How to help your website show up in AI Search
For years, the goal was:
- Build a great website.
- Get found on Google.
- Turn visitors into enquiries.
That strategy still matters but the way people search is changing.
Instead of typing “psychologist Melbourne” into Google, they’re asking questions like:
“Can you recommend a psychologist who specialises in anxiety in Melbourne?”
Or…
“Who’s a good estate lawyer for blended families in Sydney?”
Increasingly, those questions are also being asked in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI tools.
Which means your website now has a new audience. AI.
AI can’t recommend what it doesn’t understand
One of the biggest misconceptions is that AI somehow “knows” what your business does.
It doesn’t.
It learns from what it can read and understand across your website and other platforms such as social media.
A homepage that clearly explains:
- Who you help
- What services you provide
- Where you’re located
- What makes your approach different
That gives AI the confidence to recommend your business.
Clarity is just as important as creativity. To me, it has always been important. It’s that now AI is shining a light on it.
Your website needs depth, not just design
AI is looking for signals that you’re knowledgeable, trustworthy and genuinely experienced.
That means having content like:
- Detailed service pages
- FAQs that answer real client questions
- Case studies
- Articles that demonstrate your expertise
- Team information, including qualifications and experience
- Testimonials and reviews.
These things help build trust with both people and AI.
Your website shouldn’t stay exactly the same for five years
This is something I talk to clients about all the time.
Launching your website is really the starting point.
The businesses that continue to improve their websites over time are the ones that tend to stay visible.
They:
- Add new services
- Update content
- Answer new questions clients are asking
- Share projects they’ve completed
- Keep information current.
Your website should evolve as your business evolves. And other platforms that mention you and your business need to be saying the same up-to-date thing. Update your business’ information on your:
- LinkedIn About profile
- Facebook and Instagram profiles
- Association and membership listings
- Guest podcast and blog post mentions.
Good SEO still matters
To clarify, SEO is not dead.
In fact, many of the things that help you rank well in Google also help AI understand your business.
Things like fast-loading pages, clear page structure, descriptive headings, helpful content, strong internal linking and technically healthy websites all help Google and AI.
Google has even said that the same SEO best practices continue to apply for AI features like AI Overviews.
The difference is that we’re writing for humans first and making it easy for AI to understand what we’ve written.
So… will your website show up?
There’s no magic button. No secret AI plugin.
Instead, it’s about building a website that’s genuinely useful, easy to understand and demonstrates your expertise.
That’s exactly what good website strategy has always been about.
The businesses that invest in clear messaging, helpful content and ongoing improvements are building websites that are ready for how people search today and how they’ll search tomorrow.
Because your next client might never type your business into Google. They might simply ask AI who it recommends.
Not sure how your website is seen by AI?
About the Author: Ange Hammond
