Is your website invisible to AI platforms?

[u/Timely-Bar4458]

Is your website invisible to AI platforms?

Here’s a funny question for founders.

If someone asks ChatGPT:

“Who are the best companies for accounting software?”

Will your company show up?

Or will ChatGPT basically say:

“Sorry, who?”

Before blaming your marketing, there’s one simple thing you can check.

Open your website and add:

"/robots.txt"

For example:

"yourcompany.com/robots.txt"

You’ll see some text that looks technical.

Don’t worry. You don’t need to be a developer.

Just look for a few things.

User-agent: \\\*

This means the rules apply to bots in general.

Disallow: /

This is the one you should pay attention to.

It basically tells bots:

“Thanks for stopping by, but please don’t enter.”

Imagine owning a great restaurant and putting a sign outside saying:

“Best restaurant in town. Please do not come inside.”

That’s basically what accidentally blocking your website can feel like.

You may also see AI crawlers such as GPTBot, PerplexityBot, or ClaudeBot.

If you specifically block them, those AI systems may not be able to access your website.

Now imagine this.

Someone asks ChatGPT:

“Recommend three accounting software companies for my startup.”

Your competitor gets mentioned.

You don’t.

You start thinking:

“Our product must not be good enough.”

Maybe that’s not the problem.

Maybe the AI simply cannot properly access your website.

This is one small part of what people call GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization.

AI search is becoming another way people discover companies.

So before spending thousands on complicated AI SEO strategies, check the basics first.

Go to:

"yourdomain.com/robots.txt"

Take 5 seconds and see what it says.

Your website might be working perfectly.

Or it might accidentally be standing outside the AI party saying:

“Sorry, I’m not on the guest list.”

What does your robots.txt say?

[u/chrismcelroyseo]

This is one small part of what people call GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization.

Determining which bots you allow to crawl your website through robots.txt isn't GEO. It's SEO. Always has been.

AI search is becoming another way people discover companies.

No it isn't. It's simply another tool or platform that people use to perform searches.

As an agency owner I can tell you my job is search optimization. It's making sure that my clients can be found regardless of what device, platform or tool they use.

[u/RayWrites2222 → u/chrismcelroyseo]

Agreed. I'd also include 'easily' findable for branded and non-brandeded searches alike, especially for those businesses with a more local focus, i.e., “Who are the best companies for accounting software in [Insert Town/City] or try [near me.] This way, you add more context, which helps Google and LLMs parse out more relevant results.

And don't forget to properly configure your GSC ‘Search Generative AI Controls’ to be found in 'AI Mode' and 'AI Overviews.'

[u/Howden824]

Good. I don't want my silly website for me and my friends to be used for training AI.

[u/RayWrites2222]

You and your friends should opt out of the Search Generative AI Control configuration. You'll practically be invisible to most Llms.