Okay I’ve been doing SEO for 6 years and I thought I understood how search engines work. But AI search is breaking my brain.
My understanding of traditional search:
My confusion about AI search:
Practical questions:
I know this sounds basic but the more I read, the more confused I get. Some articles say ChatGPT searches the web, others say it only knows what it was trained on. WHICH IS IT?
Someone please explain this to me like I’m a traditional SEO person trying to understand AI.
Great questions. Let me break this down clearly:
The fundamental difference:
| System Type | Data Source | Update Frequency | Your Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static LLM (base ChatGPT) | Training data snapshot | Training cycles (months/years) | If it was on the web when they trained, it might be there |
| Real-time Search (Perplexity) | Live web crawling | Continuous | Can find new content in days/weeks |
| Hybrid (ChatGPT with Search) | Training + live search | Both | Uses training knowledge + searches current web |
ChatGPT specifically:
Perplexity:
Google AI Overview:
The TL;DR: There isn’t ONE AI index. Each system works differently. Optimize for Google (helps AI Overview), create authoritative content (helps ChatGPT training), and ensure you’re crawlable (helps Perplexity).
Building on this excellent explanation with practical implications:
For traditional SEO people, think of it this way:
Google Index = Library with constantly updated catalog ChatGPT Training = Encyclopedia printed at a point in time ChatGPT Search = Encyclopedia + librarian who can look things up for you Perplexity = Librarian with live internet access
What this means for your content strategy:
For ChatGPT (base model): Your content needed to exist and be authoritative BEFORE their training cutoff. Historical content matters.
For ChatGPT with Search: Your content needs to be indexed by Bing and match the query well.
For Perplexity: Fresh, well-structured content can appear quickly. Answer-oriented content works best.
For Google AI Overview: Strong Google rankings = better AI Overview visibility.
The unified approach: Create authoritative, well-structured content that answers questions clearly. This serves ALL systems.
Let me explain the technical reality:
ChatGPT’s “knowledge” is NOT an index.
When GPT was trained, it processed billions of web pages and learned patterns, associations, and information from them. This isn’t stored as a searchable database of pages - it’s compressed into neural network weights.
What this means:
Perplexity IS more like a traditional index:
This is why Perplexity citations are more reliable - it’s actually looking at your content in real-time, not recalling patterns learned months ago.
Practical implication: If you want reliable, traceable citations with links, Perplexity is better. If you want your brand knowledge embedded in ChatGPT’s general understanding, that requires being part of training data.
From a crawling perspective, here’s what I’m tracking:
AI crawlers to watch in your logs:
| Crawler | System | What They Do |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | OpenAI | Training data collection |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | Live search when users query |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Real-time content retrieval |
| Google-Extended | Gemini training data | |
| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Claude training data |
How to check if they’re visiting:
What I’ve observed:
robots.txt consideration: You CAN block these crawlers, but should you? Blocking means no AI visibility. Most brands want the exposure.
The exception: if you have premium gated content you don’t want freely summarized, consider selective blocking.
Publisher POV here - this is a hot topic in our industry.
The core tension: We create content. AI systems use it to answer questions. Users don’t visit our site. We lose ad revenue.
How each AI handles attribution:
ChatGPT: Often doesn’t cite sources for base knowledge. With Search enabled, shows citations but still summarizes content.
Perplexity: Better about citations, but still extracts key info. Has started revenue sharing with some publishers.
Google AI Overview: Cites sources but answer is shown before links.
Our strategy: We’ve chosen to remain accessible to AI crawlers because:
What we’re tracking: Using Am I Cited to monitor when our content is cited across platforms. This helps us understand which content types get referenced and optimize accordingly.
The future probably involves licensing deals. Until then, visibility beats invisibility.
Cutting through the complexity - here’s what you ACTUALLY need to do:
Step 1: Check if AI knows about your content
Easy test:
Step 2: Monitor ongoing visibility
Sign up for Am I Cited or similar tool. Track:
Step 3: Make your content AI-friendly
Step 4: Don’t block AI crawlers (usually)
Unless you have specific reasons (legal, gated content), let them crawl.
That’s it. You don’t need to understand the deep technical differences between training and indexing to optimize for AI visibility. Just make great content, make it accessible, and track your results.
Super helpful. One follow-up question:
If I publish a new page today, roughly when can each AI system find it?
My understanding:
Is this roughly right?
That’s pretty accurate. Let me refine it:
| AI System | Timeline for New Content | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google + AI Overview | Hours to days | Same as Google indexing |
| Perplexity | Days to 2 weeks | Depends on site authority |
| ChatGPT with Search | 1-7 days | After Bing indexes it |
| ChatGPT base model | Months to years | Next training cycle |
| Claude | Months to years | Training updates only |
Important caveat: Just because an AI system CAN find your content doesn’t mean it WILL cite it. It also needs to be:
Publication timing is step 1. Optimization for citation is the ongoing work.
Small business owner chiming in. This is all very technical but what I want to know:
Does my local business content get “indexed” by AI?
We’re a plumbing company in Denver. When someone asks ChatGPT “best plumbers in Denver,” would we ever show up?
Or is AI search only for big brands and informational content?
Great question! Local businesses CAN appear in AI search, but it’s trickier:
What helps local businesses in AI:
The reality: For “best plumber in Denver,” AI often pulls from:
Your strategy:
To track: Ask AI systems questions about your service in your area. See if you appear. Monitor with Am I Cited over time.
Local SEO and local AI visibility have significant overlap. The fundamentals still matter.
This is exactly what I needed. My mental model is now:
Summary of AI “indexing”:
ChatGPT base = learned from the web, doesn’t actively index, knowledge has a cutoff date
ChatGPT with Search = combines learned knowledge with live Bing searches
Perplexity = real-time web crawler, most like traditional search, cites sources well
Google AI Overview = uses Google’s existing index, so traditional SEO matters
Each platform is different = no single “AI index” to optimize for
My action items:
The key insight: there’s no single “AI SEO” strategy because each system works differently. But quality, structured content helps everywhere.
Thanks everyone - this clicked for me now.
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