There is no form to fill in and no fee that puts a business into ChatGPT's answers or Google's AI Overviews, and anyone who promises a mention is guessing. What you can do is make your business easy to find, read and trust, because these systems build their answers from what search engines already hold. In practice that comes down to six things: a site that can be crawled and indexed, a verified Google Business Profile, real reviews, the same details everywhere, a clear answer for each service, and a reputation people talk about. Google's own guidance says plainly that this is still SEO. Here is how each part works, and what you can safely ignore.
Where do ChatGPT and Google's AI answers come from?
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on Google's ordinary search index. Google says a page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and the site has to stay included in Search Console's Search generative AI control, which is the default. Beyond that there is no special optimisation. Behind one question, Google may run several related searches at once, which it calls query fan-out, so a page that answers one specific question well can be pulled into the answer to a broader one.
ChatGPT's search uses OpenAI's own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT's search answers. Microsoft reports how often pages are cited in Copilot and in Bing's AI summaries through Bing Webmaster Tools, so Bing's index matters as well. There is no single AI index to get into, which is why the work below is the same work that gets a business found in ordinary search.
What actually gets a business mentioned?
Nothing on this list is a trick. Each item makes it easier for a search engine, and for the assistant reading from it, to be sure what your business is, where it works and what it is known for.
Indexable
Your pages are in Google's and Bing's indexes, and nothing blocks the crawlers: not robots.txt, and not the CDN or hosting in front of the site, which Google names alongside robots.txt in its own checklist.
Profiled
A verified Google Business Profile with the right category, real hours and photos. Google names the Business Profile as something that helps a business appear in AI responses as well as in ordinary results.
Reviewed
Reviews from real customers, asked for with a link or a QR code, and answered. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, and it prohibits offering anything in exchange for a review.
Consistent
The same name, phone number, address and list of services on your site, your profile, your social pages and every directory that lists you. Conflicting details give a search engine two answers to choose between.
Answered
One page per service that says what it is, who it is for, where you offer it and roughly what it costs. Google says useful, original content will likely shape your presence in AI search more than anything else in its guide.
Talked about
Mentions in places your customers already read: local press, industry directories, videos, forums. Google's AI features can show what is said about a business across the web, which is why these have to be earned.
Is AI SEO or GEO a different job from SEO?
Not according to Google. Its guide says optimising for generative AI search is optimising for search, and so still SEO. It also lists what you can ignore for Google Search, which makes a useful filter for any proposal:
| What you may be told | What Google says |
|---|---|
| Add an llms.txt file so AI can find you | Google Search ignores llms.txt. It neither helps nor harms your visibility. |
| Break your pages into short chunks for AI | There is no requirement to chunk content, and no ideal page length. |
| Rewrite your content for AI | You don't need to write in a special way for generative AI search. |
| Add special schema markup for AI | Structured data isn't required for AI answers. It still helps a page qualify for rich results. |
| Buy mentions across the web | Inauthentic mentions aren't as helpful as they seem, and Google's other systems block spam. |
That is useful when you compare a GEO agency in Dubai or anywhere else. Ask what they will change on your site and your profile, how they will measure it, and what they expect from llms.txt. If a proposal leads with files and markup rather than content, reviews and measurement, it is selling the part Google says to ignore.
Can anyone guarantee my business will appear?
No. Google says indexing and serving are not guaranteed even when a page meets every requirement, that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, and that you should be wary of tools that promise ranking success or claim to use internal Google data. AI answers also move: Google notes that AI Overviews and AI Mode may use different models and show different links, and that AI Overviews often do not appear at all.
What an honest provider can promise is the work and the measurement. A guarantee of a mention is a promise about a system the provider does not control.
How do I know if it is working?
- Google Search Console has a Generative AI performance report, available to every site since 31 August 2026, that shows how often your pages appeared in Google's AI features.
- Bing Webmaster Tools reports how often your pages are cited in Copilot and in Bing's AI summaries, with a sample of the phrases the AI searched for.
- Google Analytics 4 groups visits from assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot into an AI Assistant channel. That channel leaves out Google's own AI Overviews and AI Mode, which Search Console counts inside its ordinary search figures.
- A monthly check by hand: the same ten questions your customers would ask, put to each assistant and recorded. AI answers vary, so report how often you were named across the checks, never a single screenshot.
What should a UAE business do first?
- Search for your business by name in Google and Bing. If your own site and profile are not the first results, fix that before anything else.
- Claim, verify and complete the Google Business Profile, make every other listing match it, and say plainly on your site which emirates you serve.
- Open Search Console and check that the Search generative AI control is set to include your site. Include is the default, but the setting can be changed to exclude, and an excluded site does not appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
- Use one phone number, written the same way everywhere, ideally the one your customers already message on WhatsApp.
- If your customers ask in Arabic, give them pages written in Arabic, not English put through a translator.
- Set up the measurement before you change anything, so you can see what moved and what did not.
What does it cost?
Much of this can be done in-house with time and patience: the profile, the reviews and the measurement cost attention, not money. If you would rather have it done, Evyren's AI Visibility Audit starts from AED 1,500 and gives you a written list of fixes ranked by impact. The Search + AI Visibility Setup, which puts the foundations in place, is from AED 4,900, and ongoing work is from AED 2,500 a month. None of them comes with a promise of rankings, citations or AI placement, because nobody can honestly give one.
You can't buy a mention. You can make your business the easiest one to find, read and trust.
Questions people ask next
How long does it take to show up?
There is no fixed timeline. A new or changed page has to be crawled first, which Google says can take from several days to several months, and AI answers change over time. Measure monthly and judge the trend.
Should I block AI crawlers from my site?
Only if you don't want to appear. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT's search answers. Blocking GPTBot, which collects training data, is a separate setting and does not take you out of ChatGPT search.
Why does an assistant describe my business wrongly?
An assistant can only work from what it finds. If your site, your profile and your listings are thin or disagree with each other, fix those first, then check again once the pages have been recrawled.
What does the AI Visibility Audit check?
How search engines and AI systems see your business today: the technical and structured-data setup, your business information across the web, your presence in search and AI answers, and a ranked list of fixes.
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