Getting found / Explainer
What does an AI search agency actually do?
I'd expect an AI search agency to hand over a report that names the pages it checked and explains what needs changing. If an assistant quotes an old price, the report should show the answer, identify the source where possible and say who will correct it. That is something a business owner can discuss and approve.
The work starts with how customers look for your services in tools such as ChatGPT and Google AI search. It can involve testing answers, checking whether relevant crawlers can reach your pages and improving the information people find. You may see labels such as GEO, meaning generative engine optimisation. Ask which platforms and tasks the proposal actually covers.
Agree which customer questions and services matter
Bring the questions people ask before buying. A local appointment business might want to be found for a particular treatment, its service area and whether weekend appointments are available. Agree the facts before anyone tests an answer. A service you do not offer should not become a target because a tool suggests it.
The brief should name the pages, assistants and competitors being reviewed, along with how many questions will be tested. Include questions that do not name your business. Keep any branded checks separate so a correct answer about your own name is not mistaken for being discovered by a new customer.
I'd also ask whether the price covers an audit, changes to the website or ongoing work. Establish who will do the implementation before deciding whether the proposal is good value.
Get a dated record of the answers and sources
A useful audit keeps the question, date, platform and settings the person could see, alongside the complete answer and its linked sources. It records an absence as well as an appearance. Another person should be able to understand how a mention was counted without relying on a cropped screenshot.
Ask for factual errors to be recorded separately. Being mentioned with the wrong opening hours is a problem to investigate. Where an answer cites another website, the agency should distinguish that source from your own page and explain what evidence connects it to the error.
Treat this as a documented sample. Agree how the same questions will be checked again, and keep the wording stable. A later change in an answer deserves investigation; it does not prove that a particular website edit caused it.
Expect checks of access and the information on the page
Google requires supporting pages in AI Overviews and AI Mode to be indexed and eligible for a search snippet, with no additional technical requirements. Ask the agency to provide evidence of any access or indexing problem it identifies.
Check crawler access, including hosting restrictions, and whether important information is readable as text. Ask which business details need correcting. Structured data should match the visible content.
For ChatGPT, OpenAI documents OAI-SearchBot as its search crawler and GPTBot as a separate control for potential model training. An agency should explain which setting it proposes to change and why. Agree your policy before somebody changes bot rules on your behalf.
Google says its AI search features need no special AI files or schema. If a proposal charges for one, ask which platform requires it and what it will achieve.
Source: Google Search Central: AI features and your website; OpenAI: overview of crawlers
Ask for a fix list your developer can use
Each recommendation should name the affected page or profile, the evidence behind the finding and the proposed action. Add who needs to approve it, an effort estimate and how completion will be checked. Separate an observed fault from an idea the agency wants to try.
These are illustrative entries showing the level of detail I would ask for. They are not findings from a customer audit. Priority depends on the evidence and the pages that matter to the business.
| Finding to document | Action and completion check |
|---|---|
| A relevant crawler receives a challenge on a service page. | Give the developer the request evidence. Review the applicable rule and retest the route after an approved change. |
| A current service page omits the area the business covers. | Ask the owner to confirm the service area, update the page and check that the published wording is accurate. |
| A cited profile displays an old opening time. | Identify who controls that profile, request a correction and record when the change becomes visible. |
| Two pages give different prices for the same service. | Get the owner to approve the current offer, correct the conflicting copy and recheck both pages. |
Require a report that explains what its numbers mean
Ask where each figure comes from and which platforms and dates it covers. Keep observed mentions and citations separate from recorded website visits and qualified enquiries. The report should explain how an enquiry is counted and acknowledge the gaps in attribution.
Microsoft's AI Performance reporting shows citation activity across supported AI experiences. Its documentation distinguishes citation counts from ranking or placement. The later Citation Share guidance also says that the measure does not represent traffic share or a content quality score. Ask an agency using those figures to retain those definitions in its report.
Google includes its AI search traffic in Search Console's Web performance reporting. Growth in that total alone cannot establish an AI-only result. Ask the agency to identify its report and explain any inference it makes.
Agree a review period and record other changes to the website. Where the evidence is limited, the next recommendation may be to gather more observations before paying for a larger content programme.
Source: Microsoft: introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools; Microsoft: AI visibility insights and Citation Share; Google Search Central: AI features and your website
Decide what you are buying after the audit
A one-off audit should leave you with findings you can use yourself or hand to a developer. Implementation needs its own scope: which pages will change, who checks the facts and what access the person doing the work needs. Confirm whether that work is included in the price.
For ongoing support, ask what will happen each month and what would justify changing the plan. A report might show that a factual correction has been published while citations and enquiries have not changed. Keep both observations so the next decision rests on what happened.
Before agreeing, I'd want answers to these questions in writing:
- Which questions, pages and platforms are included, and what will I receive?
- Which changes are included in the fee, and who approves business information?
- How will the report separate a citation, a visit and a useful enquiry?
- Can I keep the findings and have someone else carry out the work?
Sources
Checked on 22 October 2026.
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
Eligibility, existing SEO requirements, content and crawler checks, structured data and Search Console reporting for Google AI search features. These statements concern Google, not every AI platform.
- OpenAI: overview of crawlers
The separate purposes and controls of OAI-SearchBot for search and GPTBot for potential model training.
- Microsoft: introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools
Citation activity, supported experiences and the distinction between citation counts and ranking or placement. The proposed audit and fix-list examples are editorial recommendations, not customer results.
- Microsoft: AI visibility insights and Citation Share
The observational meaning of Citation Share and why it is not traffic share, a ranking system or a content quality score.