SEO and AI search in 2026: what your agency should be doing

Search in 2026 has two layers: the familiar list of links and AI answers that summarize the web and cite a few sources. Google says the work that earns a place in both is still SEO. Google Search Central This guide covers each AI search product in plain words, what the click data shows, and what a competent agency should be doing for you now.

How AI search works, in plain words

The AI search products below follow the same basic pattern. A crawler reads public pages. The system picks pages that answer the question, writes a summary, and links to some of its sources. A page the crawler cannot reach never gets to the second step.

Product	Run by	What controls whether your pages appear
AI Overviews and AI Mode	Google	Normal Google indexing, plus snippet controls such as nosnippet
ChatGPT search	OpenAI	Whether robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot
Perplexity search	Perplexity	Whether robots.txt allows PerplexityBot
Gemini app answers	Google	The Google-Extended token, for training and grounding

Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

AI Overviews are the summaries at the top of some Google results. Google says they help people get the gist of a complicated topic or question quickly. AI Mode is a chat-style search for questions that need more exploration, reasoning, or comparison. Google Search Central Both can run several related searches behind the scenes, which Google calls query fan-out. Then they link to pages that support the answer.

On July 22, 2026, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Google had combined AI Overviews and AI Mode into one Search experience. He said AI Mode had passed 1 billion monthly active users after its global expansion in October 2025. Google To appear as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Google Search. Google says there are no other technical requirements. Google Search Central

ChatGPT search

ChatGPT can search the web and answer with links to sources. OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to surface websites in ChatGPT’s search features. Sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. They can still appear as simple links to the site. OpenAI A separate crawler, GPTBot, gathers content for model training. OpenAI says each setting works on its own.

Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI answer engine with its own crawler. Perplexity says PerplexityBot exists to surface and link websites in its search results. It says the bot is not used to crawl content for AI foundation models. Perplexity A second agent, Perplexity-User, visits pages when a person asks a question. Perplexity says that agent acts on a user’s request, so it usually ignores robots.txt rules.

Gemini

The Gemini app answers questions in a chat. Google said it had 950 million monthly active users in July 2026. Google Gemini can ground its answers in content from the Google Search index at the moment a person asks. A robots.txt token called Google-Extended lets sites opt out of that grounding and of Gemini model training. Google says Google-Extended does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search. Google for Developers

Google says GEO and AEO are still SEO

GEO stands for generative engine optimization. AEO stands for answer engine optimization. Agencies use both labels for work aimed at AI answers. On May 15, 2026, Google announced a new guide to its generative AI features in Search. Google Search Central Blog The guide defines both terms. It says work for generative AI search is work for the search experience, and so it is still SEO. Google Search Central

The guide pushes back on several common GEO and AEO claims:

• Special machine-readable files, AI text files, or Markdown copies of pages are not needed to appear in Google Search.
• Content does not need to be broken into tiny chunks for AI, and there is no ideal page length.
• Structured data is not required for generative AI search, and there is no special schema.org markup for it.
• No third-party tool has access to Google’s internal ranking or AI systems.

Microsoft frames it differently. Its Bing team calls its new AI citation report an early step toward GEO tooling. Microsoft Bing For a buyer, the label matters less than the work. Pay for SEO tasks you can see and check, not for a GEO add-on with no defined deliverables.

Google’s position on llms.txt

llms.txt is a text file that Jeremy Howard proposed on September 3, 2024, to help AI agents use a website. llmstxt.org Google’s guide says sites are free to create and maintain one. It says the file will neither help nor harm visibility or rankings in Google Search, and that Google Search ignores it. Google Search Central Treat llms.txt as optional housekeeping. Do not pay extra for it.

What the click data shows

AI answers change how often people click through to websites. Three sources frame the question.

Pew Research Center tracked the Google searches of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025 and published the results on July 22, 2025. Pew Research Center Of 68,879 searches, 18% produced an AI summary. Users clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits with a summary, versus 15% of visits without one. They clicked a link inside the summary in 1% of visits. And 26% of visits with a summary ended the browsing session, versus 16% without one.

On April 27, 2026, Search Engine Journal reported on a randomized field study of AI Overviews. The study found that AI Overviews cut outbound organic clicks by 38% on the searches that triggered them. Search Engine Journal Researchers at the Indian School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University studied 1,065 U.S. desktop Chrome users. Zero-click searches rose from 54% to 72% when an overview appeared. The paper is a draft and has not been peer reviewed.

Google disputes reports of steep traffic declines. Liz Reid, head of Google Search, wrote on August 6, 2025 that total organic click volume from Google Search to websites had been relatively stable year over year. She said Google was sending slightly more quality clicks, meaning clicks where users do not quickly come back. Google On July 22, 2026, Pichai said Google sends billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search. Google

The practical reading for an owner: fewer searches end in a visit, so each visit carries more weight. Being cited in the answer matters. So does turning the visits you do get into leads.

What a competent agency does now

Google’s AI features page lists the basics. Allow crawling in robots.txt and at your CDN or host. Link your pages to each other. Give users a good page experience. Keep important content in text. Make structured data match the visible page. Keep Business Profile and Merchant Center details current. Google Search Central Here is what that looks like as agency work.

It keeps the site technically healthy

A competent agency checks that robots.txt, your CDN, and your hosting firewall let search and AI crawlers through. It watches indexing in Google Search Console and fixes pages Google cannot index. It sets crawler rules with you, one bot at a time. Blocking GPTBot keeps your content out of OpenAI model training. Blocking OAI-SearchBot keeps your pages out of ChatGPT search answers. OpenAI Those are separate choices, and your agency should explain each one in writing.

It uses structured data that matches the page

Structured data is code that labels facts on a page, such as your business name, hours, prices, and reviews. Google says structured data is not required for generative AI search, and no special markup exists for it. It still helps pages qualify for rich results. Google Search Central Google wants the markup to match the visible text on the page. Google Search Central A competent agency marks up your business details, services, products, and FAQs. Then it tests the markup after every site change.

It builds crawlable, fast pages

Google asks site owners to aim for good Core Web Vitals. That means a Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, an Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds, and a Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1. Google Search Central Speed is half the job. The other half is putting your main content in the HTML. A December 2024 analysis by Vercel found that none of the major AI crawlers it studied rendered JavaScript. The list included OpenAI’s crawlers, Anthropic’s ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot. Vercel Text that loads only through JavaScript can be invisible to those crawlers. Ask your agency to test key pages with JavaScript turned off.

It publishes content with a real point of view

Google’s guide tells site owners to offer a unique point of view, such as a first-hand review based on personal experience. It says not to recycle what others have already written, and it names generic tip lists as commodity content. Google Search Central For a local business, a point of view comes from specifics. Think of your prices, your process, your photos, your service area, and the questions your staff hear every week. An agency that ships generic blog posts on a schedule, with no input from you, is producing commodity content.

It keeps business details accurate everywhere

Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. Google Business Profile Help Microsoft says accurate and up-to-date content is important for inclusion and citation in AI-generated answers. Microsoft Bing A competent agency keeps your name, address, phone number, hours, services, and prices identical everywhere they appear. That covers your site, your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, and the major directories in your field. It checks them every quarter.

It measures AI visibility and citations

Google added Search Generative AI performance reports to Search Console on June 3, 2026. Google says the reports reached all websites worldwide by August 31, 2026. Google Search Central Blog They show how often your pages appear in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI features in Discover, by page, country, device, and date. The announcement describes impressions and does not mention clicks.

Microsoft’s Bing Webmaster Tools added an AI Performance report, in public preview, on February 10, 2026. It counts how often your pages are cited in Microsoft Copilot and in AI summaries on Bing, and it shows sample grounding queries. Microsoft Bing

For ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the Gemini app, ask your agency to track referral visits in your analytics. It should run a fixed list of real customer questions through each tool every month. Then it logs whether your business is named, cited, and described correctly. Google tells owners to be wary of third-party tools that promise ranking success or claim to use internal Google metrics. Google Search Central

It reports AI visibility next to rankings and leads

AI visibility is a means, not the goal. Your monthly report should put four sets of numbers side by side:

• Rankings for your core searches
• AI impressions in Search Console and citations in Bing
• Visits from search engines and AI tools
• Leads and revenue by channel

A rise in AI citations with no change in leads is a signal to adjust the work, not a win to celebrate. To compare agencies, start with our shortlists for AI search and SEO. Our methodology explains how the index scores agencies, and the glossary defines the terms in this guide.

Questions to ask an agency about AI search

Use these on your next sales call. Each one comes with what a good answer sounds like.

1. How will you measure our visibility in AI answers? A good answer names the Search Console generative AI report, Bing’s AI Performance report, referral tracking, and a fixed list of test questions.
2. Is your GEO or AEO work different from your SEO work? A good answer says the foundations are the same and names any extra tasks, with a price for each. It does not sell llms.txt as a ranking fix. Google Search ignores the file.
3. Which AI crawlers does our site allow today? A good answer covers OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot, PerplexityBot, and Google-Extended, with a reason for each setting.
4. Can you guarantee we appear in AI Overviews or ChatGPT? The right answer is no. Google says no third-party tool has access to its ranking or AI systems.
5. Where will the point of view in our content come from? A good answer involves interviews with you, your own data, and real photos and examples.
6. How will AI visibility show up next to leads in our reports? A good answer is a sample report with citations, referrals, and leads on one page.