AEO, GEO and AI search guides
Search is splitting in two. People still type into Google, but more and more they read an answer written by an AI that quoted some other site. These are 9 plain-English guides on how to be the site that gets quoted, all grounded in the actual docs, including Google's official AI optimization guide. The thread through all of them: “if the machine can't read your page, it can't quote your page.”
Get cited by the AI engines
The engines do not read your site live. They send a crawler, then quote what it can read. These guides cover the exact steps for each major answer engine.
- How to get cited by ChatGPT Allow OAI-SearchBot, serve plain HTML, lead with a quotable passage.
- How to get cited by Perplexity Allow PerplexityBot and be the freshest, most specific source.
- How to show up in Google AI Overviews Be eligible for Search first; the same fundamentals apply.
Crawler access and the files that control it
Most sites that never get cited blocked the wrong bot, or chased a file that does nothing. Get this layer right and stop wasting effort on folklore.
- GPTBot and robots.txt: allow or block the AI crawlers The full token reference, and the training-versus-retrieval split.
- What is llms.txt, and do you need it? An honest read: optional, and not a Google ranking factor.
Diagnose and fix
- Why isn't my site showing up in AI search? The five most common reasons, and how to check each one.
- The Brimm Fix Library Step-by-step fixes for every problem our audit finds.
The basics, defined
Clear definitions, no jargon for its own sake. Start here if the acronyms are new.
- What is answer engine optimization (AEO)? Earning the answer, not just the link.
- What is generative engine optimization (GEO)? Being the source an AI quotes, backed by the research.
- AEO vs SEO: what's the difference? Same foundation, different finish line.
- The full AEO and GEO glossary 18 plain-English definitions, from RAG to the great decoupling.