If someone has offered to get your business into Google's AI answers for a monthly fee, read what Google itself says first. AI search optimisation is one of the fastest-growing things being sold to business owners right now, and Google has published, in plain words, what it takes to appear in its AI features. The answer is shorter than most sales decks.
What Google says, in its own words
Google's documentation on AI features is direct: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary" (sourced from Google Search Central). The same page says, "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add."
In 2026 Google followed that with a full guide to optimising for its generative AI features, and it goes further. It says, "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search," and adds that "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search" (sourced from Google Search Central).
It also carries a warning worth reading twice: "Be wary of third-party tools that promise ranking success or claim to use "internal" Google metrics."
What that means for what you are being sold
Hold any AI search package up against those lines. If it is built on:
A special AI file for your website, such as an llms.txt file,
Special AI markup or schema,
Rewriting your pages into small chunks so AI can read them,
Access to "inside" Google data,
then Google has said, for its own search, that you don't need it. Its guide says there's no requirement to break content into tiny pieces and no need to write in a special way for AI.
To be fair to the people selling these services, Google only speaks for Google. Other AI tools work differently, and some of them may treat files or formats in their own way. But if Google is where your customers search, Google has been unusually clear.
What Google does recommend
The useful part of Google's guidance is that it points back to ordinary, solid search work. It says, "The best practices for SEO remain relevant for AI features in Google Search." In practice that means:
Let Google crawl your site. Don't block important pages by accident.
Keep important content in text, not locked inside images.
Link your own pages together so Google can find them.
Give visitors a good experience on mobile and desktop.
Keep your business details current. Google lists "Checking that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up-to-date" among the things that help.
That last one is the easiest win for a local business, and it is the one most often neglected. If you want a sense of what keeping it up properly involves, here is what Google Business Profile management should include.
When it is worth paying for
Paying for help makes sense when the basics underneath are genuinely broken: Google isn't indexing your key pages, your site is slow on phones, your service pages say almost nothing, or your Business Profile is out of date. That work helps you in regular search and in AI answers at the same time, because it is the same work. When it is worth paying for, the SEO and content work is what I'd point you to, and it is described as ordinary SEO because that is what it is.
It is also worth knowing what you can and can't measure here. I have written about what Google's AI search reporting shows and what it hides, which matters if someone promises you a report on AI visibility.
Three questions to ask anyone selling it
What will you change on my website that regular SEO wouldn't? If the answer is a special file or special markup, show them Google's guide.
How will you show me it worked? Ask for the specific report and where its numbers come from.
Do you claim any special access to Google? Nobody outside Google has it.
So, before you sign anything: is what you are being offered new work, or the same basics with a new name?