How to grow your website's visibility on Google and in AI search

Visibility is no longer only about ranking on Google. More and more people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI answers instead. The good news: the same fundamentals help with both. This is the checklist I used to grow TracklistFinder and that I apply to client sites.

1. Fix the technical foundations

Search engines can't rank what they can't load or read.

• Speed. Aim for good Core Web Vitals on mobile. Compress images, cut unused scripts.
• Indexing. A clean robots.txt, an XML sitemap and canonical URLs.
• Server-rendered content. If your text only appears after JavaScript runs, many crawlers miss it.
• HTTPS and a mobile viewport. Non-negotiable.

You can check most of these in a minute with the free website audit.

2. Write for what people search

Your customers don't search for your product name. They search for their problem: "how to launch a product", "turn YouTube mix into Spotify playlist". Make a list of these questions from customer conversations, then give each important one its own page that answers it better than anything else online.

• One main topic per page, stated in the title and H1.
• Answer the question early, then go deeper.
• Use your customers' words, not your internal jargon.

3. Structure pages so machines understand them

• A unique title (around 50–60 characters) and meta description for every page.
• One H1, then a logical H2/H3 outline.
• Structured data (JSON-LD): Organization, Product, FAQ, Article, as relevant.
• Descriptive alt text on images and meaningful link text.
• Open Graph tags so shared links look good.

4. Get recommended by AI assistants

AI assistants recommend what they can read, understand and trust. You can't buy a spot, but you can make it much more likely:

• Allow AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) in robots.txt, unless you have a reason not to.
• Add an llms.txt file that summarises who you are and links your key pages.
• Write clear, factual statements about what you do, for whom and where.
• Answer common questions directly; FAQ sections are easy for AI to quote.
• Be mentioned on the sites and communities assistants already cite.

5. Earn mentions and links

Links and mentions still signal trust. The sustainable ways to get them: build something useful (a free tool, a dataset, a guide), show up in your niche communities, and get listed in directories your customers actually use.

6. Turn visibility into customers

More traffic to a confusing page is wasted traffic. On every important page, a visitor should understand in seconds what you offer, for whom, and what to do next.

• One primary call to action per page, visible without scrolling.
• Proof near the call to action: results, logos, testimonials.
• Short forms. Every extra field costs leads.

7. Measure and repeat

Set up Google Search Console and simple analytics. Each month, look at which queries bring impressions but few clicks (improve titles), which pages get traffic but no conversions (improve the page), and which questions you haven't answered yet (write the next page).

Visibility compounds. A few well-made pages, kept up to date, beat a hundred thin ones.