March 19, 2025
Getting found in AI search: what changes and what does not
AI assistants now answer questions your customers used to type into Google. Most of what wins there is work you should already be doing, with three things added.
The fundamentals still decide it
AI answers are assembled from sources the model can read and trust. Clear structure, genuine expertise, fast pages and a site that search engines can crawl still determine whether you are in that pool. There is no shortcut that replaces being a credible source.
Answer the question in the first paragraph
Models lift passages that resolve a question cleanly and early. Pages that bury the answer under four paragraphs of warm-up get skipped. Lead with the answer, then explain the reasoning underneath it.
Be specific enough to be quotable
Vague claims do not get cited. Numbers, named methods, dates and concrete examples do. If a sentence could appear on any competitor's site, it is not going to earn you a mention.
Mark up what you can
Structured data for your organisation, services, pricing and FAQs makes it far easier for a model to state facts about you correctly. It is unglamorous work and it is one of the few levers you fully control.
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