{"id":29907,"date":"2026-09-28T10:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/?p=29907"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:34:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:34:05","slug":"aeo-strategy-get-recommended-by-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/aeo-strategy-get-recommended-by-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"AEO Strategy in 5 Steps: Why AI Recommends Your Competitors and How to Change That"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why does an AI assistant recommend two of your competitors when someone asks about your field, and never mention you at all? It is not bad luck. Brands that keep showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews usually do a handful of things systematically. That work is called <strong>AEO<\/strong>, answer engine optimization, and it stands on a solid SEO foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ahrefs condensed its AEO course into a short video with five pillars. Below I walk through them in the order that makes sense for your own strategy, with current numbers and with what the video leaves out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"aeo-strategy-in-5-steps-the-short-version\">AEO strategy in 5 steps: the short version<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Understand how AI searches.<\/strong> One question becomes dozens of smaller searches, so cover the whole topic.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Run a brand gap analysis.<\/strong> Find where AI mentions you, where it does not and where it names a competitor instead.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Research questions and keywords<\/strong> and run them through an AI filter.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Close the gaps with four levers:<\/strong> content, mentions, YouTube and technical setup.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Measure<\/strong> AI visits, AI crawler activity and how customers say they found you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-how-ai-finds-its-sources\">1. How AI finds its sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most people picture AI working like classic Google. In reality one question is broken down into many smaller, more specific searches. Google calls this query fan-out (<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/appearance\/ai-features\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Central<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take a prompt like plan three days in Lisbon for me in October. The AI does not search for that sentence. It splits it into questions such as where to stay in Alfama, Lisbon weather in October, which day trips are worth it and what Sintra palace tickets cost. It runs them in parallel, builds an answer and cites some sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lesson: <strong>ranking first for your main keyword is not enough<\/strong>. You need to cover the entire topic, because AI also pulls from the side questions. In July 2025, 76% of Google AI Overviews citations came from pages in the top 10 for that query. By March 2026 the share had dropped to roughly 38% (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-citations-top-10\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2026<\/a>). The video still quotes the older figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Ahrefs research, three things raise your chance of being cited:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Consensus.<\/strong> The more places say the same thing about you, the more readily AI repeats it.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Freshness.<\/strong> AI assistants cite content that is on average 25.7% fresher than organic results, most strongly in ChatGPT, while Google AI Overviews showed no such preference (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2025<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Authority.<\/strong> Strong Google rankings still help, just less directly than a year ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your foundation is shaky, start with <a href=\"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/technical-seo-for-ai-search\/\">technical SEO for AI search<\/a>. Google can only show a page as a link in AI Overviews if the page is indexed, so if key URLs are stuck outside the index, see my comparison of the <a href=\"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/best-google-indexing-tools\/\">best Google indexing tools<\/a>. AEO without an SEO foundation does not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-brand-gap-analysis-where-you-are-and-where-you-should-be\">2. Brand gap analysis: where you are and where you should be<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A gap analysis compares where your brand should appear with where it actually appears in Google, in AI answers and across the web. Ahrefs uses its Brand Radar tool for this. Look for three types of gaps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Gap type<\/th><th>What it means<\/th><th>What to do<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Mentioned but not cited<\/strong><\/td><td>AI names you but does not link to your site<\/td><td>make your own content citable<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Competitor gap<\/strong><\/td><td>AI names a competitor, not you<\/td><td>get into the sources AI uses for that competitor<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Topic gap<\/strong><\/td><td>AI ties a topic you want to own to someone else<\/td><td>create or update content on it<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can do this by hand. Run 20 to 30 real customer questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and log who is mentioned, who is cited and which sources are used. If you sell in several countries, repeat it in each market language, because answers differ. A paid tracker pays off once you follow several brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-question-and-keyword-research\">3. Question and keyword research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People ask AI in full sentences, not keywords. The research still starts where SEO does: <strong>seed keywords<\/strong> and <strong>modifiers<\/strong> that turn them into real questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fastest start is to ask the AI itself. For example: I am doing keyword research for an online outdoor gear store, my audience is hikers and climbers in the United States. Give me 10 seed keywords of one to two words and at least 5 modifiers that point to useful content formats. Seeds and modifiers should not share words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then validate the list in a keyword tool and Google Search Console. In niche B2B markets tools often show near zero volumes, so trust your real Search Console queries more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-ai-filter\">The AI filter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For every keyword ask: can AI answer this so well that nobody needs to click? In Ahrefs data from September 2025, AI Overviews appeared for 20.5% of results and 57.9% of question queries, and 99.9% of them were triggered by informational queries (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-overview-triggers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 146 million results<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For informational queries the goal is not only the click but getting your brand named inside the answer. The biggest opportunities are questions with modifiers like best, comparison, vs, review and alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-four-levers-that-get-you-into-ai-answers\">4. Four levers that get you into AI answers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"content-on-your-own-site\">Content on your own site<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Text length has almost nothing to do with being cited. Freshness does, and so do formats like rankings, comparisons and content built on your own data. Four principles apply: answer first, sections that stand on their own, specific names and simple sentences. Details, data and a process for reviving old pages are in my guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/how-to-write-content-ai-cites\/\">how to write content AI cites<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"mentions-on-other-sites\">Mentions on other sites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of AEO happens on other websites. In Ahrefs research across 75,000 brands, brand mentions correlated with AI visibility far more strongly than backlinks. Focus on three levels: editorial content, communities such as Reddit and forums, and your own channels. The full process is in my article on <a href=\"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/brand-mentions-ai-citations\/\">brand mentions and AI citations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"youtube\">YouTube<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the lever most companies ignore. In the updated Ahrefs study from December 2025, <strong>YouTube mentions had the strongest correlation with AI visibility, roughly 0.737<\/strong>, reported across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-brand-visibility-correlations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2025<\/a>). Google AI features cite YouTube more than any other domain, and in ChatGPT it ranks sixth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It goes beyond citations. According to 2024 reports, OpenAI transcribed more than a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4 (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Whisper_%28speech_recognition_system%29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia, Whisper<\/a>), so the models also learned from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How to approach it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Build on searched videos, not viral ones.<\/strong> Viral spikes fade, while a video on a regularly searched topic brings visits for years.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Put the keyword in the title<\/strong> and the first lines of the description.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Add timestamps<\/strong> so YouTube creates chapters.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Say the keyword out loud.<\/strong> Google and YouTube both use speech transcripts.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Hold attention.<\/strong> Otherwise the algorithm stops recommending the video.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not ready to film? Creator collaborations or sponsorships work too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"technical-setup-do-not-block-ai-crawlers\">Technical setup: do not block AI crawlers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most pointless way to lose AI visibility is blocking crawlers by accident. An Ahrefs analysis of roughly 140 million websites from May 2025 found that 5.89% blocked GPTBot, with similar rates for other AI crawlers (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-bot-block-rates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2025<\/a>). Many blocks are accidental, inherited from old robots.txt templates or hosting and CDN settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You need to know which crawler does what, because this is where the biggest mistakes happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Crawler<\/th><th>Operator<\/th><th>Purpose<\/th><th>What blocking it does<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>GPTBot<\/strong><\/td><td>OpenAI<\/td><td>model training data<\/td><td>no training use, ChatGPT search unaffected<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>OAI-SearchBot<\/strong><\/td><td>OpenAI<\/td><td>ChatGPT search<\/td><td>missing from ChatGPT search answers, except as a navigational link<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>ClaudeBot<\/strong><\/td><td>Anthropic<\/td><td>training data<\/td><td>no training use<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Claude-SearchBot<\/strong><\/td><td>Anthropic<\/td><td>Claude search<\/td><td>lower visibility in Claude search<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Google-Extended<\/strong><\/td><td>Google<\/td><td>Gemini training and grounding<\/td><td>no effect on Google Search<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Googlebot<\/strong><\/td><td>Google<\/td><td>Google Search incl. AI Overviews<\/td><td>site drops out of Google<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sources: <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.openai.com\/api\/docs\/bots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OpenAI<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.claude.com\/en\/articles\/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anthropic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/crawling\/docs\/crawlers-fetchers\/google-common-crawlers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The key takeaway: <strong>blocking training crawlers and blocking search crawlers are two separate decisions.<\/strong> You can refuse training and stay visible in ChatGPT or Claude search. Google-Extended will not remove you from AI Overviews, which are part of Google Search. For that, Search Console has had a separate setting since 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-check-whether-you-are-blocking-ai-crawlers\">How to check whether you are blocking AI crawlers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-open-your-robots-txt\">1. Open your robots.txt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open yourdomain.com\/robots.txt and look for Disallow rules under GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Google-Extended or a rule for all crawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-check-your-cdn-and-hosting-settings\">2. Check your CDN and hosting settings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Cloudflare, check the AI crawler settings. Its managed robots.txt disallows crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended (<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.cloudflare.com\/bots\/additional-configurations\/managed-robots-txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cloudflare<\/a>). Since July 2025 Cloudflare asks about AI crawlers when you add a new domain, and since September 15, 2026 new domains on pages with ads block training crawlers and AI agents by default, while search crawlers stay allowed (<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cloudflare.com\/content-independence-day-ai-options\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cloudflare, 2026<\/a>). Cloudflare also warns that blocking training blocks multipurpose crawlers like Googlebot and Bingbot too. Some hosts and security plugins have similar switches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-make-a-deliberate-decision\">3. Make a deliberate decision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you do not want your content used for training, block the training crawlers. If you want to appear in AI answers, keep the search crawlers allowed. EU businesses have a legal angle too: the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive lets rightholders reserve content from commercial text and data mining by machine-readable means (<a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/eli\/dir\/2019\/790\/oj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Directive (EU) 2019\/790, Article 4<\/a>). A robots.txt block of training crawlers is a common way to send that signal, though lawyers still debate which formats fully qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-check-the-ai-setting-in-search-console\">4. Check the AI setting in Search Console<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since 2026 Search Console has had a setting that excludes your site from AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting regular rankings, according to Google. If someone switched it on by mistake, AI Overviews will not cite you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-confirm-the-crawlers-are-actually-visiting\">5. Confirm the crawlers are actually visiting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check your server access log for AI crawler visits. If a crawler never appears, something is still blocking it, usually a firewall rule or bot protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-how-to-measure-whether-aeo-works\">5. How to measure whether AEO works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI data is scattered and incomplete, but you are not flying blind. Track four things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Visits from AI assistants.<\/strong> Since May 2026 Google Analytics 4 groups visits from recognized AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, into a separate AI Assistant channel (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/google-analytics-adds-ai-assistant-as-default-channel-group\/574974\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Journal<\/a>). Visits without referrer data, for example from mobile apps, still land in Direct, so read the number as a trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Impressions in Google AI features.<\/strong> Since summer 2026 Search Console has a performance report for generative AI features with impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It does not show clicks yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AI crawler activity.<\/strong> A search crawler that keeps returning to a page, visible in your server log or CDN tools, suggests AI uses that page as a source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Straight from customers.<\/strong> The most underrated method: ask how people heard of you at checkout, sign-up or in a post-purchase survey. Someone sees your brand in ChatGPT, types it into Google, and analytics credits the order to organic search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ahrefs shows how strong this effect can be. AI search brought the company 0.5% of its visits but 12.1% of its sign-ups, a conversion rate roughly 23 times higher than organic search (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-search-traffic-conversions-ahrefs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2025<\/a>). The author also notes that people click links from AI about 75% less often, so the higher conversion rate may not make up for the lower volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"your-own-aeo-strategy\">Your own AEO strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no universal playbook. The order depends on the gap you found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Start with a technical check.<\/strong> Five minutes with robots.txt and your CDN settings. If crawlers cannot get in, nothing else helps.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Measure from day one.<\/strong> The AI channel in GA4, the AI report in Search Console and a question asking customers how they found you.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Set your priority based on the biggest gap:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Finding<\/th><th>Priority<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>AI does not link you to your target topics<\/td><td>content, starting with pages that used to perform<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AI recommends competitors, not you<\/td><td>mentions in rankings, reviews and discussions<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AI cites formats you lack, such as video<\/td><td>YouTube, own videos or creators<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AI mentions you but does not cite your site<\/td><td>citable content and clear company facts<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-the-video-left-out\">What the video left out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Several numbers are outdated.<\/strong> Besides the top 10 citation share, the claim that AI traffic grew 9.7 times in a year dates from June 2025, and the same study notes AI then drove only 0.25% of website traffic on average (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-traffic-increase\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs, 2025<\/a>). For most sites Google is still the main source of visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Crawler blocking is oversimplified.<\/strong> As the table above shows, GPTBot and Google-Extended do not control search visibility, and the Search Console opt-out is not mentioned at all. Without knowing this you may allow training for no reason or block search by accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The YouTube correlation is not ChatGPT only.<\/strong> The study reports it for Google AI Mode and AI Overviews too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It is also an ad.<\/strong> For a small website a spreadsheet of questions, Search Console, GA4 and a server log are enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the most important point: <strong>Google says in its official guide that AEO and GEO are still SEO.<\/strong> No special files, no separate writing style, no content chopped into tiny pieces (<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/ai-optimization-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Central<\/a>). Anyone selling AEO as a secret discipline separate from SEO is selling a marketing label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want a second pair of eyes on this, I am Milan Fra\u0148o from WooAcademy and I help companies in the EU and the US remotely with an AI search visibility audit, from the crawler check and gap analysis to a prioritized content and mentions plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"faq\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-aeo-and-how-is-it-different-from-seo\">What is AEO and how is it different from SEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AEO, answer engine optimization, means getting your brand mentioned and cited in answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. It rests on the same foundations as SEO: an indexable website, quality content and authority. It adds brand mentions on other sites, YouTube, AI crawler access and measuring AI visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-do-i-find-out-whether-ai-recommends-my-brand\">How do I find out whether AI recommends my brand?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run 20 to 30 real customer questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and record who is mentioned, who is cited and which sources are used. Repeat it monthly, in each market language if you sell abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"should-i-block-gptbot\">Should I block GPTBot?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only if you do not want your content used to train OpenAI models. According to OpenAI, blocking GPTBot does not affect whether you appear in ChatGPT search, which is controlled by OAI-SearchBot. To show up in ChatGPT answers, keep OAI-SearchBot allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"will-blocking-google-extended-remove-me-from-ai-overviews\">Will blocking Google-Extended remove me from AI Overviews?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. Google-Extended controls the use of your content for training and grounding Gemini models, and Google states it has no effect on inclusion in Google Search, which includes AI Overviews. Opting out of AI Overviews and AI Mode requires the separate setting in Search Console.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-is-youtube-so-important-for-ai-visibility\">Why is YouTube so important for AI visibility?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Ahrefs study, YouTube mentions had the strongest correlation with brand visibility in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google AI features cite YouTube more than any other domain, and according to 2024 reports video transcripts were also used to train GPT-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-do-i-measure-traffic-from-chatgpt\">How do I measure traffic from ChatGPT?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Google Analytics 4, watch the AI Assistant channel, which since May 2026 groups visits from recognized AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. The number is understated because visits without referrer data fall into Direct, so also ask customers how they heard about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"is-an-aeo-strategy-worth-it-for-a-small-business\">Is an AEO strategy worth it for a small business?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, if the SEO foundation is healthy. A crawler check, monthly test questions in AI tools, well structured content, relevant media mentions and a few searched YouTube videos are enough to start. AI traffic is still small for most sites, but it tends to convert above average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@graph\": [{\"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"@id\": \"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/aeo-strategy-get-recommended-by-ai\/#faq\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What is AEO and how is it different from SEO?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"AEO, answer engine optimization, means getting your brand mentioned and cited in answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. It rests on the same foundations as SEO: an indexable website, quality content and authority. It adds brand mentions on other sites, YouTube, AI crawler access and measuring AI visits.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"How do I find out whether AI recommends my brand?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Run 20 to 30 real customer questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode and record who is mentioned, who is cited and which sources are used. Repeat it monthly, in each market language if you sell abroad.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Should I block GPTBot?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Only if you do not want your content used to train OpenAI models. According to OpenAI, blocking GPTBot does not affect whether you appear in ChatGPT search, which is controlled by OAI-SearchBot. To show up in ChatGPT answers, keep OAI-SearchBot allowed.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Will blocking Google-Extended remove me from AI Overviews?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"No. Google-Extended controls the use of your content for training and grounding Gemini models, and Google states it has no effect on inclusion in Google Search, which includes AI Overviews. Opting out of AI Overviews and AI Mode requires the separate setting in Search Console.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Why is YouTube so important for AI visibility?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"In the Ahrefs study, YouTube mentions had the strongest correlation with brand visibility in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google AI features cite YouTube more than any other domain, and according to 2024 reports video transcripts were also used to train GPT-4.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"How do I measure traffic from ChatGPT?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"In Google Analytics 4, watch the AI Assistant channel, which since May 2026 groups visits from recognized AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. The number is understated because visits without referrer data fall into Direct, so also ask customers how they heard about you.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Is an AEO strategy worth it for a small business?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Yes, if the SEO foundation is healthy. A crawler check, monthly test questions in AI tools, well structured content, relevant media mentions and a few searched YouTube videos are enough to start. AI traffic is still small for most sites, but it tends to convert above average.\"}}]}, {\"@type\": \"HowTo\", \"name\": \"How to check whether your website is blocking AI crawlers\", \"step\": [{\"@type\": \"HowToStep\", \"position\": 1, \"name\": \"Open your robots.txt\", \"text\": \"Open yourdomain.com\/robots.txt and look for Disallow rules under GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Google-Extended or a rule for all crawlers.\"}, {\"@type\": \"HowToStep\", \"position\": 2, \"name\": \"Check your CDN and hosting settings\", \"text\": \"On Cloudflare, check the AI crawler settings. Its managed robots.txt disallows crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot and Google-Extended (Cloudflare). Since July 2025 Cloudflare asks about AI crawlers when you add a new domain, and since September 15, 2026 new domains on pages with ads block training crawlers and AI agents by default, while search crawlers stay allowed (Cloudflare, 2026). Cloudflare also warns that blocking training blocks multipurpose crawlers like Googlebot and Bingbot too. Some hosts and security plugins have similar switches.\"}, {\"@type\": \"HowToStep\", \"position\": 3, \"name\": \"Make a deliberate decision\", \"text\": \"If you do not want your content used for training, block the training crawlers. If you want to appear in AI answers, keep the search crawlers allowed. EU businesses have a legal angle too: the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive lets rightholders reserve content from commercial text and data mining by machine-readable means (Directive (EU) 2019\/790, Article 4). A robots.txt block of training crawlers is a common way to send that signal, though lawyers still debate which formats fully qualify.\"}, {\"@type\": \"HowToStep\", \"position\": 4, \"name\": \"Check the AI setting in Search Console\", \"text\": \"Since 2026 Search Console has had a setting that excludes your site from AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting regular rankings, according to Google. If someone switched it on by mistake, AI Overviews will not cite you.\"}, {\"@type\": \"HowToStep\", \"position\": 5, \"name\": \"Confirm the crawlers are actually visiting\", \"text\": \"Check your server access log for AI crawler visits. If a crawler never appears, something is still blocking it, usually a firewall rule or bot protection.\"}], \"@id\": \"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/aeo-strategy-get-recommended-by-ai\/#howto\", \"inLanguage\": \"en\"}, {\"@type\": \"Person\", \"@id\": \"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/#milan-frano\", \"name\": \"Milan Fra\u0148o\", \"url\": \"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/\", \"worksFor\": {\"@type\": \"Organization\", \"name\": \"wooacademy.sk\", \"url\": \"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/\"}, \"knowsAbout\": [\"SEO\", \"Technick\u00e9 SEO\", \"WordPress\", \"Google Search Console\"]}]}<\/script>\n\n\n<!-- wp:themify-builder\/canvas \/-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How AI assistants pick their sources, how to find where AI mentions you and where it does not, why YouTube is the strongest signal, how to avoid blocking AI crawlers and how to measure results. A complete AEO strategy with current data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[824],"tags":[828],"class_list":["post-29907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seo","tag-seo-doktor","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wooacademy.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}