How do customers find you, on Google and AI?

Customers search in two ways. They type something into Google, or they ask an AI assistant: ChatGPT, Gemini, or the AI answers at the top of Google. Here’s what helps, in plain English.

Is there a separate trick for AI?

No. Google says so itself: its AI answers follow the same rules as ordinary search. The AI looks in the same results as Google Search. So your page just needs to be able to show up on Google, with a short description underneath.

Specialists call this SEO, GEO and AEO. Google calls the whole lot SEO: making sure your website is easy to find. You don’t need to remember any of those letters.

Source: Google Search Central (opens in a new tab), guidance on AI features in Google Search (July 2026).

What helps your business?

No secret knowledge, just a few ordinary things. When someone searches “plumber in Austin” or “fresh bread in Leeds”, this is what helps:

• Real facts on your own website. What you sell, what it costs, when you’re open and where you work.
• The same details as your Google Business Profile. Name, address, phone and opening hours match everywhere.
• Fast pages on a phone. That’s where most customers search.
• Answers to the questions customers actually ask. “Do I need an appointment?” “Can I pay by card?”
• Photos of your real shop and your work, as soon as you have them. Your own counter says more than any stock picture.

The most important part is something only you can tell us. How your bread is baked, which bikes you fix, roughly what a job costs. That’s what sets your website apart from all the others, and Google says it values exactly this kind of first-hand knowledge.

Want to see the difference, with and without a website? Read What do customers find when they look you up?

What do we leave out on purpose?

A lot gets promised about AI and search. Here’s what we don’t do, because Google itself says it isn’t needed, or even works against you:

• No special AI files to steer Google. Google doesn’t use them.
• No chopping text into little chunks for the AI. Google understands normal, well-structured writing.
• No fake mentions or fake reviews. They don’t help, and customers see straight through them.
• No piles of near-identical pages, one for every town. Google calls that spam. We only make pages for the places you really work, with what you do there.

What does Prestido do for every website?

This comes with every package:

• Fast pages that work well on a phone.
• Clear facts: what you do, where, when and for whom. No vague sales talk.
• A tidy structure with clear headings, so people, Google and AI assistants can read every page properly.
• Your details in a form Google can read directly too: name, address, opening hours and services. That helps Google understand the facts, and sometimes it shows them in more detail. It doesn’t automatically earn you a place in an AI answer.

With Counter and Store, we also keep your details up to date afterwards. We keep your Google Business Profile current, and we make pages for the places you really work, with what you do there. See the prices.

How we check every website before it goes live is in What we check before a website goes live.

Can anyone promise you the top spot?

No. If someone promises that, don’t believe them. Google itself says no company outside Google can see into its systems. So we don’t promise it either.

What we do promise: to put your details online so search engines and AI assistants can find and read them. What they answer depends on the question.

What we do is the work that counts: a fast website with real, accurate facts.

We practise what we preachThis website is built the same way. For any assistant that wants it, there’s also a short summary for AI assistants. Google doesn’t use it, and we don’t expect a higher place because of it. We can’t say for certain whether other assistants use it. It holds the same facts as the pages.

No tricks. Real facts about your business, on a fast website.