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Key takeaways
- AI assistants cannot recommend what they cannot read: server-render your pages so the text is in the HTML.
- Specific, checkable facts get cited; vague slogans do not.
- Bing matters again, because AI search tools draw on more than Google's index.
- Check your CDN and firewall settings: they may be blocking AI crawlers you actually want.
AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, and Google's own AI Overviews, now answer questions such as "best eye clinic in Lalitpur" or "who builds school websites in Nepal" directly. They put together their answer from pages they can read and sources they trust. Getting recommended is mostly classic SEO done properly, plus a few technical checks that many Nepali sites currently fail.
How AI search decides what to say
When an assistant searches the web, it fetches pages, extracts the text, and writes an answer that cites the sources it found most relevant and credible. It does not see your design, and it may not run your JavaScript. It sees words, structure and links, and it weighs them against what other sites say about you.
That means three things decide whether you are mentioned: whether the assistant can read your pages at all, whether those pages state clearly what you do and where, and whether the rest of the web agrees.
Make sure your pages can be read
This is the most common failure. Many modern sites are built as client-rendered single-page apps: the server sends an almost empty HTML page and the browser builds the content with JavaScript. A person sees a full site. A crawler that does not run JavaScript sees nothing worth citing.
We rebuilt our own site for exactly this reason. The fix is to server-render or prerender pages, so the complete text is in the HTML the server sends. Frameworks such as Next.js do this by default when used properly. To check your own site, open it, choose "View page source" (not Inspect), and search for a sentence from the page. If it is not there, crawlers are probably not seeing it either.
Write facts an AI can quote
Assistants favour pages that answer questions precisely. "We provide world-class solutions" gives them nothing to cite. "Eye clinic and optical shop in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, open Sunday to Friday, 9am to 6pm, with refraction, contact lens fitting and cash or eSewa payment" gives them everything.
- State what you do, for whom, and where — down to the neighbourhood.
- Publish starting prices where you can. "From NPR 15,000" is quotable; "affordable" is not.
- List opening hours, payment methods, languages spoken and service areas.
- Describe real projects or cases with concrete details, as our portfolio does.
- Answer the questions customers actually ask, in a clear FAQ.
Add structured data, honestly
Structured data (JSON-LD) labels the facts on your page in a format machines read reliably: your organisation, address, opening hours, services, products, articles and FAQs. It helps both Google and AI tools connect the facts to your business.
One firm rule: never add review or rating markup you cannot back up. Fake aggregate ratings are treated as spam and can lead to a manual action against your site. Countable facts are safer and, for AI answers, more useful anyway.
Don't forget Bing and your Business Profile
Google is not the only index AI tools use. ChatGPT's search has drawn on Bing's index, among other sources, and many Nepali sites have never been verified in Bing Webmaster Tools. Verifying takes minutes. Submitting your sitemap there, and using IndexNow to tell Bing when pages change, helps new content get picked up faster.
Your Google Business Profile still matters as well. Google's AI Overviews and Maps draw on it, and a complete, accurate profile is what makes local answers include you. Our local SEO guide covers it in detail.
Classic SEO versus AI search
| Area | Classic SEO | AI search |
|---|---|---|
| Readable HTML | Important | Essential: no text, no citation |
| Keywords | Match the search phrase | Answer the full question in plain sentences |
| Specific facts | Helpful | What actually gets quoted |
| Structured data | Rich results | Helps machines trust and connect facts |
| Links and mentions | Ranking signal | Corroboration that you are who you say |
| Search engines | Mostly Google | Google, Bing and the assistants' own crawlers |
What about llms.txt?
llms.txt is a proposed convention: a plain-text file at the root of your site that summarises what you do and links to your most important pages, written for language models. It is cheap to add, and we publish one, but treat it as a convenience rather than a ranking factor. Google has said it does not use it, and no assistant guarantees it reads it. Readable pages and clear facts matter far more.
Earn mentions elsewhere
AI tools cross-check. If reputable Nepali sites — news outlets, industry associations, partner organisations, directories with real editorial standards — mention your business with consistent details, assistants are more confident recommending you. Consistency of your name, address and phone number everywhere still matters, exactly as it does for local SEO.
How to test where you stand
- Ask several assistants the questions your customers would ask, in English and in romanised Nepali, for example "best CCTV dealer in Kathmandu".
- Note whether you appear, what they say, and which sources they cite.
- View the source of your key pages and confirm the text is in the HTML.
- Check your CDN or firewall for AI-bot blocking rules.
- Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit the sitemap.
- Repeat the questions every month or two and track the change.
Where to start
Run the view-source test on your home page and your most important service page today. If the text is missing, that is the first fix, and no amount of content will help until it is done. If it is there, sharpen the facts on those pages and verify the site in Bing. Our SEO service covers both classic and AI search, and if your site needs rebuilding to be readable, our web development work is server-rendered by default.
Frequently asked questions
Not in the organic answers. Assistants choose sources based on what they find and trust. You influence that by making your site readable, specific and well corroborated, not by payment.
Google has said it does not use llms.txt for search. It is a proposed convention some sites publish for language models; it does no harm, but it is not a substitute for crawlable pages.
Common reasons are pages that render only with JavaScript, a firewall blocking AI crawlers, vague content without concrete facts, or too few other sites mentioning you. The view-source test and a check of your CDN settings are the quickest first steps.
It is mostly the same work with a different emphasis: readable HTML, precise facts and corroboration matter even more, and Bing and AI crawlers matter alongside Google.
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