There is no magic file that gets you into ChatGPT. There is authority.
AI cites best those it can identify, verify and connect to trusted sources - not those who install a plugin.
Showing up in AI is still SEO - plus a clear entity and reputation.
Two terms circle this topic, and the market defines them differently. Some split by mechanism (AEO = being the direct answer in snippets and AI Overviews; GEO = being cited inside the response of a generative engine like ChatGPT or Perplexity); others split by layer (AEO = the content's semantics, making it citable; GEO = what makes it deserve the citation: authority and originality). The acronyms overlap and neither is a button - not worth fighting over them. They all reduce to the same foundation: solid SEO, a clear entity and authority. In practice, what matters for your business are two fronts:
A customer searches for your company in ChatGPT and gets “couldn't find it” or a wrong fact. The cause is rarely a missing file - it's a poorly resolved identity: the AI isn't sure who you are. The solution is entity (see Entity Resolution), not a plugin.
Someone asks “best [your category]” and the AI synthesizes a few sources. To get cited, what counts is what the evidence shows: ranking well, having extractable content (with facts and sources) and being mentioned beyond your own site (press, third parties). It's authority, not hidden markup.
The market's promise - and what actually counts.
When AI understands, it cites.
Bing has become a strategic layer of AI visibility. ChatGPT Search and Copilot raised the importance of being findable outside Google.
The official word from Google: Search doesn't use llms.txt, “AI text files” or any special schema for its AI features - “it's still SEO”.
Peer-reviewed study: citing sources, statistics and authoritative language increases visibility; keyword stuffing reduces it.
Structuring entity data helps AI understand you: complete entity pages raised accuracy vs. plain HTML - JSON-LD alone, a modest gain.
Do I need llms.txt to show up in ChatGPT or Google?+
No. Google states that Search doesn't use it, and AI bots ignore the file in practice.
Can I pay to show up?+
You pay for ads, not for the organic citation. ChatGPT (pilot announced in Brazil), Google (in AI Overviews) and Copilot already show ads that are labeled and separated from the answer - and OpenAI states they don't influence the content. Being the source cited as trustworthy is still earned: authority, not paid media.
What's the difference between AEO and GEO?+
They're market terms with no settled definition: some split by mechanism (direct answer vs. citation in a generative engine), others by layer (content semantics vs. the authority that earns the citation). To top it off, the paper that coined 'GEO' (KDD 2024) used GEO for the content tactics many attribute to AEO. They overlap; both depend on SEO, entity and authority.
Does schema make AI cite me more?+
Not directly - it helps AI understand your entity, which is the foundation. It's not a citation button.
Want to know if AI can see your company?
Run the free audit and find out, in under a minute, whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity can confirm who your company is - or still mix you up.