Google’s guidance says a page can appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews and AI Mode when it is indexed and eligible to be shown in Search with a snippet. Google says there are no additional technical requirements, and it also says that meeting the requirements does not guarantee inclusion. These five checks take under an hour.
1. Is the page indexed?
In Search Console, open the URL Inspection tool and enter an important page. It should say the page is on Google. If it is not, fix that first, because nothing else matters until it is.
2. Is crawling allowed everywhere?
Google lists crawl access as a basic requirement. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and check that you are not blocking Googlebot. Then ask your host or CDN provider whether any firewall rule blocks crawlers, since a block there does not show in robots.txt.
3. Have you chosen what to allow for OpenAI?
OpenAI says it uses separate robots.txt rules for its crawlers, and each works independently:
- OAI-SearchBot relates to whether your site can appear in ChatGPT search.
- GPTBot relates to use of content in training.
- ChatGPT-User is not used to crawl automatically, and OpenAI says it is not used to decide whether content appears in search.
You can allow one and block another. OpenAI notes that changes to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to take effect. Confirm the current rules on OpenAI’s own page before you change anything.
4. Are you opted out in Search Console?
Search Console has a control to opt out of generative AI features. If you are opted out, you will not appear in them. Also look at the generative AI report, which shows impressions. See what the report shows and what it leaves out.
5. Does the page answer the question in plain text?
This one is our own recommendation, not a Google requirement. State the main answer near the top in normal text, add the author and date, and show your sources. A page that is clear to a reader is also easier for any system to quote.
For a longer list, read our practical checklist.
