Questions / Question 1 of 6

Why don't I show up in searches anymore?

The short answerOften your website didn't get worse. Search changed: Google now answers many questions itself with an AI summary at the top, and more people ask ChatGPT directly, so fewer people scroll down to the links.

1See it

One website, three readers

Picture: the same made-up homepage three ways. A person sees everything. Google misses the words printed on the photo. ChatGPT sees only the name and the menu.

2Why it happens

Three reasons

  1. The answer moved above the links. Google's AI summary names only a few businesses. If you aren't one of them, ranking lower on the page matters less than it used to.
  2. AI tools may not be able to read your site. Google sees most of a page. Many AI tools read only the plain text the website sends first, and some websites send almost none.
  3. Your site doesn't say plainly what you do, and where. If your town only appears in the footer, AI tools struggle to match you to "near me" questions.

3What to do

Check it in two minutes

Search Google for "[what you do] near [your town]." Then ask ChatGPT the same thing, and see who gets named.

Then see whether AI tools can read your homepage:

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