I'm Enes Şahin. The website of a bag and accessories shop I work on as a web developer started showing up in ChatGPT and Google's AI answers within a few days. This post is an observation, not proof: I describe what I saw, which steps I can share, and what I don't know.
What did I see in AI answers?
I typed the same searches into different AI tools. Before the changes, the shop appeared in none of these answers. As of September 19, 2026, the situation looks like this (the searches are in Turkish; the English meaning is in parentheses):
| Search | Where | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| çanta aksesuarı satan işletmeler (businesses selling bag accessories) | Google, classic results | Page 3 or 4 | First page, around position 3 |
| çanta aksesuarı satan işletmeler | Google, AI answer | Not shown | Shown in the answer |
| Beylikdüzünde çanta aksesuarı satan işletmeler (in Beylikdüzü, a district of Istanbul) | ChatGPT | Not shown | Shown at the top |
| çanta aksesuarı satan işletmeler | Claude | Not shown | Shown occasionally, not every time |
| Beylikdüzünde çanta aksesuarı satan işletmeler | Claude | Not shown | Shown at the top |
The result is more stable with the district name: in the search with Beylikdüzü, both ChatGPT and Claude show the business at the top, while in the search without it the result in Claude varies.
What did I do?
These are the steps I can share:
- I fixed the site's basic SEO settings.
- I added a Google Business Profile account.
- I added a
robots.txtto the site. - I added an
llms.txtto the site.
I did the last three about three days ago. There are other steps I took that I'm not sharing.
robots.txt is the file that tells search engines and AI bots which pages they may access. llms.txt is a text file, not yet an official standard, that briefly introduces a site and its important pages to language models. An example from this site's robots.txt:
User-Agent: *
Allow: /
User-Agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-Agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://www.developerturkey.com/sitemap.xmlDid this result come from these steps?
I don't know, and I want to say that clearly:
- The time span is very short. About three days have passed since the last changes. That isn't enough to say whether a ranking change is lasting.
- I changed more than one thing at once. I can't tell which one had the effect.
- There are steps I'm not sharing. I can't say the steps in this list are enough on their own.
- AI answers vary. In Claude, the same search doesn't show the shop every time. So seeing an answer once doesn't mean it will always be seen.
- The effect of
llms.txtisn't proven. As far as I know, there is no official statement confirming that the major providers read this file, so I don't attribute the result to it. - In local searches, the business profile may carry a lot of weight. In searches that include a district name, the Google Business Profile may play a large part. This is a guess, not something I measured.
How do I test my own searches?
Because AI answers can change by person, location and moment, you shouldn't rely on a single try:
- Test in a private window, without being logged in.
- Type the same search several times on different days.
- Try the search with and without the district name separately.
- Record the date, the tool and the result of every try in a table.
I'll also repeat the same searches at regular intervals and update this table.
What is recommended for a local business?
The following are commonly recommended steps. I don't have the data to tell how much each one helps:
- Not blocking AI bots in
robots.txt. For example, blocking OAI-SearchBot can make it harder to appear in ChatGPT's search. - Writing the business name, address and phone number exactly the same everywhere. The information on the site, in the business profile and in directories should be consistent.
- Filling in the Google Business Profile completely.
- Describing the business in one sentence on the site. For example: "X is a business that sells bags and accessories in Beylikdüzü." AI tools tend to quote clear definition sentences like this.
- Adding structured data (LocalBusiness). Whatever is in the schema should also be visible on the page.
- Adding the site to Bing Webmaster Tools. ChatGPT's search can also draw on the Bing index.
- Getting others to mention you. Directories, lists and local guides can show up as sources in AI answers.
Frequently asked questions
What do you do to show up in AI answers?
There is no definite method. Commonly recommended steps: not blocking AI bots in robots.txt, filling in the Google Business Profile completely, writing the business details the same everywhere, describing the site in a clear sentence and adding structured data. The observation in this post covers only three days.
Does llms.txt make a site show up in AI answers?
It isn't proven. llms.txt isn't an official standard, and no official statement confirming that the major providers read it is known. It costs little to add, but it doesn't count as a strategy on its own.
Does ChatGPT show the same result every time?
No. AI answers can change even for the same question; for example, the same search didn't show up in Claude every time. That's why you should try the search in a private window several times on different days and record each result with its date.
Do you need to allow AI bots in robots.txt?
Blocking these bots can make it harder to appear in the related products. For example, OAI-SearchBot is used by ChatGPT's search. Google-Extended only controls whether Gemini can use the content and doesn't affect Google's AI summaries.