Technical Setup to Make Your Site a Usable Source for Gemini

Gemini can only use your pages if Google can reach them, index them and read the text. Most source problems are technical: blocked crawlers, pages missing from the index, key facts hidden in images or scripts, or conflicting versions of the same page. Fixing these is the foundation for everything else.

Step 1: Confirm Your Pages Are Indexed

Open Google Search Console and check the page indexing report. Look for important pages marked as excluded, such as “crawled, currently not indexed” or “duplicate without user-selected canonical”. If your pricing page or main service pages are not indexed, Gemini’s search-based answers are unlikely to use them.

A quick manual test: search Google for a distinctive sentence from the page in quotes. If it does not appear, investigate.

Step 2: Review robots.txt and the Google-Extended Token

Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they may access. Check that Googlebot is not blocked from key folders. Google also provides a separate robots.txt token called Google-Extended, which lets site owners control whether their content may be used for some Gemini purposes, such as model improvement. It does not affect normal Google Search.

Make this a deliberate choice, not an accident. Some sites block it for business reasons. If your goal is visibility in AI answers, understand what you are opting out of before you block it. Our AI crawler user-agent list covers the other main bots.

Step 3: Make Text Readable Without Tricks

• Put prices, service areas and product specs in HTML text, not only in images or PDFs.
• Avoid loading the main content only after user interaction, such as tabs that fetch text on click.
• If your site relies heavily on JavaScript, check with the URL Inspection tool that Google sees the rendered content.
• Do not hide content behind login walls if you want it cited.

Step 4: Add Structured Data

Structured data in JSON-LD helps Google understand what a page is about. Useful types for business sites include:

• Organization or LocalBusiness on the home or contact page, with name, logo, address and social profiles.
• Product with offers on product pages.
• Service for service pages.
• FAQPage only where the page really is a list of questions and answers.

Make sure the markup matches what is visible on the page. For deeper detail see schema markup for AI.

Step 5: Clean Up Duplicates and Canonicals

When the same content exists at several URLs (with and without trailing slashes, tracking parameters, print versions, old domains), Google must choose one. Set a canonical URL, redirect old versions and keep internal links pointing to the preferred page. This reduces the risk that an outdated copy becomes the source.

Step 6: Keep Pages Fast and Stable

Pages that time out or return errors may be crawled less often. Check server logs or Search Console for 5xx errors, keep the XML sitemap current and list only canonical, indexable URLs in it. Update the lastmod date only when content truly changes.

A Quick Audit Table

1. Key pages indexed? Yes / No
2. Googlebot allowed in robots.txt? Yes / No
3. Google-Extended setting chosen on purpose? Yes / No
4. Main facts in HTML text? Yes / No
5. Organization and product or service markup valid? Yes / No
6. One canonical URL per page? Yes / No

Any “No” is a priority fix before you invest in new content.

How Keboost Helps

Once your technical base is sound, Keboost tracks whether Gemini and other assistants actually use your pages for your customers’ questions, and which competitor pages they use instead. It then helps you publish focused content to close the gaps. Run a free AI visibility check to see your starting point.