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Vegan business SEO and AI-search checklist

Google says optimising for its AI search features is still SEO, and that no special markup or files are needed. So this checklist is the fundamentals, in order. Items marked "Google says" come from Google's documentation; the rest are good practice, not guarantees.

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1. Let search engines in

• Your site loads over HTTPS and every important page is reachable by normal links.
• Your important pages are indexable (no accidental "noindex") and show as indexed in Google Search Console. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet to appear in AI features.
• Your robots.txt doesn't block the crawlers you want. OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot is what surfaces sites in ChatGPT search; Anthropic says disabling Claude-SearchBot or Claude-User may reduce visibility in Claude search. Whether to block anything is your choice.
• An XML sitemap exists and is submitted in Search Console.

2. Make each page clear

• One main topic per page, with a unique title and meta description and one H1.
• The key facts are in text, not only in images or PDFs: menu, ingredients, prices, hours, certifications. Google says to keep key content in text.
• Your menu is a normal web page, not just a PDF. (Google's restaurant structured-data guide recommends giving a menu URL.)
• You use "vegan" and "plant-based" deliberately, and the words match what your customers say. See the claims checklist if you make claims.

3. Say something only you can say

• Pages include first-hand specifics: where ingredients come from, how things are made, what you tested, local knowledge. Google's guide recommends "non-commodity" content beyond common knowledge.
• Facts that could be questioned (certifications, claims, statistics) are sourced or removed.
• Pages show a visible published or updated date where it matters.

4. Get your listings right

• Local businesses: your Google Business Profile is accurate and follows Google's rules. Google's guide says Business Profile and Merchant Center feeds help businesses and products appear in AI responses. Use the listings checklist.
• Shops: your products are accurate in Google Merchant Center.
• Your name, address, phone and hours match across your site, Google, HappyCow and other directories.

5. Structured data (optional, accurate or nothing)

• If you add schema.org markup, use the most specific type (for example Restaurant), include the required name and address, and make sure it matches what's visible on the page. Google says no special structured data is needed for AI features.

6. Measure

• Google Search Console is set up. Google says traffic from AI features is counted in the Web report.
• You can spot visits from ChatGPT in analytics: OpenAI says it adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links.
• Once a month you do the AI answer spot-check and log the result.

7. Don't waste time on these

• An llms.txt file: Google says it neither helps nor harms Search, and we found no statement from OpenAI or Anthropic that their products read it from other sites.
• FAQ or HowTo markup for rich results: Google no longer shows FAQ rich results (since 2026-05-07), and, according to a 2023 Search Engine Journal report, removed HowTo rich results in 2023 (we couldn't re-check Google's own page). (Writing a helpful visible FAQ for readers is still fine.)
• Rewriting pages into tiny "AI-friendly chunks": Google says this isn't needed.
• Swapping links, or asking anyone to link in exchange for help. Google lists exchanging goods or services for links as link spam.