AI search engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity only recommend businesses whose websites they can read and understand. If yours is unclear — or worse, feeds them the wrong information — you won’t show up in the answers your customers are now getting from AI.
Search has quietly changed
More and more people don’t scroll a list of links anymore — they ask a question and read the answer an AI gives them. “Who’s a good web designer in the Bay of Plenty?” “Best café in Te Puke?” The AI replies with a short list it trusts. If it can’t confidently understand what your business is and who it serves, you’re invisible to that customer. Optimising for this is called GEO — generative engine optimisation.
The file most businesses don’t know they have: llms.txt
llms.txt is a simple text file that tells AI crawlers, in plain language, who you are and what you do. Done well, it’s one of the strongest signals you can give. Done badly — or auto-generated by a plugin with no human checking it — it can dump your page builder’s internal code at the AI and make your business look like noise.
How to check your own site in two minutes
- Visit
yourdomain.co.nz/llms.txt. Is it missing, or full of words like module, row, layout? Red flag. - Ask an AI assistant: “What does [your business] do, based on their website?” If the answer is vague or wrong, AI can’t read you well.
- Check your page speed. Slow, bloated sites are harder for both Google and AI to trust.
The fix
A readable site comes down to three things: a clean, fast build; proper structured data describing your business; and hand-crafted content (and llms.txt) that answers real questions clearly. That’s exactly what we do — we build for Google and AI search. See our GEO service or get an AI-readiness check.
FAQ
What is llms.txt?
A plain-text file on your website that tells AI crawlers who you are and what you do, helping engines like ChatGPT and Gemini represent your business accurately.
Why is my website invisible to AI?
Usually thin or unclear content, no structured data, a slow build, or an auto-generated llms.txt full of page-builder code instead of real information.
Can you check if my site is AI-readable?
Yes — we offer an AI-readiness check for Bay of Plenty businesses and fix whatever’s holding you back.
