invoicing software prices and UK VAT"

If your page only mentions the broad topic and never says which currencies, which accounting software or which country’s tax rules you support, it may not be picked for any of those searches.

Can you track where you appear in AI answers?

Business owners often ask how to see their "ranking" in ChatGPT or in Google’s AI Overviews. You cannot track it the way you track Google positions, because an AI answer has no fixed ranking.

The same question, asked by two people, or by one person a few minutes apart, can get a different answer with different sources in a different order. Location, earlier questions and model updates all change the result.

Instead of checking positions day by day, watch three things over weeks:

• Search Console: whether your pages are shown as often as before while clicks change, which can happen when an AI summary answers the question on the results page.
• Visits from AI tools: in your analytics, visits that arrive from sites such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai or gemini.google.com.
• Repeated test questions: ask the same set of questions about your field every month and note whether you are named and described correctly. Treat the results as a rough sample: one month on its own proves little.

How to make your pages easy to pick

A few habits make it more likely that the right part of your page is picked and credited:

1. Headings that name the topic: "Kitchen renovation prices" works better than a clever line nobody would search for.
2. Main text in the page itself: if your text only appears after heavy scripts run, some tools may not see it.
3. Real tables for comparisons: a table with clear column headings is easier to quote correctly than the same facts spread across paragraphs.

Decide what AI tools may read

Your robots.txt file tells crawlers which pages they may read. Some AI tools use their own named crawlers, and you can allow or block each one.

• Allowing a crawler lets that tool read your public pages when it looks something up.
• Blocking it keeps your pages out of what that tool can read, which may also keep you out of its answers.
• Pages behind a login or marked no-index are a separate matter and need their own settings.
• Check your robots.txt after every site change, because a rule added for a test can stay by mistake.

The right choice depends on your business. If being found matters more than keeping content to yourself, allow the crawlers you are comfortable with.

Questions people ask

Which AI assistant matters most?

It depends on where your customers ask. Ask a few real customers which tools they use before you spend time on any one.

Will AI search replace Google?

Nobody can say. Both are used today, and the same basics help in each: clear pages, accurate facts and a site that loads and can be read.

Can I see how often an assistant uses my pages?

Only in part. Some visits arrive from assistant links and show in your analytics, but there is no complete count. Treat any single number as a sample.

Try this on your own site in 10 minutes

Take one question a customer would ask before buying from you.

1. Ask it in two AI search tools and note which websites they cite.
2. Check whether your site has a page that answers it, with the answer near the top.
3. Look in your analytics for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com.
4. Ask the same question again next month and compare. One answer on its own tells you little.