Is your website ready for ChatGPT? A 10-point check
Your website is ready for ChatGPT when AI search crawlers are allowed in, your pages show their text without JavaScript, one page says in plain words what you do, who for, where and how to start, and the rest of the web agrees with what your site says about you. You can check it yourself in about 20 minutes, then confirm it by asking ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity the questions your buyers ask.
None of this needs special "AI markup." Google says plainly that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. The work is ordinary: be reachable, clear and consistent, and answer real questions.
What is the 10-point check?
Work down the table in order. If point 1 or 2 fails, fix it first: good writing can't help a page a crawler can't read.
| # | Check | How to check | Pass if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crawlers are allowed in | Open yoursite.com/robots.txt in a browser and read every "User-agent" and "Disallow" line. | Nothing blocks OAI-SearchBot, Googlebot, Bingbot, PerplexityBot or Claude-SearchBot from your main pages. |
| 2 | Text shows without JavaScript | Turn JavaScript off in Chrome DevTools and reload your home and service pages. | Headings, body text, prices and contact details still appear. |
| 3 | A plain-words "what we do" page | Ask someone outside your business to read your home or about page for 30 seconds, then tell you what you do. | They can say what you do, who it is for, where you work and how to start. |
| 4 | Consistent name, address, phone and profiles | Compare your site footer, Google Business Profile, Bing listing, Instagram, LinkedIn and any directories side by side. | Name, address, phone and website match everywhere, and your site links to your real profiles. |
| 5 | Structured data where true | Paste a page into Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. | Organization (and LocalBusiness if you serve a place) is present, valid and matches the visible text. |
| 6 | Google Business Profile and Bing Places | Search your business name on Google and Bing, and check the listing panel. | Both listings exist, are claimed by you, and have hours, category, photos and the right website. |
| 7 | Reviews and third-party mentions | Search your name plus "reviews," and look for your business on directories your buyers use, such as Clutch for B2B services. | Recent reviews exist on at least one public platform, and other sites describe you the way you describe yourself. |
| 8 | Answers to real buyer questions | Write down the 10 questions buyers ask before they hire you. Search your own site for each answer. | Each question has a clear, written answer on a page, not only in a PDF or a sales call. |
| 9 | Video and image descriptions | Check alt text on key images, and look for a written description or transcript beside each video. | Images have descriptive alt text, videos have a description and transcript, and a video sitemap or VideoObject markup exists if video matters to you. |
| 10 | Tested with real questions | Ask ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity 10 to 20 buyer questions. Record who gets named. | You have a dated record, and your business appears in at least some answers where it should. |
Can AI search crawlers reach your site? (points 1 and 2)
1. Check robots.txt for the right crawler names
As of October 2026, these are the published search crawler names that matter:
- OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI). OpenAI says sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- Googlebot (Google). Its robots.txt rules affect Google Search, which includes AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Bingbot (Microsoft Bing). OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT search may share disassociated search queries with third-party search providers such as Bing, so being indexed by Bing is worth protecting. Bing's user agent is bingbot.
- PerplexityBot (Perplexity). Perplexity's documentation says, "we recommend allowing PerplexityBot" in robots.txt, so your site can appear in its results.
- Claude-SearchBot (Anthropic). Anthropic says blocking it may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results.
Don't confuse search crawlers with training crawlers. GPTBot (OpenAI) and ClaudeBot (Anthropic) collect content that may be used to train models. Google-Extended is a separate token that controls some Gemini training and grounding, and Google says it does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search. You can block training crawlers and still allow search crawlers. The common mistake is a blanket "Disallow: /" left over from a staging site, or a security plugin that blocks unknown bots.
2. Check that your text loads without JavaScript
Many modern sites build the page in the browser with JavaScript. Google can handle that: its renderer is a headless Chromium that runs the script before indexing. But the same Google guide warns that not all bots can run JavaScript, and recommends server-side or pre-rendering.
- Open your home page in Chrome and open DevTools.
- Press Command+Shift+P on a Mac (Control+Shift+P on Windows), type "javascript," choose Disable JavaScript and reload.
- If headings and prices vanish, some AI crawlers may not see them either.
- For Google's own view, run a live test in Search Console's URL Inspection tool and open "View tested page" to see the rendered HTML and a screenshot.
Is it clear who you are and what you do? (points 3 to 5)
3. One page that answers four questions
AI answers are built from sentences. If no sentence on your site says what you do, who for, where and how to start, the model has to guess. "Crafting timeless experiences" gives it nothing to quote. "Private chef dinners for 6 to 20 guests in Brooklyn and Manhattan, booked with a deposit online" gives it everything. Put a sentence like that near the top of your home and about pages.
4. Same name, address, phone and profiles everywhere
If your site says "Studio Nine Salon," Google says "Studio 9 Hair" and Yelp has an old phone number, there are three versions of you. Pick one spelling and one number, and fix every listing to match. Then add your real profiles to your Organization markup with the sameAs property, which Google describes as the URL of a page on another website with additional information about your organization.
5. Structured data that tells the truth
Structured data is a small block of code that labels facts on the page. Use the types that are true for you:
- Organization on every business site, with logo, contact details and sameAs links. Google says it helps it better understand your organization's administrative details.
- LocalBusiness if customers visit you or you serve a defined area, with business hours and address.
- Service or Product on the pages that describe what you sell.
- Article on guides and blog posts, with author and date.
- FAQPage where a page really has questions and answers. Note that Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in 2026, so the visible questions and answers matter more than the markup.
Google's rule is simple: your structured data must be a true representation of the page content, and its AI features guide asks you to make sure structured data matches the visible text.
Does the rest of the web agree with you? (points 6 and 7)
6. Google Business Profile and Bing Places
Google says local results depend on relevance, distance, and prominence, and that businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up. Claim your profile, choose the right primary category, add hours, photos and your website. Then claim your Bing listing. Bing Places is a free online platform, and Microsoft says it can import your listing from Google, so this takes minutes once your Google profile is right.
7. Reviews and mentions on other sites
Google counts reviews and links from other websites toward how well known a business is. Ask happy clients for reviews on the platform your buyers check (Google for local services, Clutch for agencies and B2B services, which calls itself a resource for discovering and validating service providers). Get listed in the two or three directories that matter in your field, described in the same words your site uses.
Do your pages answer what buyers actually ask? (points 8 and 9)
8. Answers to real buyer questions
People ask AI tools full questions: "How much does a wedding photographer in Austin cost," "Which restaurants near Union Square take groups of 12," "Is this software good for teams under 20." If the answer only lives in your head, a PDF or a reply email, it can't be quoted. Put each answer on the right page in two to four clear sentences. Google's own test for helpful content asks whether a page offers a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic, and an honest answer with a price range or a timeline usually passes.
9. Describe your images and videos in words
Crawlers read words. Give key images descriptive alt text: Google's example of good alt text is "Dalmatian puppy playing fetch", not a list of keywords. For video, Google recommends a dedicated watch page for each video, a unique title and description, and a video sitemap or VideoObject structured data. Add a transcript under each important video.
How do you test it in ChatGPT, AI Mode and Perplexity? (point 10)
- Write 10 to 20 questions a real buyer would type, in their words. Mix broad ones ("best youth modeling events in Miami") with specific ones ("how do kids apply to walk in a fashion show in Chicago").
- Ask each one in ChatGPT with search on, in Google AI Mode, and in Perplexity. Use a logged-out or private window where you can, so your history doesn't color the result.
- Record in a spreadsheet: the date, the tool, the question, whether you were named, who was named instead, and which pages were cited.
- Repeat the same questions every month after you make changes. Answers vary day to day, so compare the count across all questions.
The cited sources are the most useful column. If competitors keep getting named from a directory or a review site you aren't on, that tells you exactly where to show up next. Our guide on how to get recommended by ChatGPT goes deeper on this step.
What does it look like when this works?
For Young Fashion Show, a youth fashion show in Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles, the new site we built went live 13 days after the contract. ChatGPT now names the show in 34 of 41 real buyer questions (29 in the first test, the day after launch), and Google AI Overviews in 16 of 41 (9 in the first test). Google visitors who applied went from 1 in 74 to 1 in 12.
What can't this check promise?
Passing all ten points makes your site readable and believable. It does not guarantee that ChatGPT, Google or Perplexity will name you for any given question. Each company decides what to show, answers change from day to day, and a competitor with years of reviews and press will often be named first. The check removes the reasons you would be left out and gives you a dated record of progress.
How can Project 66 Studio help?
If you want a second opinion first, run the free AI check in the plan builder on our pricing page. To have us do the work, Google & AI search setup is $490 once for one of SEO, AEO or GEO, $990 once for all three, or $299/mo for all three as an ongoing monthly service; we confirm the final price before any work begins. Start a project and tell us which of the ten points you failed.
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Questions people ask
Do I need an llms.txt file for ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews?
No file of that kind is required for Google. Google says you don't need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and in June 2026 it clarified that llms.txt files aren't needed for Google Search. Spend the time on clear page text, accurate listings and structured data that matches what the page shows.
Will blocking GPTBot remove my site from ChatGPT search?
No. OpenAI uses GPTBot for collecting content that may train its models, and a separate crawler, OAI-SearchBot, for ChatGPT search. OpenAI says sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, so that is the one to keep allowed if you want to be found.
How long does it take for changes to show up in ChatGPT or Perplexity?
OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to reach its search results, and Perplexity says changes may take up to 24 hours. Content changes take longer, because pages need to be recrawled and other sites need time to mention you. Re-run the same set of test questions monthly and compare counts rather than checking one answer daily.
Is FAQ schema still worth adding?
It is no longer a way to win extra space in Google, because Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in 2026. The questions and answers written on the page are what matter, because that visible text is what search engines and AI tools read and quote. If a page truly has a Q&A section, valid FAQPage markup that matches it does no harm.
Does a small local business need all ten points?
Most local businesses get the biggest gains from points 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7: crawlers allowed in, a plain description of what you do and where, consistent contact details, claimed Google and Bing listings, and recent reviews. Video sitemaps and detailed structured data matter more if you publish a lot of video or sell many services. Run the full check once, then fix the failures in table order.
Read next
- We asked 7 AI assistants 41 buyer questions. Here's what decides who gets named
- How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT, Google AI and other assistants
- Website redesign checklist for 2026: what to keep, what to drop
Sources
- Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, OpenAI (read 26 Oct 2026).
- ChatGPT search, OpenAI Help Center (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?, Anthropic (Claude Help Center) (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Perplexity Crawlers, Perplexity (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Google's common crawlers, Google for Developers (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Bingbot is coming to town, Bing Webmaster Blog (read 26 Oct 2026).
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Understand JavaScript SEO Basics, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Disable JavaScript, Chrome for Developers (read 26 Oct 2026).
- URL Inspection tool, Search Console Help (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Organization structured data, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Local Business (LocalBusiness) structured data, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- General structured data guidelines, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Latest Google Search documentation updates, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Introducing the New Bing Places for Business, Microsoft Bing Blogs (read 26 Oct 2026).
- About Clutch.co: Our Mission & Values, Clutch (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Video SEO best practices, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).
- Image SEO best practices, Google Search Central (read 26 Oct 2026).