Do AI-coded websites show up on Google and in ChatGPT?
If AI wrote your website, or you are thinking about having one built that way, you will want to know whether people can find it. It depends on how the site is built. Whether AI wrote the code matters very little. Checking your own site takes a few minutes.
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The short answer
An AI-coded website can show up on Google and in ChatGPT. What decides it is how the site is built. Google says it judges content on its quality, however it was produced. The risk is a site that a script assembles in the visitor's browser, because a search engine or AI assistant fetching the page can get a nearly empty shell. WaTo Consulting in Adelaide builds code sites as finished pages, so the words are there the moment the page is requested.
What decides whether you get found
Google looks at the content
Google wrote in February 2023 that appropriate use of AI is not against its guidelines, and that its focus is on the quality of content rather than how it is produced. A useful page written with AI help is treated like any other useful page.
Pages assembled in the browser
Many do-it-yourself AI builders send the visitor a nearly empty page plus a script, which is a small program. The script then builds the page inside the browser. A person sees the finished result. A machine that only reads what was sent can see almost nothing.
Google can run scripts, with a wait
Google's own developer guide says pages go into a queue before their scripts are run, and that the wait can be a few seconds or longer. The same guide notes that not all bots can run JavaScript, the language those scripts are written in.
Many AI assistants do not run scripts
A December 2024 study by the hosting company Vercel and the firm MERJ found that none of the major AI crawlers it tracked ran scripts. A crawler is the program that fetches pages for a search engine or AI assistant. This may change over time.
Finished pages can be read by both
A code site built as finished pages has every word in the page the moment it is requested. Nothing has to be assembled afterwards. Search engines and AI assistants read the same thing your visitors do.
The basics that get skipped
Quick AI builds often miss the plain housekeeping. There may be no sitemap, which is the list of pages you give to search engines. Every page may share one title. Descriptions and structured data, the labels that tell search engines what a page is about, are often missing.
Who this guide is for
- You built a site with an AI tool and it is not appearing when you search for your own business.
- You are weighing up an AI-coded site and want to know if it will hurt you on Google.
- Someone has told you that AI websites get penalised and you want to know if that is true.
- You want AI assistants like ChatGPT to be able to read your site and mention your business.
How to check your own site
- View the page source. Open your home page on a computer, right-click and choose View page source. This shows what a machine receives. Press Ctrl and F and search for a sentence from your page. If your actual words are missing, the page is being assembled in the browser.
- Search for your own address on Google. Type site:yourdomain.com.au into Google, using your real web address. The results are the pages Google has on file for your site. If you have ten pages and Google lists one, something is stopping it from reading the rest.
- Use URL Inspection in Google Search Console. Search Console is Google's own tool for site owners. Paste in a page address and it tells you whether that page is on Google and shows the page as Google saw it. Compare that with what you see in your browser.
- Check the title on a few different pages. Open three or four pages and look at the name on the browser tab each time. Every page should have its own title that says what that page is about. If they all read the same, Google has little to tell them apart.
- Look for a sitemap. Add /sitemap.xml to the end of your web address. That is where the list of pages often lives. If you get an error page, the site may not have one, and search engines are left to find your pages by following links.
How WaTo builds and fixes AI-coded sites
- We build code sites as finished pages. Our AI website design service gives each page its own title and description, plus a sitemap and structured data.
- A person checks the AI-written code before launch. Google's guidance on AI content says to review AI-written titles, descriptions and structured data before publishing, and we agree with it.
- Our own site, wato.au, is built this way. You can view the source of this page and find these words in it.
- We review and fix AI-built sites other people have made. If you already have one, our vibe code to production service covers getting it ready for search engines and for the public.
- We have been Adelaide owned and operated since 2001. If you are still choosing a path, our guide on AI-coded websites compared with WordPress sets out where each one suits.
Related questions
Does Google penalise a website because AI wrote it?
Google says no. Its February 2023 statement says appropriate use of AI is not against its guidelines. What it does act on is pages made mainly to game the rankings, such as large numbers of pages that add nothing for the reader. Accurate, useful pages are what count.
What is a vibe coded website?
It is a site made by describing what you want to an AI tool, which then writes the code. Our guide on what vibe coding is explains it in plain terms. A vibe coded website can be found like any other, as long as it is built so machines can read it.
If Google can run scripts, why does it matter how my site is built?
Because it adds a step that can go wrong. Google's guide says pages wait in a queue before their scripts are run, and it still calls finished pages a great idea. Other search engines and many AI assistants may not run the scripts at all.
How do I get ChatGPT and other AI assistants to mention my business?
Nobody can promise that. What helps is making your pages easy to quote. Put a direct, plain answer near the top of the page. Use clear headings and question and answer sections like this one. For local searches, a complete Google Business Profile also helps people find you.
My AI-built site is not showing up. Do I have to start again?
Often not. The words and the design can usually stay. What changes is how the pages are produced, along with adding the missing titles, descriptions and sitemap. Sometimes the tool it was built in cannot do that, and moving the site is the better choice. We will tell you which applies.
I am on Google now with WordPress. Will I lose that if I move to a code site?
A move done carelessly can cost you visitors, whatever the new site is built with. The main thing is that every old page address still leads somewhere sensible. Our guide on leaving WordPress and keeping your Google rankings walks through it.
How WaTo can help with this
Not sure what Google sees on your site?
If your AI-built site is not being found, or you want one built so it can be, get in touch or call us on (08) 7123 0805. Tell us your web address and how the site was made. We can tell you what is holding it back and what it would take to put right.
Mon to Fri, 8:30am to 5pm
