As more and more people being to adopt ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other AI engines to research products, services, and businesses, optimizing your website for AI search is beginning to become just as important as traditional SEO. While strong technical SEO is still the foundation for any business that serves the general public, AI favors content that is clear, trustworthy, and genuinely helpful, as opposed to dense, keyword heavy, and narrow in focus.
Have a Website to Work With
All of the items below are assuming that your business has a functioning and well-maintained website to begin with. And not just a website that exists, but one that has administrative abilities to be easily edited, updated, and maintained. If your website is broken, filled with typos, 404 errors, and the like, then your primary focus should be getting your website to a point where it can be your 24-hour salesman that you need it to be.
Create Helpful Content that Proves Expertise
Focus on answering your customers’ questions with detailed, well-organized content. Instead of targeting keywords alone, publish interactive guides, conversational FAQs, and in-depth articles or case studies that provide real value and solve specific problems. People typically ask LLMs complete questions, not just keywords, so use descriptive headings, question-and-answer formats, and concise explanations that make your content easy for AI to understand and reference. Support your content with real-world experience, case studies, original insights, and credible data. AI systems are more likely to present information to users from authoritative, trustworthy sources.
Maintain Strong Technical SEO
A fast, mobile-friendly, secure website with clear navigation and logical page structure helps search engines and AI systems discover and understand your content. The foundations of SEO are still the primary focus of both search engines and LLMs. No business should completely disregard content that is focused on particular topics, relevant industries, and the like just to try and generate additional leads through AI. Your website still must work well on mobile devices, be fast, provide clear actionable items in the UX, and show the user a roadmap to find what they’re looking for through value propositions and an easy-to-use interface.