# How do ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google read a product site?

They read the words people can see. Google crawls, renders and ranks, and uses structured data for rich results. AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity fetch the page text and quote it. Most never see code hidden in scripts. So the answer has to live in the visible copy, worded the same on every page.

By Surinder Thakur, AI Product Designer. Published 29 Sept 2026. Updated 1 Nov 2026. Topic: [Being found by AI](https://www.surinder.design/work?type=being-found-by-ai).

## How does Google read it?

Google crawls the page, renders it and ranks it. Structured data (JSON-LD) helps it show rich results like FAQs and prices.

Page speed, headings and links between pages still matter.

## How do AI assistants read it?

ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity send their own crawlers: GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot. Or they fetch pages live when someone asks. They read the page text and quote it.

Code inside scripts, including most structured data, is usually dropped. A fact that only lives there is invisible to them.

## What makes a page easy to quote?

Answer first. Put the question as the heading and a complete answer in the first 2 or 3 sentences. That paragraph is what gets quoted.

And 1 fact, 1 wording. Say the pricing page lists 1 review round and the FAQ says 2. An assistant repeats whichever it read last.

## How do you let them in?

Allow the AI crawlers in robots.txt. Add an llms.txt at the root. It is a short, plain summary: who you are, what you sell, where the key pages are.

This site is built that way, these Insights included. Each one has a plain text twin at its address plus .md.

## In 1 picture

2 kinds of reader. Both reward a clear answer in plain words.

Google reads:
- The rendered page
- Structured data, for rich results
- Headings, links and speed

AI assistants read:
- The visible text, quoted as written
- The first 2 or 3 sentences under a question
- llms.txt, the plain summary

## Next questions

- [Will AI shopping agents kill my store's conversion?](https://www.surinder.design/work/will-ai-shopping-agents-kill-my-conversion): Not kill. Reroute. AI agents already comparison-shop, fill carts and complete checkouts.
- [Why does 1 wrong AI answer break trust in my product?](https://www.surinder.design/work/why-one-wrong-ai-answer-breaks-trust): Because trust in software is asymmetric. 10 right answers build it slowly.

Page: https://www.surinder.design/work/how-ai-assistants-and-google-read-a-product-site