The questions people search, answered plainly.
Every question here is one people really type into Google. We took them from Google's own search suggestions, then wrote one short page for each, built on what Google, OpenAI and others have published and on what we found auditing 1.5k+ business websites. No guarantees, because nobody can honestly give one.
AI visibility audits
From the search “AI visibility audit for small business”
- What is an AI visibility audit?A check of whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI answers can reach your website, understand it, and have reason to mention your business.
- How do I check my website's AI visibility?Ask the AI tools your customers use the questions they ask you, more than once, then check whether those tools are even allowed to read your site.
- How do I increase my website's AI visibility?Let AI crawlers in, answer real customer questions in plain sentences, keep your details consistent everywhere, and give other sites reasons to mention you.
- Why is AI visibility important for a small business?AI answers name a handful of businesses instead of listing ten. If an AI tool can't read or trust your site, you aren't in the running for that answer.
Getting recommended by ChatGPT
From the search “how to get my business recommended by ChatGPT”
- How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?Nobody can make ChatGPT recommend you. You can make sure it can read your site, understands exactly what you do and where, and finds others vouching for you.
- How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?OpenAI doesn't publish how ChatGPT picks businesses. What is known: it works from what it learned in training and from pages its search can reach.
- How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?Answers that search the web can reflect a change once ChatGPT's crawler has read it. What ChatGPT knows from training only changes with a new model.
Generative engine optimization
From the search “generative engine optimization for small business”
- What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?GEO is the work of making your business easy for AI answer tools to find, understand and cite. The term comes from a 2023 research paper.
- How does generative engine optimization work?AI tools gather sources, then write an answer from them. GEO makes your pages easy to retrieve and easy to quote, so you are among the sources used.
- Is generative engine optimization real?Yes, with caveats. It was measured in a peer-reviewed paper, but results varied by subject, and no one can guarantee what an AI tool will say.
- Is GEO replacing SEO?No. Google says SEO best practices still apply to its AI features. GEO builds on SEO, and in our audits sites lag much further behind on GEO.
Google AI Overviews
From the search “how to get my business in Google AI Overviews”
- How do I get my business into Google AI Overviews?Google says there is no special trick: a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Then answer the question clearly enough to be worth linking.
- How does Google AI Overview get its information?Google says AI Overviews may run several related searches across subtopics and data sources, then link indexed pages that support the answer.
- Are Google AI Overviews accurate?Not always. Google says AI Overviews "can and will make mistakes". If one gets your business wrong, fix the sources it draws on and report it.
SEO audits
From the search “how much does an SEO audit cost for a small business”
- How much does an SEO audit cost?In Ahrefs' survey of 439 SEO providers, the most common fee for a one-off project was $2,501 to $5,000. Free automated checks exist too.
- How long does an SEO audit take?The automated crawl of a small site takes minutes. Checking what it found and turning it into a fix list is what takes the time.
- What does an SEO audit include?Whether Google can reach and index your pages, how each page is labelled, speed and mobile use, links, structured data, and now whether AI tools can read you.
- Is SEO worth it for a small business?Usually, if people search for what you sell where you sell it. It is slow, nobody can guarantee rankings, and the basics are mostly one-off fixes.
ChatGPT and SEO
From the search “can ChatGPT do an SEO audit of my website”
- Can ChatGPT do an SEO audit?It can review a page you show it and suggest fixes. It can't crawl your whole site, see your Search Console data, or test speed like an audit tool.
- Is ChatGPT content bad for SEO?Not by itself. Google's warning is about mass-producing pages that add nothing, and about publishing AI text without checking it for mistakes.
- How do I use ChatGPT for SEO?As a fast assistant, not an author: drafting from your own facts, tightening titles, first drafts of structured data. Then check every word.
AI crawlers
From the search “how to check if AI crawlers can access my website”
- How do I check if AI crawlers can access my website?Read your robots.txt for the AI crawler names, then check your security or CDN settings, because that is where most blocks we find come from.
- Should I block AI crawlers?Block the ones that only collect training data if you want to. Blocking the ones that fetch pages for live answers keeps you out of those answers.
- What is GPTBot?OpenAI's crawler for collecting training data. It is separate from OAI-SearchBot, the one that decides whether your site can appear in ChatGPT search.
- Does Cloudflare block AI crawlers?It can, and on some settings it does by default. Check Security Settings in your Cloudflare dashboard to see which kinds of AI bot are allowed.
- Do AI crawlers render JavaScript?The major ones don't, according to Vercel's analysis. Anything your site only shows after JavaScript runs may be invisible to them.
Not showing up on Google
From the search “why is my business website not showing up on Google”
- Why is my website not showing up on Google?Usually one of four things: Google hasn't found it yet, it is told not to index it, it can't reach it, or other pages answer the search better.
- How long does it take for a new website to show up on Google?Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Ranking well for competitive searches usually takes far longer.
- How do I check if my website is indexed by Google?Use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console. A site: search gives a rough idea, but Google says it doesn't show every indexed page.
- Why is my business not showing up on Google Maps?Often it is unverified, incomplete, or simply further away than other businesses. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence.
Website accessibility (ADA)
From the search “ADA website accessibility audit for small business”
- Do small business websites have to be ADA compliant?The US Department of Justice says the ADA applies to the websites of businesses open to the public. It has no detailed technical rule for them.
- How do I know if my website is ADA compliant?Test it against WCAG: run an automated scanner, then use the site with only a keyboard and a screen reader. Scanners alone can't tell you.
- What is a website accessibility audit?A test of whether people with disabilities can use your site, measured against WCAG, with automated scans plus checks only a person can do.
Google Business Profile without an office
From the search “Google Business Profile for a service-area business without an office”
- Can I have a Google Business Profile without an address?Yes, if you travel to your customers. Google calls that a service-area business and tells you to hide your address. A virtual office doesn't qualify.
- What is a service-area business on Google?Google's term for a business that visits or delivers to customers but doesn't serve them at its own address. A plumber, for example.
- Should I use my home address for my Google Business Profile?Only if customers come to you there. If they don't, Google says to remove the address from your profile and list your service area instead.
Find out what AI says about you.
Send us your web address. We run our own tool on it, free, and send you what it says. The whole thing — not a taster with the useful bits taken out.
Whether AI can even read your site
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google and Bing all send a small program to read your pages. We knock on your door as each one and see who gets let in. If they are being turned away, nothing else matters until that is fixed.
Two scores out of 100 — one for Google, one for AI
Plus what is behind each number. Where we could only make a fair guess, we say so instead of dressing it up as a measurement.
A list of fixes, best one first
Ordered by what gives you the most for the least work, so the top of the list is the quickest win. It is yours either way — use it with us or without us.
We ran it on our own site too. It told us what we were getting wrong, and we published that. A tool you will not point at yourself is not worth much.
One thing the free check does not do: actually ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini for businesses like yours, dozens of times, and count how often your name comes up. That costs us real money each time we run it, so it comes with paid work.