Updated for 2026

How to Get Your Website Recommended by AI: 10 AI SEO Tips

If you own a website, try this little experiment: open ChatGPT and ask a question related to your business. You might ask, “What are the best websites for learning affiliate marketing?” or “What are the best credit websites for beginners?”

Now look at the answer. Does ChatGPT mention your website? If the answer is no, do not start packing your website’s little digital suitcase just yet. Most sites are not being recommended, and there are practical steps you can take to improve your chances.

For years, website owners focused on reaching the first page of Google. Today, we also want our content discovered, understood, cited, and recommended by AI search tools. ChatGPT search can return timely web information with links to relevant sources, but there is no guaranteed placement.

What Is AI SEO?

AI SEO is the process of making your website easier for AI-powered search systems to discover, interpret, trust, and cite. It does not replace regular search engine optimization. Technical SEO, helpful content, internal links, clear site structure, and authority still matter.

The difference is that people often speak to AI tools conversationally. Instead of typing “best email marketing software,” someone might ask, “What is the easiest email marketing software for a beginner with a WordPress website who does not want to spend much money?” Your content should be able to answer both kinds of searches.

1. Make Sure AI Search Crawlers Can Access Your Website

Before rewriting 50 articles or buying another shiny SEO tool, check whether AI search crawlers can access the site. OpenAI uses OAI-SearchBot for search-related discovery. OpenAI advises publishers who want content considered for ChatGPT search summaries and links not to block that crawler.

Check your robots.txt file, hosting firewall, CDN, and security plugins. A perfectly written article cannot be considered if the relevant crawler cannot reach it. This first step begins around 1:25 in the video.

2. Get Your Website Properly Crawled and Indexed

Do not hear “AI SEO” and throw everything you learned about traditional SEO in the trash. Your important pages should be crawlable and indexable. Your sitemap should work, your internal links should make sense, and technical problems should not hide valuable pages.

Use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to check indexing and crawl issues. IndexNow can also notify participating search engines when a URL has been added, updated, or deleted.

This foundation matters because AI search systems still need a way to discover information. A fancy strategy cannot rescue a site whose best content is invisible.

3. Answer Specific Questions Clearly

One of the easiest improvements is putting a direct answer near the top of the relevant section. Do not make readers dig through 1,500 words of throat-clearing before you tell them what they came to learn.

For example, if the question is “How does affiliate marketing work for beginners?” begin with a plain answer:

Affiliate marketing is a business model in which you earn a commission by referring customers to another company’s product or service through a tracked link.

Then expand with examples, commission details, beginner requirements, limitations, mistakes, and follow-up questions. The goal is not to make every article short. The goal is to make the answer clear.

4. Create Content Around Conversational Questions

Think beyond two-word and three-word keywords. Ask what your audience would say if they were sitting across the table from you.

• What problem are they trying to solve?
• What are they comparing?
• What confuses them?
• What are they considering buying?
• What limitations, costs, or risks worry them?

Turn those questions into articles, subheadings, FAQs, tutorials, comparisons, product reviews, and videos. This approach serves people naturally while also giving AI systems clear passages that answer real questions.

5. Create Content That Is Actually Worth Citing

If you ask AI to write a generic definition and publish the first response unchanged, why would anyone need your page? Thousands of pages may already answer the same basic question.

Give your content something extra:

• Test the product you are reviewing.
• Add original screenshots when appropriate.
• Create a tutorial from your experience.
• Compare current prices and features.
• Build a table or checklist readers can use.
• Collect original observations or data.
• Update information that is outdated elsewhere.
• Cite authoritative sources for factual claims.

Do not create content merely because you want ChatGPT to notice it. Create something worth finding. This point begins around 5:30 in the video.

6. Build Topical Authority

If you want your website associated with a subject, cover that subject thoroughly. An affiliate marketing website might build helpful content about choosing a niche, finding affiliate programs, keyword research, SEO, email marketing, disclosures, product reviews, links, conversions, and beginner mistakes.

Link related articles naturally. This creates a useful library and gives readers clear paths to learn more. It also makes the site’s purpose easier to understand.

One affiliate marketing article followed by three months of unrelated celebrity news sends a confusing signal. Focus does not mean repeating the same post. It means covering connected questions for the same audience.

For Success With Trecia, that can include related resources such as how to make money online without hustling, AI product reviews, and the All Things YouTube library.

7. Build Your Brand Outside Your Own Website

Your blog is not the only place where evidence of your brand can exist. Other credible sites can mention your work. You can publish useful videos, contribute expert commentary, appear in interviews, earn references, and have other creators link to genuinely helpful resources.

A business saying, “Trust me, I am amazing,” is not as persuasive as independent, trustworthy sources recognizing that business. Do not interpret AI SEO as permission to publish 500 thin AI articles. Build a real presence.

8. Keep Your Information Current

If you write about software, AI, prices, affiliate programs, search technology, or another fast-moving subject, schedule updates. Correct changed prices, removed features, expired offers, broken links, and outdated screenshots.

An article labeled “2026” should not quietly contain four-year-old information. Accuracy matters to readers, search engines, and AI systems deciding which pages may be useful.

9. Study What AI Is Already Recommending

Ask ChatGPT the questions your ideal visitor might ask, then study the answers. Which companies are mentioned? Which sites are cited? What types of pages appear—tutorials, research, comparisons, forums, product pages, or industry publications?

Do not copy the sources. Study the information environment surrounding the question. Ask why your site is missing and what genuinely useful contribution you could add.

Test multiple natural variations because different wording may produce different answers. Keep a simple spreadsheet containing the question, date, cited sources, content type, whether your brand appeared, and possible content opportunities.

10. Track Whether Your AI SEO Strategy Is Working

Do not optimize for AI and then cross your fingers. OpenAI says referral URLs from ChatGPT include utm_source=chatgpt.com, allowing publishers to identify inbound ChatGPT traffic in analytics.

Watch which pages receive visitors, which topics work, and whether those visitors engage or convert. Bing Webmaster Tools also introduced AI Performance reporting to show when pages are cited in AI-generated answers across Microsoft experiences.

This is where AI SEO becomes measurable. We are not asking whether an AI system “likes” the website. We are looking for evidence: citations, mentions, referral visits, engagement, leads, and sales.

The Biggest AI SEO Mistake to Avoid

Do not start writing for robots. Write for the human being asking the question.

If someone asks, “How can I start affiliate marketing with $100?” give that person the best answer you can create. Make it clear, specific, useful, accurate, current, easy to navigate, and supported by trustworthy sources. Add your genuine experience where appropriate and answer the obvious follow-up questions.

The goal is not to trick ChatGPT. The goal is to become a resource worth recommending.

You want Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and other AI search systems to understand the site—but the real victory happens when a person lands on the page and says, “Finally, somebody actually answered my question.”

Frequently Asked Questions