The short version: to get found in AI search, you need to be the clear, trustworthy source that assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI can quote, well-structured pages that answer real questions directly, the exact same business details everywhere you appear, and genuine mentions on the sites those tools already trust. There's no ad slot to buy. It's earned, and most of it is within reach of any small business.
We're Initiate Digital, a Wexford studio, and getting businesses found online is a big part of what we do. The way people search has started to shift: more of your customers are asking an assistant instead of scrolling Google. So we dug into how those assistants choose who to name, in any line of business, and turned it into this guide.
Why does AI search suddenly matter?
Because the way people look things up is shifting. Instead of typing "plumber near me" or "best physio in Cork" into Google and skimming ten links, more people now ask an assistant, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, or Google's own AI answer, a plain question and get one written reply that names a few businesses.
That one change has a big consequence: there is no page two in an AI answer. Google gives everyone a fighting chance across pages of results. An assistant names a handful of options and stops. If you're not in that handful, you're not just further down, you're invisible for that question.
Old search was about ranking a page. AI search is about being the source a machine is willing to repeat in its own words.
The shift, in one picture
Ten links to sift through, versus one answer that names a few businesses and stops.
Search, the old way
You compete across pages of results.
An AI answer
“For a small business in Ireland, a few well-regarded options are…”
Named, or nowhere. There’s no page two.
None of this means Google is finished, it isn't, and it now shows its own AI answers above the usual links. It means there's a new front to be found on, and the businesses that understand it early get named while everyone else is still optimising for the old game.
What do the assistants actually name right now?
To see how this plays out, we took one busy, competitive market, web design in Ireland, and ran the searches people really use. The pattern it reveals is the same one you’ll find in almost any local trade, whether you’re a plumber, a physio, an accountant or a café.
Plain searches favour individual businesses. “Who’s best” questions favour directories. Search plainly, “[your trade] in Galway”, and you mostly get individual businesses’ own websites. But phrase it the way you’d ask an assistant, “who’s the best one for a small business in Ireland?”, and the results flip to directories and “best of” listicles, Golden Pages, Clutch, DesignRush and the like, because a “who’s best” question is exactly what an aggregator is built to answer.
What we found
Share of the top results that were a directory or “best of” list rather than an individual business’s own website.
The businesses that get named aren’t the biggest. They’re the ones an assistant can find clearly, trust, and quote. Any business can become one of them.
A snapshot of the top results across our July 2026 test searches. Rough counts from a quick test, not a formal study.
That flip matters because the second phrasing is how people talk to AI. So the businesses an assistant names tend to be the ones the trusted directories already rank, plus the handful with a clear, well-corroborated presence of their own, the ones easy to quote directly. The good news: that second group is open to anyone willing to do the groundwork.
AI doesn’t invent recommendations, it repeats the best-organised, most-corroborated information it can find. To be named you need to be present in the sources it trusts and clear enough to be quoted directly. Being brilliant but invisible counts for nothing here.
How do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI decide who to name?
Different tools, similar instincts. Each one reads the web and picks sources that are easy to trust and easy to quote. In practice that comes down to four things:
- Relevance and clarity. Does a page answer the exact question, in plain words, near the top, without making the model dig? Clean, direct answers get lifted; rambling sales copy doesn't.
- Consistency. Do your name, location, services and contact details match everywhere the assistant finds you? Contradictions make it unsure who you even are, so it plays safe and names someone else.
- Corroboration. Do other trusted places back you up, Google reviews, directories, a mention in an industry piece, a real profile on LinkedIn? One page saying you're good is a claim; several independent sources is evidence.
- Readability for machines. Is the page structured and marked up so software can parse it cleanly, or is it a wall of text and images?
How the choice is made
Four signals decide whether an assistant is willing to put your name in its answer.
The tools do differ in the details. Perplexity leans heavily on community sources and updated pages and moves fast. ChatGPT's search draws on the wider web and takes a little longer to catch up. Google's AI answers sit on its existing index and reward the same experience-and-trust signals that already matter for ranking. But the fundamentals above hold across all of them, which is good news: you don't optimise four times, you get the basics right once.
So how do you get your business cited in AI answers?
Here's the practical checklist we work through. None of it is exotic, most of it is good business housekeeping that happens to be exactly what the assistants reward.
The businesses AI recommends aren't the loudest. They're the clearest, the most consistent, and the best backed-up.
Where does your website fit in all this?
Your website is the one source in this whole picture that you fully control. It's what an assistant reads to decide what you do, who you're for and whether you're worth naming. A thin, vague or out-of-date site gives it almost nothing to quote, so it reaches for a directory instead, and the directory doesn't send the customer to you.
The reassuring part is that the groundwork for AI search is the same groundwork that makes a genuinely good website: clear structure, real answers, honest proof, and a site that's kept current rather than left to age. Get that right and you're building for customers, for Google and for the assistants all at once.
That's exactly the work we do, and it's now something we set up deliberately for clients who want to be found in AI answers, not just ranked. If you'd like to know where your business currently stands, tell us a little about it and we'll take a look, or see the full picture on our marketing and SEO page. You can also read how the on-page basics come together in our guide to local SEO for Irish businesses.
Common questions about AI search
What is AI search, and how is it different from Google?
AI search is when someone asks an assistant like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot or Google's AI a question and gets one written answer that names a few businesses, instead of a page of links to scroll. Getting mentioned there is sometimes called Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimisation. The big difference is there's no page two: if you're not one of the handful named, you're invisible for that question.
How do I get my business to show up in ChatGPT or Perplexity?
There's no ad slot to buy. Assistants repeat information they can find, quote cleanly and corroborate, so you earn a mention by being a clear, consistent, trustworthy source: pages that answer real questions directly, the same business details everywhere, genuine signals like Google reviews and directory listings, machine-readable structured data, and not blocking the AI crawlers in your robots file.
Is AI search replacing Google?
Not yet, but it's growing fast and it's already changing Google itself, which now shows an AI answer above the normal results for many searches. The sensible approach is to be findable in both, because the groundwork that gets you cited by AI is largely the same groundwork that ranks you well on Google.
Is AI search optimisation different from normal SEO?
A lot overlaps, but AI search leans harder on a few things: answering questions directly and near the top, keeping your business facts identical across the web, being reviewed and mentioned on sources the assistants trust, and marking pages up so machines can read them. Good SEO gives you a strong head start; AI search adds clarity and corroboration on top.
How long does it take to appear in AI answers?
It varies by tool and by how established you already are. Perplexity can pick up new or updated pages within days, while Google's AI answers tend to move on a slower cycle of weeks. A business with consistent details, real reviews and clear content appears far faster than one starting from a thin or contradictory presence.