You’re Already Ranking in ChatGPT and Gemini. Here’s Why It’s Not Driving Traffic

There is a strange moment happening right now inside many marketing teams.

Your brand is showing up in ChatGPT.

It is being referenced in Gemini.

It is part of the answer.

And yet, when you look at your analytics, almost nothing seems to be happening.

No meaningful spike in traffic.

No clear attribution.

No obvious signal that AI search is doing anything for your business.

That disconnect is the real story of AI search today.

Most companies are already visible inside large language models.

They just are not capitalizing on it yet.

And many do not even realize it is happening.

The First Problem: Not Knowing What’s Going On

AI search feels opaque by design.

ChatGPT and Gemini do not come with dashboards.

They do not send traffic reports.

They do not tell you when your brand is being used as a source.

So teams assume one of two things. Either AI search does not matter yet, or it is something to deal with later.

In reality, the signals are already there. You just have to know where to look.

The Tool You Already Have but May Not Be Using Fully

Google Search Console is Google’s own interface into how your site appears in search. It shows what queries trigger impressions, how often your pages are shown, and how people interact with them.

Many teams have Search Console set up but only use it for basic SEO checks. Indexing issues. Core Web Vitals. Brand keywords.

What most do not realize is that Search Console also reveals how people are searching in a more conversational, AI-influenced way.

If your site is not set up in Google Search Console yet, that alone is a meaningful gap. And it is one that is very fixable.

SEO Still Matters and LLMs Rely on It

Before going further, it is important to be clear about something.

SEO is not dead. It is foundational.

Large language models still rely heavily on search engines, especially Google, to understand which content is authoritative, current, and trustworthy.

This is particularly true for recency-related queries like “best,” “right now,” “this year,” or “for growing companies.”

If Google does not understand your site well, LLMs struggle to trust it.

Strong SEO makes GEO possible. GEO without SEO is unstable.

How to See AI-Style Searches in Google Search Console

Once inside Google Search Console, here is how to uncover the queries that most closely resemble ChatGPT and Gemini behavior.

1. Go to Performance.

2. Click Add filter.

3. Choose Query.

4. Select Regex.

5. Paste the following: (\b\w+\b\s){7,}

   
   

This filters for queries that are seven words or longer.

At that length, searches stop looking like keywords and start looking like questions.

The Moment That Usually Surprises People

When you apply this filter, the data feels different immediately.

You will see full sentences.

Specific scenarios.

Questions that sound like internal conversations.

These queries often come from people using AI Overviews, AI Mode, or refining questions they first asked an LLM and then brought back to Google.

This is where many leaders pause and think, “We are already being surfaced for this.”

And then comes the second realization.

“We are not getting much traffic from it at all.”

Why Visibility Does Not Automatically Mean Value

LLMs are very good at summarizing. They are less good at sending clicks.

If your content is not structured clearly, does not answer the question directly, or lacks extractable sections, AI tools may reference you without rewarding you.

This is where small changes can have an outsized impact.

You do not need to rebuild your site.

You do not need dozens of new pages.

You need intentional alignment.

How to Start Capitalizing on This Traffic

There are two practical paths forward.

The first is creating focused pages that directly answer high-intent, conversational questions. These perform well both in Google and inside LLM summaries.

The second is enhancing existing pages by adding clear H2 sections that mirror these questions and answer them plainly.

No fluff.

No over-optimization.

Just clarity.

Both approaches strengthen SEO and improve how LLMs understand and reuse your content.

One More Critical Signal: Bing and ChatGPT

While Google plays a central role, ChatGPT relies heavily on Bing’s index.

If your site is not submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools, your visibility inside ChatGPT is limited, regardless of how strong your Google presence is.

We break this down step by step here:https://www.rivetline.ai/post/bing-bang-boom-rank-on-chatgpt-in-5-minutes-with-one-bing-webmaster-tools-hack

A Final Thought

The most interesting part of AI search is not what is coming next.

It is what is already happening quietly.

Your brand may already be an answer.

Your content may already be visible.

The opportunity may already be there.

The difference between teams that benefit from this shift and teams that miss it is not effort. It is awareness and structure.

If you are curious about what your Search Console data is really telling you, or how to turn existing visibility into measurable impact, that is exactly the kind of question Rivetline helps teams work through. Often, a few small adjustments make a very real difference.

And those adjustments tend to matter sooner than most people expect.