The short answer: AI assistants recommend the providers they can find, read and trust. You earn that the same way you win Google: clear content that answers real questions, a fast and accessible site, consistent listings and genuine reviews, plus a structure that makes your facts easy for a machine to quote. Most providers have not started yet, so there is room to get in early.
More participants, families and support coordinators now start their search inside an AI assistant instead of a page of blue links. They ask ChatGPT how to choose a good NDIS provider, or they ask Gemini for registered SIL providers near them, or Google shows an AI Overview above the normal results. The assistant often answers on the spot, sometimes naming specific providers and sometimes listing what to look for, so the person may never scroll down to the old results. If your business is not in that answer, the people searching never see you, and they are funded participants ready to enquire. This is what GEO and AEO mean, generative and answer engine optimisation: being the provider the AI names.
The shift is already large. Google’s AI Overviews reach more than two billion people a month (TechCrunch, 2025), and in a survey of more than a thousand US consumers, half had made a purchase after researching it with an AI tool, with one in four saying ChatGPT’s recommendations were better than Google’s (Semrush, 2025). Australia now has more than 751,000 NDIS participants (NDIS Quarterly Report, September 2025), and the families and coordinators choosing providers for them research the same way. After years of doing this for providers, the pattern we see is simple: the businesses with clear, well-sourced content get named, and the ones with a thin website get skipped.
Two things feed an AI’s answer. The first is what it was trained on, a broad snapshot of the web. The second, and a bigger factor every month, is live retrieval: ChatGPT search, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews read the current web and search index as they answer. Either way, they lean on sources that are clear and consistent. An AI also pulls from many places at once: your website, directories, reviews, and articles that mention you. A steady presence across all of them counts for more than one clever page. When several independent sources describe you the same way, say “a registered NDIS provider in Western Sydney offering Supported Independent Living and community access”, the AI repeats it with confidence. When your details are thin or contradictory, it leaves you out.
AI pulls out plain statements, so give it some. Say exactly who you are, where you work and what you offer, in literal language. “We are a registered NDIS provider supporting participants across the Blue Mountains and Penrith with Supported Independent Living, community access and short-term respite” is far easier for a machine to quote than a clever tagline. Then make those facts easy to find:
There is also a newer file worth adding, llms.txt, a plain-text summary of your site written for language models. It is optional and won’t decide anything on its own, but it takes ten minutes and most providers do not have one.
Here are two you can copy and fill in right now. First, a description an assistant can quote almost word for word:
We are [Business Name], a registered NDIS provider supporting participants across [suburbs or regions you serve]. We offer: - [Service 1, e.g. Supported Independent Living (SIL)] - [Service 2, e.g. community access and social participation] - [Service 3, e.g. short-term accommodation and respite] We work with [who you help, e.g. adults with physical and intellectual disability] and have supported participants since [year]. We are registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Contact: [phone] | [email] | [website]
And a starter llms.txt to publish at the root of your site, the same way ours sits at ndisgrowth.com.au/llms.txt:
# [Business Name] > A registered NDIS provider in [region] offering [main services] to [who you help]. ## Services - [Service 1]: [one line] - [Service 2]: [one line] - [Service 3]: [one line] ## Areas served [Suburb], [Suburb], [Suburb] and surrounds. ## About [One or two sentences: who you are, how long you have operated, what makes you a safe choice.] ## Contact - Website: https://[yourdomain] - Phone: [phone] - Email: [email]
AI leans hard on authority and agreement, because it does not want to point someone vulnerable at the wrong provider. You build that the same way you build local SEO: a complete Google Business Profile, listings in reputable NDIS and disability directories, genuine reviews, and the same name, address and phone everywhere you appear. Reviews do double duty here, because assistants increasingly summarise their sentiment, as in “well reviewed for reliable support workers”. Mentions on other sites help most of all, whether that is a guest article, a local news story or a partner’s referral page. Every independent source that names you raises the odds the AI does too.
The same programme that wins Google increasingly wins ChatGPT and AI Overviews.
People prompt assistants in full questions: “what should I look for in a SIL provider?”, “how do I switch NDIS providers?”, “what should I ask a provider before I sign?”. Answer those exact questions on your site, in plain English, under a named author with real credentials. That is the content an assistant is most likely to quote, and it is the same expertise and trust Google has rewarded for years. Specific and genuinely useful will always beat keyword-stuffed, and an AI judges the difference better than the old algorithms did.
The new version of Googling yourself is asking the assistant about yourself. Every month or so, prompt ChatGPT, Gemini and a Google AI Overview with the searches your participants would use, like “recommend NDIS providers in my area” or “is this business any good?”, and see whether you show up and what they say. Where you are missing or the details are wrong, that is your list. None of the work is wasted either: clear content, clean structure, reviews, citations and an accessible site win AI search and classic Google search at the same time. Do it once and you show up in both.
To make it a habit, copy this set, run it once a month, and keep score:
Run each of these in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google (watch for the AI Overview), swapping in your details: 1. Recommend NDIS providers in [your suburb or region]. 2. Who are good [SIL / support coordination / allied health] providers near [suburb]? 3. What should I look for when choosing an NDIS provider in [region]? 4. Is [your business name] a good NDIS provider? 5. I have NDIS funding for [support type] in [suburb]. Which providers should I contact? For each answer: do you appear? Are the details correct? What does it say about you?
This is everything above, in the order most providers should work through it. Copy it, tick what you already have, and revisit it each quarter.
FOUNDATIONS [ ] Site loads fast on mobile and meets basic accessibility (WCAG) [ ] One clear H1 per page, descriptive headings, short paragraphs [ ] A plain-language statement of who you are, where, and what you offer [ ] Organization / LocalBusiness schema on your site [ ] FAQ sections in real question-and-answer form (with FAQPage schema) [ ] robots.txt allows reputable AI crawlers (you are not blocking them) [ ] An llms.txt file published with a clean summary of your site TRUST SIGNALS [ ] Google Business Profile complete and verified [ ] Listed in reputable NDIS and disability directories [ ] Name, address and phone identical everywhere online [ ] Genuine reviews coming in regularly [ ] A few earned mentions on other websites CONTENT [ ] Pages that answer the real questions participants and coordinators ask [ ] Content under a named author with real credentials [ ] Service and location pages for the catchments you serve CHECK AND MAINTAIN [ ] Monthly: ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google about yourself [ ] Fix wrong or missing details where the AI gets you wrong [ ] Keep reviews, listings and content current
Not directly, since no one can edit the model. You do shape it, though, through what you publish on your own site and what other sources like directories, reviews and articles say about you. Keep that information consistent and accurate across the web and the answer tends to follow.
They overlap almost completely. The foundations are the same: clear, helpful content, good structure, authority, reviews and an accessible site. AI just rewards clarity and trust a little more, and adds one goal, being easy to quote. If your SEO is solid, you are most of the way there.
Only if you want to be invisible in AI answers. To be recommended, allow reputable AI crawlers to read your site. Blocking them removes you from a growing share of searches.
It is an emerging, optional file that gives AI models a clean summary of your site and key pages. It will not make or break you today, but it is quick to add and most providers do not have one, so it is a small edge.
A specialist reviews your visibility against the providers competing in your catchment, and sends a written growth plan within two business days. You keep it either way.