Ask ChatGPT "find me a used Tesla Model Y under $30,000 near Corona" and it will often search the web, read some pages and give an answer with links. The same thing happens in Google's AI Overviews and in other assistants. If your cars are on pages those tools can read, you have a chance to be in the answer. If they can't read your pages, you don't.
This is new territory, and no one can promise that an assistant will mention your lot. But the basics are clear, and most of them are things a good dealer website should do anyway.
How assistants find pages
AI assistants use automated programs, called crawlers, to read websites. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, publishes the names of its crawlers and what each one does on its overview of OpenAI crawlers. In short:
- OAI-SearchBot is used to show websites in ChatGPT's search results. OpenAI says sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- GPTBot collects pages that may be used to train OpenAI's models. Blocking it says your content shouldn't be used for training.
- ChatGPT-User visits a page when a person in ChatGPT asks it to.
Other companies run their own crawlers, such as PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot and Applebot-Extended. Google uses a control called Google-Extended for some of its AI products, and says it has no effect on Google Search.
Google is plain about its own AI features: on its page about AI features and your website, it says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that normal search best practices still apply. So the work that helps you in regular Google results helps here too.
Step 1: check that the crawlers are allowed in
Every website has, or should have, a small file at /robots.txt that tells crawlers what they may read. Some website platforms and security settings block AI crawlers by default, and many owners never know. Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser. If you see lines that block OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot or PerplexityBot, ask your provider why. Google's introduction to robots.txt explains how the file works.
Whether to allow training crawlers like GPTBot is your call. Allowing search crawlers like OAI-SearchBot is what lets ChatGPT search show your pages.
Step 2: put the facts on the page as text
A crawler reads text far more reliably than pictures. If your price is only inside a photo, or your mileage only appears after a shopper taps a button, an assistant may never see it. Each car page should state the basics in plain text:
- Year, make, model and trim.
- Price, and whether fees are included.
- Mileage, VIN and stock number.
- Your dealership name and city.
- For EVs, the range and battery information you have, labeled as a test result or an estimate.
It also helps when this text is in the page itself, not added later by scripts after the page loads. Some crawlers don't wait for scripts to run. Ask your provider whether your car pages arrive complete, or fill in after loading.
Step 3: keep a plain list of your cars
Some websites now publish a plain-text summary for AI tools at /llms.txt, a format proposed at llmstxt.org. It's not an official standard, and no assistant promises to use it, but it costs little: a short file with who you are, where your stores are, your hours and links to your key pages. A dealer site can also keep a simple, always-current list of every car, with price and mileage, that any program can read.
Step 4: write the way people ask
Assistants answer questions, so pages that answer questions clearly are easier to use. A frequently asked questions section with real answers works well: Do you take trade-ins? Do you help with financing? Does the price include fees? Do you check EV batteries? Short, direct sentences are easier for an assistant to quote correctly than marketing slogans.
Step 5: keep your business details consistent
An assistant that finds two different phone numbers or two sets of hours for your store has to guess. Use the same name, address, phone and hours on your website, your Google Business Profile, Facebook, Apple Maps and directories. When everything matches, assistants are less likely to get you wrong.
Step 6: keep pages working and fast
If a crawler follows a link to a sold car and hits an error, that's a dead end. Sold cars should lead to similar cars, and old addresses should point to the matching new pages. Pages that load quickly are easier for everyone to read, people and crawlers alike.
How to check where you stand
- Ask ChatGPT, with search on, for the kind of car you sell in your city, the way a shopper would.
- Note which dealers and sites it names, and whether your lot shows up.
- Ask it directly about your dealership: hours, address, what you sell. Check that the answers are right.
- Repeat in Google, and look at the AI Overview if one appears.
- Write down the date, and check again in a month.
Answers change from day to day and from person to person, so treat this as a rough check, not a score.
Where Frontlot fits
Frontlot dealer websites allow the major AI crawlers in robots.txt, put each car's price, mileage and photos on the page in text, publish an llms.txt file with your dealership facts and a list of every car, and keep old addresses working. We work to get you showing up in local searches, including in AI assistants, within a few months, but no one can promise what an assistant will say. Every free preview includes a check of your own city searches on Google and ChatGPT, with screenshots. Book a demo to see it.