Getting Found Online in the Age of AI:
- 24 hours ago
- 4 min read
An Overview for Business Owners
If you’re a business owner, it’s important to know that how people search online is changing. Today, many of your potential customers use LLMs (learned language models) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity for online searches. As AI continues to reshape how people search for your products and services, you need to ensure your website is optimized to stay relevant.
How Online Search Has Changed
Before we discuss how to optimize your website for AI-driven searches, let’s talk about how online search has changed.
Today’s internet users are no longer typing short, fragmented queries like “dance studio in Concord.” Instead, they are asking complete, natural-language questions such as: “What is the best dance studio in Concord for adults?” This is because AI-powered search tools are designed to answer full questions and offer follow-up prompts with comparisons and recommendations. Search behavior has become more conversational, more layered, and more decision-driven.
Users are not only asking for information; they are asking AI to help them make a choice. This is where GEO (generative engine optimization) comes in.
Understanding GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
GEO refers to the process of optimizing your website content so it can be discovered, cited, and recommended by LLMs like Gemini or ChatGPT anytime people search for the products or services you offer. Within the industry, the process may go by other names, including:
AIVO (AI Visibility Optimization)
AISO (AI Search Optimization)
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
GAIO (Generative AI Optimization)
LLMO (LLM Optimization)
GEO in Practice
Optimizing your website for GEO means creating content that is useful not just for traditional search engines like Google, but for AI systems that summarize, compare, and recommend.
More than Keywords
If you want to rank in AI-powered search results, your website needs content that does more than just match keywords.
Your content should:
Clearly answer real questions (FAQs)
Explain who your products/services are for
Show what differentiates you from others in your industry
Give AI enough structure and context to confidently mention you in an answer
Consistently address topics that are relevant to your customers (blogs)
Built on Familiar Foundations
Many of the same factors that impact your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) affect its AI visibility:
1. Content Clarity
AI favors website content that gives direct, specific answers. For example, if a user asks about pricing, a page with detailed price ranges is more useful than a vague service description.
2. Topical Authority
AI is more likely to trust websites that cover a topic with depth and consistency. Regular topical blogging, combined with FAQs, guides, service pages, and educational content, builds stronger authority.
3. Structure and Hierarchy
Like traditional search engines, AI systems scan for headings, subheadings, sections, and clearly defined topics. A clean structure helps them extract meaning more easily.
4. Overall Website Health
To assess your website’s overall health, consider the following:
Crawlability — make sure search engines can access your pages
Indexability — ensure the right pages can be included in search results
Site speed — improve usability and help performance with fast-loading pages
Mobile friendliness — ensure your site works well on phones and tablets
Clean URL structure — use simple, readable URLs to help both users and search engines
XML sitemap — provide search engines with a roadmap of important pages
Structured data — use this to help search engines understand page content more clearly
HTTPS security — ensure your site is secure
Fixing broken links and errors — Avoid 404s, redirect chains, and server issues
5. Referral signals
AI doesn’t just evaluate what you say about your brand; it also looks at what others say. External references reinforce your credibility and help AI decide if your site deserves to be part of a search query’s answer.
Types of External References:
Backlinks
Directory Listings
Media Mentions
Industry and Customer Reviews
How visible is your website in AI-driven searches?
Gone are the days when you focused on a single primary question: How does my website rank on Google? AI-driven search isn’t a future trend. It’s happening now, and it’s important to know how visible your website is within these ecosystems.
Wix, a leading website platform, reports that its clients collectively experienced a 139x increase in site visits from LLMs (AI user queries) between January 2024 and September 2025.
As a Wix agency partner, we are excited to share the new analytical tools Wix offers to help our clients better understand AI-driven search environments and improve their ranking strategy.
Beyond tracking clicks, rankings, and traffic, Wix’s new tools provide invaluable insights regarding:
AI Visibility: the percentage of questions in which a site is mentioned.
AI Bot Traffic & Crawls: when, how often, and which pages AI bots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, etc.) visit a site
Brand Perception: how AI platforms describe a brand, including strengths and weaknesses
Competitor Benchmarking: compares a site’s visibility against competitors based on common, relevant questions
We will discuss these insights and their implications for your website and business in our next blog. Until then, please contact our team with any questions or to request an evaluation of your website’s GEO and SEO strategies.
Optimizing Your Website for AI Search and Generative Engines
As search continues to evolve, businesses that adapt early will have the greatest advantage. GEO doesn’t replace SEO—it builds on it, helping ensure your website can be discovered not only by traditional search engines but also by the AI tools people increasingly rely on for answers and recommendations. By creating clear, structured, and helpful content, you position your business to be part of these conversations.
Reference List:
Semrush, “34 Eye-opening Google Search Statistics for 2024”, January 11, 2024. https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-search-statistics/
HubSpot, “The Way People Search the Web is Changing: 4 Stats Marketers & SEOs Should Know”, October 7, 2024. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-search-behaviors-are-changing