Is your website ready for AI search?

Agree which pages matter

Choose three to five public pages that support an important business decision: a priority service, a useful project example, an answer to a common question or the contact page. Write down who each page is for and what the reader should understand or do next. Share the real public website address and identify preview, private or retired pages separately.

Use the nine checks below as a handoff. Assign a named person to each role, then record the page, evidence, status and next action. Use confirmed, needs work or unknown; an unanswered question is not a passed check. Agree who can approve content, access changes and enquiry tests before work begins.

1. Pages · Business owner: confirm the priority URLs, intended audience and decision each page should support.
2. Pages · Business owner: agree which search products matter and which preview or private pages must remain protected.
3. Access · Website partner: check that each public URL reaches the intended page without an unintended error, redirect or security challenge.
4. Access · Website partner: check Google indexing and snippet eligibility, recording any confirmed restriction.
5. Access · Website partner: review ChatGPT and Claude search controls and host restrictions; distinguish permitted access from an actual verified request.
6. Answer · Service owner: confirm fit, scope, service area, limits and the next step; correct missing or misleading information.
7. Answer · Service owner and website partner: verify important claims and publication permission, and check that the main answer and ordinary links are available without scripts.
8. Enquiry · Website partner and enquiry handler: check the phone and keyboard journey, collection notice and expectations before an authorised synthetic submission.
9. Enquiry · Enquiry handler: confirm receipt at the intended destination and name the follow-up owner; leave delivery unknown until receipt is checked.

The sections below explain what a useful answer looks like. Keep the final output practical: confirmed findings, unresolved questions and a short list of owned changes.

Check that search services can reach the pages

Your website partner should check that each priority page opens at the intended address and is not accidentally blocked by an error, redirect or security challenge. They should also review the controls that tell search services whether a public page may be accessed and displayed.

Google’s AI search features need an indexed page eligible to show a search snippet. ChatGPT and Claude have their own crawler controls. Permission for search and permission for training are separate decisions; do not approve training access simply because someone calls it an AI-search fix.

Ask your partner to distinguish a confirmed block from an unexplained absence. Loading a page in a browser does not prove every search service can reach it. Equally, a missing AI mention does not prove an access problem.

Read the page as a buyer

Give the page to someone unfamiliar with the business. Can they explain who the service suits, what is included, any important limits and the next step? If they need a sales call just to understand the basic offer, the page has useful work to do.

Check the facts behind the promise. Business details, service areas, qualifications and project roles should be current and consistent. Important outcome claims need suitable evidence and permission to publish. Clear wording cannot repair an unsupported claim.

Illustrative example: an engineering consultancy says its feasibility advice produces “faster approvals”. The available project material only shows what the assessment included. The useful task is to replace the timing promise with the supported deliverables, or obtain suitable evidence and approval. Creating more articles would leave the original problem unresolved.

Also ask your partner to check that the main answer and ordinary links remain available when scripts are unavailable. Use the service-page guide for missing answers and the case-study guide for stronger proof.

Check the next step actually works

Open the page on a phone and follow the enquiry route. Is the action easy to find? Does the form explain what is needed? Are the confirmation and follow-up expectations clear? Ask someone to try it with a keyboard as well.

Agree a clearly labelled synthetic test with the person who handles enquiries, then confirm it reached the intended recipient. A confirmation screen alone does not prove delivery. Check that the collection notice matches the fields and actual route, and name the person responsible for replying.

Turn the review into a short action list

Put confirmed access or enquiry failures first. Next, correct misleading claims and missing service answers. Then plan useful additions. For each task, name the page, owner, next action and the check that will show it is finished. A content owner may approve the wording while the website partner implements it.

Keep the list small enough to act on. Separate confirmed problems from questions that need investigation. After a change, check the published page or repeat the affected enquiry test before calling the task complete. Revisit the relevant checks when your service, website address, form or provider changes.

For ongoing review, use the same few buyer questions each month. Compare accuracy, mentions and citations separately. This checklist helps you improve the website; it does not certify an AI score, ranking, recommendation or number of enquiries.