Why ChatGPT and Google's AI answers never mention your site
Our own site served crawlers a 712-byte empty shell with one title across 20 pages. One client was cited in 1 of 10 answers vs a competitor's 5. In one sector AI Overviews never appear. Three measurements, four causes, what to do and what not to.
We audited ourselves first: 712-byte HTML, empty root div, one title for 20 URLs, and an old agency identity still in the index. Fixed with static generation, per-page titles and redirects.
Clients: Hashimi cited in 1/10 answers vs rival 5/10; Bodrum restaurants — no AI Overview in 17 SERPs, so budget went to Google Business instead.
Four causes: bots can't see JS-rendered content; no quotable facts; inconsistent entity data; missing or false schema. llms.txt is useful but not a ranking promise — Google doesn't read it. Expect 3-14 days to index, 3-8 weeks for AI answers to shift.