How to show up in ChatGPT, Google AI and Seznam answers

Why does this matter now?

Because fewer people click. When Google shows an AI Overview, the top-ranking page has a 58% lower click-through rate on average (Ahrefs, February 2026). In Pew's tracking of real users, people clicked a regular result on 8% of searches that showed an AI summary, and on 15% of searches without one. Only 1% clicked a link inside the summary (Pew Research Center, July 2025).

The answer is the new first position. If the AI names you, you're in the conversation. If it names your competitor, you're not.

Here's where people ask in Czechia:

• Search: Google 78.7%, Seznam 15.1%, Bing 4.7% (StatCounter, September 2026).
• AI chatbots: ChatGPT 74.7%, Gemini 15.9%, Copilot 4.2%, Perplexity 3.9% (StatCounter, September 2026).
• AI inside search: Google's AI Overviews launched in Czech in May 2025 (Google, May 2025) and AI Mode followed in October 2025 (MediaGuru, October 2025). Seznam Asistent opened to all logged-in Seznam users in May 2026 (Svět Androida, May 2026).

How do AI tools decide what to cite?

Simplified: they search, read a handful of pages and write a summary with links. ChatGPT search finds pages with its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI, accessed October 2026). Gemini and Google's AI features use Google's crawling (Vercel, December 2024). Seznam Asistent pulls from Seznam Search, Firmy.cz, Zboží.cz and other Seznam services (Svět Androida, May 2026).

So two things decide whether you're cited. Can the tool find and read your page? And does the wider web agree you're worth naming?

What actually helps?

1. Being mentioned on other websites. Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands. Branded web mentions had the strongest link to showing up in AI Overviews (correlation 0.664), well ahead of backlinks (0.218) and Domain Rating (0.326) (Ahrefs, May 2025). It's a correlation, not proof of cause, but it was the strongest of every factor Ahrefs tested. Mentions come from directories, client credits, press, talks and reviews.

2. Content a bot can read. Most AI crawlers don't run JavaScript. They fetch the HTML and that's it (Vercel, December 2024). If your prices, FAQ answers or product details only appear after a script runs, many AI tools never see them. Google also asks for important content "in textual form" (Google Search Central, December 2025).

3. Answers first. Open each page with a direct answer in two or three sentences. Use question headings, tables with real numbers and named sources. That's the shape AI tools quote, and it's the shape of this guide.

4. Freshness. Across 17 million citations, pages cited by AI assistants were 25.7% fresher than pages in Google's organic results. ChatGPT cited the newest pages of all (Ahrefs, July 2025). Update your key pages and show the date.

5. Letting the bots in. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI, accessed October 2026). Check your robots.txt, and check that your hosting's bot protection doesn't challenge AI crawlers.

What not to waste money on

Schema as a citation lever. Ahrefs tracked 1,885 pages that added JSON-LD schema against 4,000 that didn't. After 30 days: no meaningful change in ChatGPT (+2.2%) or AI Mode (+2.4%), and a small drop in AI Overviews (4.6%) (Ahrefs, May 2026). Schema still helps search engines understand you and earns rich results, so we add it to every site. Just don't buy it as an AI growth plan. And make sure it matches the visible text (Google Search Central, December 2025).

llms.txt. Of about 38,000 sites with a valid llms.txt file, 97% got zero requests for it in May 2026. AI retrieval bots made 1.1% of the requests that did happen (Ahrefs, June 2026). We publish one because it's cheap to do. It isn't a lever.

"Special AI optimisation" packages. Google says there are no extra requirements and no special optimisations needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. No special schema, and no AI text files (Google Search Central, December 2025). If someone sells you secret markup, ask for their data.

Guarantees. Nobody controls what ChatGPT says. An offer to put you "first in ChatGPT" is a sales line, not a plan.

Piles of AI-written articles. A stack of thin posts won't earn mentions. One useful guide with your own numbers might.

What about Seznam Asistent?

Seznam Asistent is Seznam's own AI chatbot. It started as a beta for selected users in November 2025 (MediaGuru, November 2025) and opened to all logged-in Seznam users in May 2026. It runs on Seznam's own SeLLMa models, with Azure OpenAI models for harder questions, and its answers cite sources (Svět Androida, May 2026).

What that means for a Czech business:

• Firmy.cz is a source. A complete profile with categories, description, photos and your web link feeds Seznam search, Mapy.cz and the Asistent.
• Seznam needs to see your updates. Seznam supports IndexNow (IndexNow, accessed October 2026), so new and changed pages can be pinged the moment you publish.
• Same facts everywhere. Name, address and description should match on your site, Firmy.cz and Google.

[CZ version expands this section: Firmy.cz categories and "Služby" offers with prices, Seznam Webmaster, SeznamBot in robots.txt, and example prompts in Czech.]

How do you know if you're being cited?

• Run a prompt panel monthly. Write down 10 questions your customers really ask. Run each in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Seznam Asistent. Log whether you're mentioned, whether you're linked, and who shows up instead.
• Bing Webmaster Tools. Its AI Performance report shows how often Copilot and Bing's AI summaries cite your pages. Microsoft added it in February 2026 (Previsible, February 2026).
• Analytics. Track referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and search.seznam.cz as their own channel.

The checklist

On your site

• [ ] Every key page opens with a 2 to 3 sentence answer.
• [ ] Prices, FAQ answers and key facts are in the HTML, readable without JavaScript.
• [ ] Question-style headings, and tables where you compare things.
• [ ] A visible "Updated" date that matches the real last change.
• [ ] One short block of key facts (who you are, where, what you do, prices, contact), worded the same on your site and in every directory.
• [ ] Schema for your organisation, services and FAQ, matching the visible text.

Technical

• [ ] robots.txt allows Googlebot, Bingbot, SeznamBot and OAI-SearchBot.
• [ ] Bot protection on your hosting or CDN doesn't block AI crawlers.
• [ ] A sitemap, submitted in Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Seznam Webmaster.
• [ ] IndexNow pings on publish.

Off your site

• [ ] Firmy.cz and Google Business Profile complete and consistent.
• [ ] Profiles on the directories your clients read, with the same description.
• [ ] Client credit links and reviews where clients allow them.
• [ ] One earned mention a month: a guest article, a talk, a podcast, a useful tool people share.

Every month

• [ ] Run the prompt panel and log the results.
• [ ] Refresh one key page with new numbers.

What we'd do

Start off-site. Mentions are the strongest signal in the data, and the easiest part to put off. Even our own name needed work: Seznam autocorrects "farover" to "forever", and the fix is consistent mentions, not markup.

On the site, every project we build includes the basics: structured data, a sitemap, robots, clean URLs and redirects from your old site. If you want someone to keep at it, our Visibility plan (from €900 a month) adds one new search page or guide a month, citation tracking on a fixed list of questions, Firmy.cz and Google profiles kept in sync, and a monthly report against 2 or 3 competitors. See AI search optimisation, or check your site with our free audit.