What gets a business found in search in 2026?

AI answers are still search.

Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on the same ranking and quality systems as its ordinary results. To appear in them, a page must first be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet. No index, no answer.

SOURCE — Google Search Central · Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search · JULY 2026

Five things we don't sell.

Each of these is offered as a way to be found by AI. Google's own documentation says they don't do that job.

• llms.txt files. Google says they are not needed to appear in its AI features.
• Rewriting pages "for AI". Google says pages do not need to be rewritten or cut into chunks for its AI features.
• Special AI schema. Google says no special markup is needed.
• FAQ dropdowns in search results. FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Google Search on 7 May 2026.
• Geo meta tags. They are not on Google's list of the meta tags it supports.

We build what the documentation says works instead.

Answer in words, not pictures.

Write prices, opening hours and services on the page as real text, not inside a photo or a graphic. The international standard for accessible websites (WCAG) says that when text can achieve the same look, the information should be text, not an image. Google, in turn, reads the words on the page to work out what each image shows.

Nobody can sell you distance.

Google ranks local results mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Distance is how far a business is from the place in the search, or from the person searching. No one can change it for you.

What a business can control is the rest: a verified Business Profile, complete and accurate details, and real reviews that get replies. Keep the details identical everywhere they appear, so nothing conflicts.

SOURCE — Google Business Profile Help · Tips to improve your local ranking on Google

ChatGPT only cites what it can reach.

OpenAI runs separate crawlers for separate jobs. OAI-SearchBot finds pages for ChatGPT's search features, and sites that block it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot collects content for training. Each one is allowed or blocked on its own in robots.txt, so a business can allow search and refuse training. Either way, make the choice on purpose.

SOURCE — OpenAI · Overview of OpenAI crawlers

Check your site in 10 minutes.

1. Search Google for site: followed by your domain. Your pages should appear.
2. Your Business Profile is verified.
3. Your name, address, phone number and hours are the same everywhere they appear.
4. Prices and hours are written as text, not shown in an image.
5. Your robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot.

Every "no" is something to fix before you pay for anything else.

We don't promise first place.

Google says no one can guarantee a first-place ranking in Google. Our promise is different: nothing to pay until you have seen your website live.

SOURCE — Google Search Central · Do you need an SEO? · JUNE 2026