The short answer
No, they choose differently. Google AI Overviews reads live search results, maps and reviews at query time. ChatGPT relies on training data plus any pages it retrieves when browsing is on. To appear in both, you need strong ranking pages and clear, quotable facts that either system can lift and attribute to you.
Where each system gets its answer
Google AI Overviews sits on top of the normal Google index. When someone asks a question, it runs searches, reads the pages that already rank, and pulls in Business Profile data, maps and review signals. So an Overview usually reflects who is winning organic search right now. If you are on page three, you are rarely quoted, because the system samples the pages it already trusts near the top.
ChatGPT works from a large training set gathered up to a cutoff date, so part of its knowledge is fixed and slightly dated. When browsing or a connected search tool is active, it also fetches live pages, often through Bing style results, and summarises them. This means ChatGPT can name a firm it learned about months ago, or one it just read, depending on the mode the user is in.
The practical takeaway is simple. Google rewards live search strength and verified location data. ChatGPT rewards being written about clearly across the wider web, so that both its training and its browsing runs meet the same consistent facts about you. One favours ranking, the other favours reputation and repetition.
What to do for Google AI Overviews
Treat classic search health as the foundation, because the Overview is built from ranking pages. Make sure each service has its own indexed page with a clear question as the heading and the answer in the first two lines. Fix slow loading, broken links and thin content. Google reads what Googlebot and its Google-Extended agent can crawl, so blocking those agents removes you from the pool.
Claim and complete your Business Profile if you serve a defined area. Keep the name, categories, service list and hours consistent with your website. Encourage real reviews and reply to them, because review text and volume feed local answers. Do not invent reviews or ratings. Structured, honest detail helps Google match you to specific questions rather than generic ones.
- Own the query: one page per real question people ask.
- Allow the crawlers: keep Googlebot and Google-Extended unblocked in robots.txt.
- Add FAQ content: short answers Google can lift and attribute.
- Keep facts aligned: profile, website and directories should agree.
What to do for ChatGPT and Perplexity
Focus on being described consistently across sources these systems read. ChatGPT was trained on a wide crawl of the web, and Perplexity retrieves live pages and cites them. Both reward clear, factual writing that other sites repeat. So aim to have your key facts, what you do, who you serve and where, stated the same way on your site, in profiles and in any coverage. Contradictions confuse retrieval.
Write pages that are easy to quote. Use a plain question as the heading, then a direct answer of one or two sentences, then the detail. Include specifics an assistant can attribute, such as service names and the countries you cover. Avoid marketing filler, because a model looking for a citable sentence will skip it. If a machine cannot extract a clean claim, it will quote a competitor who wrote one.
Check that your pages allow the assistant crawlers. OpenAI uses OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User for browsing, GPTBot for training collection, and Perplexity uses PerplexityBot. Blocking these in robots.txt keeps you out of live answers. Then test the same prompts across each tool every few weeks, because outputs shift as models and indexes update, and note which sources they cite.
The overlap that helps you everywhere
Most of the work pays off in both systems, which is the good news. A page that ranks well, states its answer first and reads cleanly is exactly what Google samples and what ChatGPT and Perplexity like to cite. So you do not need two separate content strategies. You need one library of clear, honest, question led pages, plus the technical access that lets every crawler read them.
The differences sit at the edges. Google leans harder on live ranking and verified location data, so local search hygiene matters more there. ChatGPT leans harder on how widely and consistently you are described, so earned coverage and steady, repeated facts matter more there. Perplexity sits between the two, retrieving live pages and showing its sources, which rewards clarity and correct attribution.
Set a simple routine. Once a month, ask each assistant the questions your buyers ask, record who gets named, and note the cited sources. Where a competitor appears, read the page that earned the mention and write a clearer one. Track changes over a quarter, because AI answers move slowly and steady improvement, not a single edit, is what shifts the result.