7. Is our problem technical access, weak information or lack of relevant external evidence?

Ask for a diagnostic sequence before commissioning content production.

Put to: Mike King and Patrick Stox.

Why it matters to buyers: Google states that supporting pages in its AI features must be indexed and eligible for a search snippet. OpenAI separately documents OAI-SearchBot for search and GPTBot for potential training, with independent controls. (developers.google.com)

Ask: “What evidence would distinguish a crawl or eligibility problem from a content gap, and when would you move beyond our own website?”

A good answer should cover:

1. Inspect the exact commercially relevant URLs, not merely the homepage.
2. Check applicable crawler controls, server responses, CDN restrictions and indexing evidence.
3. Verify that important product facts are accessible and understandable.
4. Compare the question’s requirements with the evidence available on the site.
5. Investigate recurring external sources only after stating what remains unexplained.

Press for: a diagnostic record containing the observed failure, affected URLs, proposed fix, responsible owner and verification method.

A satisfactory answer should explicitly separate eligibility from selection. Fixing access is a testable technical outcome; obtaining a recommendation is a different outcome.

Expert quote — pending: ____________________