How To Get Your Website Found By AI Search

AI SEO is not quite the same as traditional search engine optimisation

Most AI-related searches comprise answers to questions, summaries of topics the user may be interested in, or guides of how to do something, places to visit, and suchlike. Getting found for these searches requires more than just clever keyword usage and meta data. It requires original content, authentic knowledge and meaningful answers to likely questions.

However, as a small business, as a specialist in your trade, as someone with experience in your field, you are in the best position possible to create these answers.

How AI is taking over search results

As of 2026, AI Overviews (AIOs) appear in 30% of search queries, and for longer queries that ask questions, it's almost comprehensive.
It may well be the future of Search Engines, even if it is not technically a search engine in its own right.
People are always asking Gemini or ChatGPT various questions, and you may well have the answers to some of them.
For this reason, being found this way can be hugely beneficial, especially if it brings customers to your website who would otherwise have been unaware of your existence.

How to be mentioned or cited by AI answers

Make your answers easy to use

If your content has a summary or section that fits neatly on an AI snippet, if it's easy to understand, even without reading the rest of the article, and if it neatly answers a question that is asked regularly, you have the beginnings of a page that is attractive to AI.

Using headings that align with user queries, short, bite-size paragraphs, and numbered lists for step-by-step guides or rankings makes your content easy to read and more likely to be picked up.

Having the most meaningful content at the beginning of the page or article is great for making the content attractive to AI snippets too. It means the AI snippet can use the first sentence of the content directly, and give the person asking the question the answer with ease.

Make sure your website is up-to-date

Giving your content current relevancy is vital. Adding recent statistics, quotes, and examples, and then keeping them updated when things change means that the AI snippet can trust your data, and know that it's accurate and current.

Make sure the information is accurate of course, and also, above all, helpful. Google's Helpful Content Update rewards content that is original, insightful and from authentic experience and knowledge. If your website makes the user-experience enjoyable, informative, and provides the user with what they need quickly, then AI will be as happy as the end-user with the experience.

Make sure your website works properly

This might be the most obvious, but if the website is not easy for the search engine to read, if it has redirects and links that lead it round in circles, or simple spelling and grammar errors, it is much less likely to be noticed or rated highly by AI-led searches.

Think about what your clients may be asking

This is the most important aspect of all. Having articles that explain the nuances of horticulture is great, but only if you have clients who are interested in that – say, if your business is a garden centre or plant seller. If you are a builder's merchant, these visitors are of no use to you.

It is well worth sitting down and having a think about what your clients will usually ask. They may well have asked you questions already in person. Many of these make for superb titles for sections on your website, blog articles, or FAQs.

Structuring your website for AI optimisation

Topic clusters are a method of making blogs and informational websites much more attractive to both search engines and AI. By having a ‘tree' of articles or pages, you give search engines a head-start on finding the most important information.

For example, a section about fruit on a website can have a general first page on fruit, which can then have links and leads to other pages on different fruits.

You are the expert

Being the ultimate authority on your area of expertise may sound daunting, but the chances are, if you're running a business doing this, you will have years, if not decades, of experience. Your knowledge may well not be found far and wide on the internet. AI loves niche information, and if your website is the only place providing reliable information on this subject, it will love your website too!

DotGO have a team of SEO experts who are highly skilled in helping websites be found and featured by both Google and AI-snippets. Get in touch here to arrange a consultation.