Make content useful in AI-assisted search

Answer a real question with your own information

Choose a precise question customers actually ask. Give a direct answer, then the conditions, examples and limits that support a decision. A generic restatement of widely available pages adds little for readers.

Add what your organisation can document: a method, scope, dated measure, anonymised example or explained choice. The sources and evidence guide separates observation from promise.

• Audience question identified.
• Useful answer near the start.
• Original, checkable details.

Make facts verifiable

Say who owns information, when it was checked and what it depends on when those details affect meaning. Link a claim to a primary source or a page explaining the method. Correct stale numbers rather than stacking update dates.

Clear headings, readable HTML text and descriptive internal links serve people first and help systems understand the page. Images can illustrate evidence, but essential facts should remain in text.

• Useful owner and date visible.
• Sources accessible.
• Essential facts available as text.

Keep technical foundations sound

Check that important pages are accessible, indexable and linked within the site. A page excluded, blocked or ineligible for a snippet cannot rely on a special file to appear in Google AI Search features.

Google’s guidance on generative search says no special GEO markup or LLM file is required. Structured data must match visible content without invented properties.

• Page accessible to relevant crawlers.
• Internal links and snippet eligibility checked.
• Markup matches displayed content.

Measure without promising citations

Track queries, useful visits and enquiries actually received, then compare with a baseline. Visibility in an answer varies by question, user and system; one screenshot does not measure lasting reach.

Review pages when offers, evidence or questions change. The measurement guide connects traffic to outcomes without automatically attributing every visit to a generated answer.

Search Console’s generative AI report shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode; Search Labs experiments are excluded and Discover has a separate report. These data are included in the Web search type of the performance report. Do not add them to the Web total as an additional audience. An impression indicates link exposure, not a visit or a business enquiry.

To reconcile pages, use the final URL after redirects and the canonical URL to which data are generally assigned. Report dates use Pacific Time (PT): check this difference before comparing a day with an analytics tool configured for Paris. Keep the period, country, device, filters and aggregation level together; differences between a property total and summed pages can arise from counting methods.

• Baseline recorded.
• Results tied to visitor needs.
• Editorial review planned.

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• Google Search Console : Generative AI performance report

  Consulted on 22 October 2026; covered features, inclusion in Web, page attribution and date time zone.

• Google Search Central : Generative AI search

  Consulted on 22 October 2026; operation and visibility requirements for AI features in Google Search.

Check Google controls and measure AI impressions

Google documentation consulted on 9 October 2026 now distinguishes an inclusion control for generative Search features and a dedicated performance report. In Search Console, check the relevant property’s setting and any inheritance before interpreting missing visibility. Inclusion establishes eligibility, not a guaranteed citation. This control does not replace indexing, snippet controls or controls concerning model training.

The generative AI report describes impressions in the covered features. Compare consistent periods, final pages, devices and countries. An absent report may reflect insufficient volume; it does not by itself establish exclusion. Separate impressions from visits and actual enquiries. Without property access, both the setting and results remain unverified.