AEO, GEO and llms.txt: What Google Says a Small Business Needs

If you run a business website, you have probably been pitched “AEO”, “GEO” or an llms.txt file by now, usually as the thing that will get you into AI answers. Google has published official guidance on exactly this, and it is more modest than most of the pitches. This post covers Google Search’s AI features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, and nothing else. For the wider picture, including other assistants, see our guide to getting your business recommended by AI search. All quotes are from Google’s pages as we read them on 14 October 2026.

What AEO and GEO mean, according to Google

AEO stands for answer engine optimization and GEO for generative engine optimization. Google’s guide to generative AI features describes both as terms used for work aimed at visibility in AI search, and then gives its position: “From Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.”

Google’s separate page on AI features goes further: “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.” It also says AI Overviews “are only shown when our systems determine that it is additive to classic Search, and as such, often don’t trigger”, so do not expect one for every query.

What it takes to appear

Google says that to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, “a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet”, and that there are no additional technical requirements. Indexing and serving are still never guaranteed.

Your site also needs to be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. Google says including your site is the default for all properties, so most sites do not need to do anything.

What Google says you can ignore

Google’s guide has a section titled “Mythbusting generative AI search”. Here is what it says you do not need to do for Google Search:

• Create an llms.txt file or other special files. Google says you do not need to create “new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown” to appear, “as Google Search itself doesn’t use them.”
• Split content into tiny pieces. “There’s no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces for AI to better understand it.”
• Rewrite everything for AI. “You don’t need to write in a specific way just for generative AI search.”
• Chase inauthentic mentions. Google says that seeking such mentions across the web “isn’t as helpful as it might seem.”
• Over-focus on structured data. “Structured data isn’t required for generative AI search, and there’s no special schema.org markup you need to add.” Google still says it is a good idea to keep using it as part of your overall SEO strategy.

On llms.txt specifically, Google is not against the file. It says it is fine to create one for other services that use them, and that doing so “will neither harm nor help your site’s visibility or rankings in Google Search, as Google Search ignores them.” We have not tested other AI assistants, and Google’s pages do not cover them, so we make no claim either way. The point for your budget is simple: an llms.txt file should not be sold to you as a way into Google’s AI answers.

What to do instead

Google’s advice is the foundation of ordinary SEO:

• Let Google crawl your site. Google lists making sure crawling is allowed in robots.txt, “and by any CDN or hosting infrastructure”. If your site is not appearing at all, start with why your website is not showing on Google.
• Make content easy to find through internal links, and keep important content available as text.
• Write non-commodity content. Google defines commodity content as, for example, “7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers”: it is “often based on common knowledge” and “typically adds little unique insight for readers.” For a small business, that means what only you can say: your real prices and process, your own photos, answers to questions your customers actually ask you.
• Keep your business facts current. Google lists checking that Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up to date. Our Google Business Profile guide covers the profile side.
• Make sure structured data matches the visible text on the page. See structured data for small business websites.
• Do not mass-produce pages for every variation of a question. Google says doing so “primarily to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses in Google Search violates Google’s scaled content abuse spam policy.”

How to measure it

Search Console now has a Generative AI performance report. Google says it shows how your organic impressions from generative AI features change over time, which pages get the most or fewest, and where they come from by device or country. It covers AI Overviews and AI Mode, and an impression means “how many times links to your site were shown to a user in a generative AI feature on Google Search.”

Google says the report usually does not appear when a site has not had enough impressions in these features. AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is also included in the Performance report, under the Web search type. If you have not set up Search Console, start with our Search Console guide.

Google also warns: “No third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems.” Use such tools if they help your workflow, but check their advice against Google’s own pages.

Choosing whether your site appears

Search Console has a Search generative AI control, under Settings. You can include your site (the default), exclude it, or inherit the setting from a parent property. If you exclude your site, Google says you “won’t receive any traffic or impressions from these features”. It also says the control “isn’t used as a ranking or inclusion signal affecting other parts of Search.” To limit what is shown from specific pages, Google points to nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex.

Most small businesses will want to stay included. We mention the control so you know the choice exists, not to recommend using it.

Before you buy an AEO or GEO package

Ask the provider:

1. What exactly will you change on my site, and which Google page supports it?
2. Is this for Google’s AI features, for other assistants, or both, and how do you know?
3. How will we measure it? The Generative AI performance report is the one Google tool for this.
4. Does the plan involve creating many new pages or buying mentions? Google’s guide warns against both.

Google also points readers to its guidance on evaluating third-party SEO advice. Our guide to hiring an SEO provider lists more red flags.

The short version is that nothing in Google’s guide replaces solid basics: a site Google can crawl, useful content that only you could write, and accurate business details. If you would like help with those, tell us about your business and see our SEO services.