One robots.txt line might be hiding your brand from GeminiGet Gemini to recommend you.

Google-Extended is not a separate bot. Google crawls your site with its usual bots. Google-Extended is a name you can use in robots.txt to say how Google may use what it already crawled. If you disallow it, Google won't use your pages to train future Gemini models. It also won't use them to ground answers in the Gemini app and Vertex AI. Grounding means Gemini looks up real pages, often through the Google Search index, to support what it writes.

Two things it does not do. It does not change your Google Search ranking. And it does not control AI Overviews in Search. Googlebot rules do that. So never block Googlebot to keep out of AI. That removes you from Google Search too.

Paste your robots.txt below. The checker reads it like a real parser. Each name follows its own User-agent group if one exists. If not, it follows the * group. The longest matching rule wins.

Gemini can only repeat what it can find and understand. Pick the question a buyer types before choosing, like "best trail running shoes for wide feet". Put that question on one page as a heading. Under it, answer in two or three short sentences. Say what the product is, who it's for, the price, and one fact that proves it. Use visible text, not an image or a tab that hides it.

Google says you don't need special AI files, new machine-readable formats or special markup for its AI features. Normal SEO basics apply. If you add structured data, it must match the text people see. Keep the same facts everywhere: your site, marketplaces, Merchant Center and your Google Business Profile. A price that differs across them gives Gemini a reason to doubt you.

Ask Gemini your buying questions and look at the sources it shows when a rival gets named. Gemini doesn't always show links, so ask a few ways and note what you see. The sources are usually list articles, forums, marketplace listings and review pages. Those are your targets. Pitch the list authors with a sample and your answer block. Answer real questions in forums, honestly, as the brand. Keep your marketplace listings full and your reviews coming.

Then measure. Answers to the same question change from run to run, so one answer proves nothing. Ask the same fixed list of questions every week, in fresh chats. Count how many answers name you. Log the result below. Watch the trend over a month or more, not one week.