seoAI SEO and Generative Engine Optimization in New York
AI SEO, also called generative engine optimization (GEO) or answer engine optimization (AEO), is the work of getting a business named and linked when people ask Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity for recommendations. Dmytro Verzhykovskyi has worked on AI search visibility since 2024 and treats it as an engineering problem first: whether AI crawlers can reach the site, whether they can read its facts, and whether the result shows up in measurable data.
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- Gold, Best SEO Professional, ECDMA Global Awards 2025
- Pinnacli LLC, listed in the Google Partners directory
- Practicing SEO since 2012
- Juror for the ECDMA Global Awards, the AdForum PHNX Awards, and The Independent Agency Awards
Buyers Moved From Learning About AI SEO to Hiring for It
US Google searches that ask what AI SEO, GEO, or AEO means fell by about half between September 2025 and August 2026, while searches for AI SEO agencies, services, and consultants ran at more than twice their winter level from March 2026 on.
- Learning searches: what AI SEO, GEO, and AEO mean
- Hiring searches: AI SEO agency, services, consultant
Source: Google Ads Keyword Planner, United States, English, pulled September 24, 2026. Learning: 8 phrases such as ai seo, generative engine optimization, and answer engine optimization. Hiring: 9 phrases such as ai seo agency, ai seo services, and ai seo consultant. Keyword Planner rounds monthly volumes into ranges.
Show the data as a table
| Month | Learning | Hiring |
|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 28,860 | 7,180 |
| October 2025 | 22,300 | 2,960 |
| November 2025 | 22,390 | 2,730 |
| December 2025 | 17,750 | 3,120 |
| January 2026 | 19,320 | 3,280 |
| February 2026 | 20,930 | 3,660 |
| March 2026 | 24,220 | 7,500 |
| April 2026 | 18,730 | 5,810 |
| May 2026 | 17,800 | 6,600 |
| June 2026 | 18,040 | 6,290 |
| July 2026 | 16,030 | 14,080 |
| August 2026 | 15,640 | 8,230 |
The search data suggests that more US businesses now shop for AI SEO help instead of reading about it, which puts a premium on being the provider, or the brand, that AI answers already name.
Two Paths Into AI Answers
A business reaches AI answers along two separate paths, and each path fails in its own way: Google's AI features draw on the Google index, while ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity send their own crawlers to fetch pages.
Path 1: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
Crawls the page like any other search visit
The page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet
Supporting links come from indexed pages
Path 2: ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity
OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot
The crawler must get through robots.txt and the firewall
Answers cite the pages their crawlers could read
What Google says: "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features. There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add." Source: Google Search Central, AI features and your website.
AI Crawler Directory
The table below lists the AI crawlers and robots.txt tokens that matter for search visibility, with what each one does and whether it follows robots.txt, as documented by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, Apple, Meta, and Common Crawl.
| Operator | Crawler or token | What it does | Follows robots.txt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Googlebot | Crawls for Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode | Yes | |
| Google-Extended | robots.txt token for Gemini training and grounding; no separate crawler, no effect on Search | Token only | |
| OpenAI | OAI-SearchBot | Finds pages for ChatGPT search | Yes |
| OpenAI | GPTBot | Collects content to train OpenAI models | Yes |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT-User | Opens pages a person asks ChatGPT to visit | May not apply, per OpenAI |
| Anthropic | Claude-SearchBot | Finds pages for Claude search | Yes |
| Anthropic | ClaudeBot | Collects content to train Anthropic models | Yes |
| Anthropic | Claude-User | Opens pages for a Claude user | Yes |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot | Finds pages for Perplexity answers; not used for model training | Yes |
| Perplexity | Perplexity-User | Opens pages for a Perplexity user | Generally ignores it, per Perplexity |
| Apple | Applebot | Crawls for Siri, Spotlight, and Safari search | Yes |
| Apple | Applebot-Extended | robots.txt token for Apple model training; no separate crawler | Token only |
| Meta | Meta-WebIndexer | Finds pages for Meta AI search | Yes |
| Meta | meta-externalagent | Collects content for AI training and Meta products | Yes |
| Meta | meta-externalfetcher | Opens links at a user request | May bypass it, per Meta |
| Common Crawl | CCBot | Builds the open web dataset many AI models train on | Yes |
A ready-made file for these crawlers comes out of the free robots.txt builder for AI crawlers.
What the AI SEO Service Includes
The AI SEO service at seodima.com covers access, clarity, and measurement: AI crawlers must reach the pages, the pages must state the business's facts plainly, and the results must show up in data you can check.
| Part of the service | What gets done |
|---|---|
| AI crawler access | robots.txt, firewall, CDN, and rate-limit rules checked against real crawler requests, verified by published IP ranges |
| Search eligibility | Indexing, snippet controls, and rendering fixed for the pages that should appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode |
| Entity and structured data | Name, locations, services, people, and prices aligned across the site, its schema.org markup, and third-party profiles |
| Extractable answers | Key pages restructured so each section opens with a direct answer that still makes sense when quoted alone |
| llms.txt, done right | An accurate summary file with real example questions, reachable by the crawlers that ask for it |
| Monthly AI visibility check | Search Console, GA4, verified crawler logs, and a fixed set of buyer questions asked in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and Claude |
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How AI Visibility Is Measured
AI visibility at seodima.com is measured in four places, because no single report covers Google AI features, ChatGPT, and the other assistants at once, and each source answers a different question.
| Source | What it shows | What it misses |
|---|---|---|
| Search Console generative AI report | How often Google showed the site in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page | ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity; which answer used the link |
| GA4 referrals | Visits and leads from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, and other assistants | Answers that named the business without a click |
| Server logs | Whether verified AI crawlers can fetch the pages | Whether the fetched page was cited |
| Monthly answer checks | What assistants actually say about the business and its competitors | Answers to questions outside the fixed set |
The method is explained step by step in the note on tracking AI Overviews in Search Console.
AI SEO Case Study: Named in ChatGPT's Answer
When ChatGPT is asked for interior design companies in Dubai, its answer names two brands Dmytro Verzhykovskyi works with, in a category where both compete with much larger firms.
- Question asked
- Interior design companies in Dubai
- Result
- Antonovich Design and Solomia Home both appear in ChatGPT's list
- Work behind it
- Crawler access, consistent facts across the web, and pages that answer buyer questions directly
Honest Expectations for AI SEO
No consultant controls what an AI system says, and anyone promising a guaranteed placement in ChatGPT answers is selling something nobody can verify. What the work reliably changes is access and clarity, and the monthly check shows the trend honestly, including the months where nothing moves. Most engagements combine this service with technical SEO services and AI crawler and bot management.
AI SEO: Frequently Asked Questions
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the work of making a business easy for AI search systems to find, read, and cite: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Claude, and Perplexity. The same work is also called AI SEO or answer engine optimization.
Does AI SEO replace traditional SEO?
AI SEO does not replace traditional SEO. Google AI Overviews and AI Mode only link to pages that are indexed in Google Search and eligible for a snippet, so crawlability, indexing, and clear content remain the foundation, and AI SEO adds crawler access, entity data, and measurement on top.
Does my website need an llms.txt file?
An llms.txt file is optional. Google states that AI Overviews and AI Mode need no AI text files, and server logs show crawlers downloading llms.txt without any evidence that the file changes citations. The file is cheap to publish and worth keeping accurate, but it is not a ranking lever.
Should I block AI crawlers like GPTBot?
Blocking AI crawlers is a business decision. OpenAI and Anthropic name their training crawlers and their search crawlers separately, so a site can refuse model training while staying open to ChatGPT search and Claude search, and the firewall has to match what robots.txt says.
See What AI Assistants Say About Your Business
Send your company name and website, and Dmytro Verzhykovskyi replies with how Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Claude currently describe your business, whether their crawlers can reach your site, and a fixed price for the work.
