AI search optimisation, South Africa

AI Search Visibility and Agent-Ready Websites

People now ask ChatGPT and Copilot who to hire. We make sure those assistants can reach your website, read it, use it, and that you can see which enquiries they send you. Checked with your server logs, not guesswork.

Get your site checked What we check

The short answer

Being visible in AI search starts with things most agencies never check: whether AI crawlers are actually let in, whether your pages make sense without JavaScript, whether an AI agent can use your forms safely, and whether you can tell which leads came from ChatGPT. We fix those first. Nobody can guarantee an AI will recommend you, and we will not pretend otherwise. We sell a site that is ready, reachable and measured.

What we check: reach, read, use, measure

1. Reach

Can AI crawlers actually get to your pages? Robots.txt only gives permission. Your host, firewall or CDN can still turn them away, and Google Search Console will look perfectly healthy while it happens.

How we check: Robots.txt review, live crawler requests, and a count of AI crawler responses in your server logs

2. Read

Once a crawler arrives, can it understand the page? Content that only appears after JavaScript runs, vague headings and inaccurate structured data all make a page harder to quote.

How we check: Raw HTML check, structured data review, llms.txt and page structure

3. Use

Can an AI agent use your site for the visitor, for example check availability or start an enquiry, without breaking your forms or tripping your spam protection?

How we check: PageSpeed Insights Agentic Browsing, form labels and accessibility, WebMCP and ai-catalog.json where they fit

4. Measure

Do you know which enquiries came from ChatGPT, Copilot or Google? Analytics behind a cookie banner misses many of them, so you need a record that does not depend on consent.

How we check: Enquiry-level source tracking and server-side click records, with no personal data

We tested it on our own site first

Everything we sell here, we did to jwd.co.za first and wrote up with the dates and the method. These are our own numbers, not industry averages.

39% and 47%

of ChatGPT-User and ClaudeBot visits to our own site were refused by our shared hosting provider between 1 August and 22 September 2026, while Googlebot and Bingbot got through every time. Only the server logs showed it.

36 of 36

requests from ChatGPT-User, GPTBot and ClaudeBot succeeded after we put Cloudflare in front and served pages from its cache. On 1 October 2026 we re-tested five AI crawlers on six pages: 30 of 30 succeeded.

6/6

on PageSpeed Insights Agentic Browsing for our homepage, quote form and domain checker, on mobile and desktop (September 2026).

3 of 4

of the enquiries we could trace between 10 and 30 September 2026 came from chatgpt.com. A tiny sample, and we say so, but it is real and it is why we built this service.

Ways to work with us

AI access and readiness check

We check the four layers above on your live site and give you a plain-English report: what is blocking AI crawlers and agents, what to fix first, and what is not worth paying for. You can do the fixes yourself, or we can.

Quoted per site View details →

Monthly SEO Maintenance

Ongoing on-page, off-page and technical SEO, now including AI search readiness: crawler access, structured data and source tracking kept in order as engines and standards change.

R850/month View details →

SEO Rescue

A focused once-off session to diagnose and fix the technical issues holding your site back. AI crawler access can be part of it.

R2,500 once-off View details →

Fixes and agent-ready builds

One-off fixes are billed as website maintenance, agreed before we start. New websites can be built agent-ready from day one: clean HTML, labelled forms, WebMCP where it fits, and lead source tracking. Builds are once-off, not a monthly plan.

R450/hour, or quoted per build View details →

Why a web studio, not just an SEO agency

Most of what blocks AI search sits below the content: hosting, caching, robots rules, how a page is built, how a form behaves when software rather than a person fills it in. We build websites, so we can open the server logs, change the caching, fix the form and add the tracking ourselves, rather than handing you a report and wishing you luck.

We also tell you what not to buy. On our own site, AI crawlers rarely requested llms.txt, and FAQ schema no longer earns rich results in Google. You will not pay us for things the evidence does not support. If you want to understand the field first, start with our agent-ready website checklist, see whether your web host is blocking ChatGPT, or read how to tell if ChatGPT is sending you customers.

Our AI search guides

Is your web host blocking ChatGPT? → What AEO costs in South Africa → Measuring leads from ChatGPT → Can ChatGPT fill in your contact form? → PageSpeed Agentic Browsing explained → The AEO guide for SA businesses → WebMCP: AI agents and your forms → ai-catalog.json explained →

AI search optimisation FAQ

What is AI search optimisation? +

It is making sure AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and Google's AI features can reach your website, understand it, and use it on a visitor's behalf, and then measuring whether that brings you enquiries. You will also see it called AEO (answer engine optimisation) or GEO (generative engine optimisation). It builds on normal SEO rather than replacing it.

Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business? +

No, and nobody honestly can. AI assistants decide for themselves what to cite. What we can do is remove the reasons they would not: a site they cannot reach, cannot read or cannot use, and claims they cannot trust. Then we measure what actually happens.

How much does it cost? +

The AI access and readiness check is quoted per site, because the work depends on your hosting and how the site is built. Ongoing work is part of Monthly SEO Maintenance at R850 per month. Once-off fixes are SEO Rescue at R2,500 or website maintenance at R450 per hour, agreed before we start. JWD is not VAT registered, so no VAT is added.

Can I fix AI crawler access myself? +

Often, yes. If your host is turning AI crawlers away, putting your site behind Cloudflare's free plan with page caching usually helps a great deal, as long as Cloudflare's own AI bot setting is not set to block them. Our article on whether your web host is blocking ChatGPT shows how we found and fixed it on our own site.

Do I need llms.txt, ai-catalog.json or WebMCP? +

Not necessarily. None of them is a confirmed ranking or citation factor, and on our own site AI crawlers rarely requested llms.txt. They are cheap to add and can help where they fit, for example ai-catalog.json if you offer a public tool, or WebMCP if agents might fill in your forms. We will tell you honestly which are worth it for your site.

Do you work outside South Africa? +

Yes. We work with clients across South Africa and abroad. Overseas clients are quoted in rand, with an international allowance included in the quote.

Want to know if AI can see your site?

Tell us your web address and we will tell you honestly what is in the way.

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