How Do You Optimize Your Website for AI?

Website owners are being told they need to optimize for A.I.

Depending on who you listen to, you might hear terms like AI SEO, AEO, GEO, LLM optimization, or whatever combination of letters somebody comes up with next.

Getting your website mentioned in ChatGPT, Google’s AI results, or Copilot sounds appealing. But how much of the advice about making that happen is actually useful?

First, Make Sure AI Can Find Your Website / Webpage

Before worrying about AI optimization, make sure search engines and AI search systems can access your important pages.

Check that your important pages aren’t blocked, that other pages on your website link to them, and that search engines can find and index them.

Of Note: Google Search indexing and AI search retrieval aren’t identical. Being indexed by Google doesn’t guarantee an AI system can access or cite your content. Similarly, allowing AI-SearchBot doesn’t guarantee inclusion in ChatGPT search results.

Next, Answer Questions Real Customers Ask

Write articles answering questions customers actually ask. Answer questions where your experience gives you something useful to add.
Traditional SEO sometimes starts with short keyword phrases like:

Window cleaning St. George

People can also ask AI search tools complete, conversational questions:

“Why do my windows still look cloudy after I clean them?”

Those questions give you an opportunity to explain something you know from experience.

Don’t Hide the Answer From The AI Bots

Don’t make A.I. or website visitors read six paragraphs before you answer their question. From what I have been told, AI’s want the best information right up front.

If your heading asks, ‘Can hard water permanently damage glass?’, answer the question immediately. Then explain why and provide examples.

Clear headings and organized sections make information easier for people to understand. They also make it easier for machines to determine what the page is about.

Give AI Something It Can’t Easily Find Elsewhere

Suppose 500 websites all say:

“Hard water can leave mineral deposits on glass.” Add something different such as: “After years of cleaning windows around St. George, I’ve frequently found heavy sprinkler deposits on windows located close to landscaping.”

Now you’ve contributed firsthand experience.

Business owners have information AI doesn’t automatically possess. For instance we have had unusual jobs, interesting customer questions, photographs, mistakes, and years of experience solving specific problems.

That’s the kind of information I’d rather see on a business website.

AIs Wants Your Claims To Be Verifiable

If I claim that 73% of homeowners do something, I’d better explain where that number came from to show credibility.

Link to reliable sources when making factual claims that need supporting evidence. When something comes from your own experience, make that clear too.

That helps readers distinguish research from personal observation.
An AI system may also be able to use that information when evaluating or summarizing your content.

AI’s Want to Know Who You Are

Your website should make a few things obvious:

• • • Who am I?
    • What does my business do?
    • What areas do I work in?
    • What experience do I have?

For a local business, this information is useful:

• • • About page
    • Author information (I use a bio section that is saved so it can easily be reused)
    • Consistent business details
    • Service areas
    • Real photographs
    • Customer reviews
    • Clear contact information

Use Schema, But Don’t Expect Miracles

Schema helps describe your content in a format machines can read. It isn’t a shortcut to higher rankings or AI recommendations.

Just don’t assume adding schema guarantees ChatGPT will recommend your business.

Schema helps machines understand information. It isn’t there to rank you.

Note: I had an A.I. tell me that on a scale of 1 to 10, schema was an 8. Based on that I do recommend schema. 

Don’t Throw Away Traditional SEO

Many things that can help AI systems discover and understand a website are things we’ve been doing in SEO for years.

Internal links, crawlability, useful content, backlinks, and clear website organization still matter.

AI hasn’t suddenly made all of that obsolete.

The following is a summary of this article put out by Google during Oct. 2026. The summary was created by ChatGPT.

The article can be found here: Google’s Guide to Optimizing for Generative AI Features on Google Search | Google Search Central  |  Documentation  |  Google for Developers

Summary: Google’s Guide to Optimizing Your Website for AI Search

Google’s official guide explains how website owners can improve their visibility in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and traditional Google Search.

Here are the 15 most important takeaways, written for small business owners.

What Google recommends

– 1. Traditional SEO is still important. Google’s AI search features use its existing search ranking and quality systems. You don’t need an entirely different SEO strategy.

– 2. Create content that offers something original. Google emphasizes firsthand experience, expert opinions, and information that visitors can’t easily find elsewhere.

– 3. Avoid generic articles. Content that simply repeats information already available on hundreds of websites offers little additional value.

– 4. Write for people, not AI systems. Focus on answering visitors’ questions clearly and completely rather than trying to satisfy an AI algorithm.

– 5. Organize your content logically. Use descriptive headings, readable paragraphs, and sections that help visitors find information.

– 6. Include relevant images and videos. Original, useful visual content can provide additional opportunities to appear in Google’s AI search features.

– 7. Make sure Google can access your website. Important pages must be crawlable, indexed, and eligible to appear in Google Search with snippets.

– 8. Maintain a technically sound website. Fix broken pages, reduce unnecessary duplicate content, improve loading performance, and make the website mobile-friendly.

– 9. Keep your Google Business Profile accurate. For local businesses, maintaining correct business information can help Google understand and display your services in search and AI-generated results.

What Google says you DON’T need to do

– 10. You don’t need special AI optimization services. Google considers AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) part of traditional SEO, not separate requirements.

– 11. You don’t need an llms.txt file. Google explicitly states that its search systems don’t use these special AI files.

– 12. You don’t need to break articles into tiny sections for AI. Google can understand longer articles and identify relevant information within them. There is no ideal article length.

– 13. You don’t need dozens of articles targeting slight keyword variations. Google’s systems can understand synonyms and related questions without requiring a separate page for each variation.

– 14. You don’t need special AI schema markup. Structured data can still help with traditional Google rich results, but Google doesn’t require special schema to appear in AI search.

– 15. Don’t chase artificial mentions or AI ranking tricks. Google warns against manufactured mentions, questionable optimization tactics, and third-party tools claiming access to Google’s internal ranking information.

My biggest takeaway for your SEO website

Google’s message is remarkably straightforward:

Good SEO is still good SEO. The biggest opportunity is creating original, useful content that competitors and AI systems can’t easily duplicate.

• Firsthand experience matters. Your actual experience operating local businesses and analyzing websites can distinguish your articles from generic SEO advice.
• More pages don’t automatically mean better rankings. A smaller collection of original, helpful articles can be more valuable than hundreds of repetitive pages.
• Don’t sell AI optimization as some mysterious new service. Google explicitly says that traditional SEO fundamentals remain relevant to AI search.

One additional point worth mentioning: Google recommends using the Generative AI performance report in Search Console to evaluate visibility rather than trusting third-party promises.

The most interesting part of this guide: Google is essentially challenging the idea that businesses need to pay for a completely new form of SEO just to appear in AI search results.