The Search Landscape Has More Players Now
For years, “search engine optimisation” meant one thing: getting your website to rank well on Google. And while Google is still dominant, it’s no longer the only game in town when it comes to how people discover businesses, products, and services online.
AI-powered search tools — including ChatGPT’s browse mode, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google’s AI Overviews, and others — are now used by a significant and growing portion of the population to research purchases, find service providers, and make decisions.
Optimising your website for AI search isn’t about replacing your Google strategy. It’s about extending it so your business shows up wherever your potential clients are searching.
How AI Search Tools Find and Use Your Content
Unlike traditional search engines that return a list of links, AI search tools generate synthesised responses — drawing from multiple sources to create a single, direct answer. They favour:
- Content that is clearly structured and easy to parse
- Sources that are authoritative and well-cited across the web
- Pages that answer specific questions directly and accurately
- Businesses that have a credible digital footprint (reviews, mentions, backlinks)
- Content that is up to date and factually reliable
Understanding this helps you understand what to focus on.
Key Optimisation Strategies for AI Search
1. Structure Your Content With Clear Headings and Direct Answers
AI tools parse content much like a reader who’s skimming. Clear H2 and H3 headings, short paragraphs, bullet points, and direct answers near the top of each section all make your content easier for AI to extract and cite.
If a section of your page is about a specific question, state the answer in the first sentence or two. Don’t make the AI — or the reader — work for it.
2. Create FAQ Content Across Your Website
FAQ sections are gold for AI search. They’re structured in exactly the format AI tools use to generate answers: a question followed by a concise, accurate response. Add FAQ sections to service pages, location pages, and blog posts. Use real questions your clients ask.
3. Use Schema Markup
Structured data (schema markup) is code added to your website that tells search engines — and AI tools — what your content means. Key schema types for small businesses include:
- LocalBusiness — your name, address, phone, opening hours
- FAQ — marks up your FAQ sections for enhanced results
- Review/AggregateRating — displays star ratings in search results
- Service — describes your specific offerings
- Article — for blog posts and published content
This isn’t something you need to code by hand — it can be added via plugins or by your web developer.
4. Demonstrate Entity-Based Authority
AI systems increasingly understand the world in terms of entities — people, places, businesses, topics. Having a well-established, consistent identity across the web — your business name, your location, your services, your people — makes it easier for AI to understand who you are and recommend you confidently.
This means: consistent NAP details everywhere, a complete Google Business Profile, presence in industry directories, and content that clearly establishes what you do and where you do it.
5. Earn Mentions and Backlinks From Credible Sources
AI tools treat the web as a network of authority. The more reputable sites that mention or link to your business, the more credible your business appears to AI systems. Think local media, industry publications, supplier websites, and community organisations.
6. Publish Content That Directly Answers Client Questions
Think about the questions your clients ask before they hire you. Those questions are search queries — and they’re also the exact prompts people type into AI tools. Build a content library that answers those questions thoroughly and honestly.
A real estate agent, for example, might publish detailed answers to: “what fees do real estate agents charge in Victoria?”, “how long does it take to sell a house?”, or “what is a vendor advocacy service?” Each of these creates an opportunity to be cited.
7. Keep Content Current
AI tools are increasingly able to draw from live web content. Outdated information — old prices, superseded regulations, changed processes — not only erodes trust but can cause an AI tool to deprioritise your content in favour of fresher sources.
The Common Thread: Be a Genuinely Good Source
Everything about AI search optimisation comes back to one principle: be genuinely useful, accurate, and well-organised. Businesses that chase quick wins with thin content are not just failing at traditional SEO — they’re also invisible to AI tools.
The businesses that get recommended by AI search are the ones that have invested in real content, real expertise, and real digital presence over time. That investment is exactly what West Legacy Group helps businesses build.
Talk to West Legacy Group about optimising your website for AI and traditional search.