Start with the distinction between Google Search and the Gemini app. A website owner can follow Google's published guidance for AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search; that guidance does not promise a placement in every Gemini experience. For Search, Google says that its established SEO practices still apply and that no special AI file, tag or schema is required. Google Search Central
Make the important pages eligible and useful
Check that each priority page can be crawled and indexed, is eligible to appear with a snippet, and has an accurate canonical URL. Link to it from relevant pages. Put the essential explanation in readable text rather than hiding it only in an image, video or script. Describe the actual service, audience, conditions, evidence and next step. A list of repeated phrases about Gemini does not answer a visitor's question.
Contribute information that a summary cannot replace
Publish first-hand methods, clear comparisons, limits, original examples and dated facts that you can maintain. Google's generative AI search guidance stresses distinctive content that reflects real knowledge. On a service page, explain what work includes and excludes; on a guide, show a reproducible check. Separate the organisation's own facts from third-party claims and link to primary sources where a technical rule matters.
Help readers and systems identify the subject
Use a descriptive title, logical headings, meaningful links and relevant images with useful alternatives. Structured data may describe entities already visible on the page, but it is not a shortcut to inclusion in AI answers. Keep names, dates, locations and prices consistent across the visible page and any markup. The structured data guide gives a practical validation method.
Check the outcome without promising a citation
Inspect representative queries, page indexing and the Search Console reports available for your property. Record whether the page is shown, clicked and followed by a useful action. A search result may change with query wording, place and time. No consultant can guarantee selection as a supporting link or control the wording of a generated answer.
Practical next step
Choose five questions customers actually ask. For each, identify the existing page, check its eligibility, then improve one missing fact, example or decision aid. Recheck the published page and measure visits and enquiries separately from impressions.