1. Clearly explain what your business does

Many websites assume visitors already understand the business.

The homepage may contain attractive phrases such as “bringing your vision to life” or “solutions designed around you”, without clearly identifying the service being provided.

Your website should plainly state:

 

• • What your business does

• • Who it helps

• • Where it operates

• • The problems it solves

• • What makes it different

• • How customers can buy or enquire

For example:

Cloud Digital is a web design and development agency based in Poole, Dorset. We create, host and maintain WordPress websites for businesses throughout the UK.

This gives search engines and AI platforms several important facts in a clear, unambiguous format.

Avoid forcing systems to piece together your basic business information from slogans, images or scattered paragraphs.

2. Create a dedicated page for every important service

A brief list of services on your homepage is rarely enough.

Each main service should have its own detailed page explaining:

 

• • What the service includes

• • Who it is suitable for

• • The problems it addresses

• • How the process works

• • Typical costs or pricing factors

• • Frequently asked questions

• • Relevant experience or examples

• • The areas where it is available

A web design company might have separate pages for:

 

• • WordPress web design

• • Ecommerce development

• • Website hosting

• • WordPress maintenance

• • Search engine optimisation

• • Local SEO

• • Website support

• • Website redesigns

This allows each page to answer a more specific group of questions.

It also gives an AI system a precise source to reference instead of relying on a broad page containing only a few sentences about each service.

3. Answer real customer questions

AI searches are often conversational.

People are increasingly searching with full questions such as:

 

• • How much does a new website cost?

• • How long does it take to build a WordPress website?

• • Should I use WordPress, Shopify or Squarespace?

• • Do I need separate websites for different brands?

• • How often should my website be updated?

• • What is included with managed website hosting?

Your website should answer these questions directly.

Useful answers can be included within:

 

• • Service pages

• • Frequently asked questions

• • Blog articles

• • Guides

• • Comparison pages

• • Case studies

• • Help and support sections

Place the clearest answer near the beginning of the relevant section. You can then add context, examples and exceptions beneath it.

This makes the content useful to readers while giving search and AI systems a clear passage that can be understood or cited.

4. Demonstrate genuine experience

Generic content is easy to reproduce. First-hand experience is much harder to replace.

Google recommends creating reliable, people-first content that provides original value rather than content written primarily to manipulate rankings. (Google for Developers⁠)

Add evidence of real expertise through:

• • Detailed case studies

• • Before-and-after examples

• • Original photography

• • Project results

• • Customer testimonials

• • Named authors

• • Professional biographies

• • Accreditations and awards

• • Explanations of your process

• • Lessons learned from real projects

• • Industry-specific observations

Instead of simply claiming that your business is experienced, show what that experience looks like.

For example, a case study could explain the customer’s original problem, the work completed, the decisions made and the measurable outcome.

This gives AI systems specific facts that distinguish your business from competitors publishing similar general advice.

5. Strengthen your About and author information

AI platforms need to understand who is responsible for the information on a website.

Your About page should include:

 

• • Your registered or trading business name

• • Your location

• • Your history

• • Your areas of expertise

• • The people behind the company

• • Relevant qualifications or experience

• • Professional memberships

• • Awards or notable achievements

• • Links to genuine external profiles

Blog articles should also identify their author where appropriate.

An author page can provide information about the person’s role, experience, specialist subjects and connection to the business.

This is particularly important for content involving finance, law, healthcare or other subjects where trust and expertise are essential.

6. Keep your business details consistent

Your business name, address, telephone number, opening hours and service information should be consistent across the web.

Check that your details match on:

• • Your website

• • Google Business Profile

• • Bing Places

• • Companies House, where relevant

• • Social media profiles

• • Industry directories

• • Local business directories

• • Review platforms

• • Professional membership websites

Google specifically recommends maintaining an accurate Google Business Profile to help local business information appear across traditional and AI-powered search experiences. (Google for Developers⁠)

Conflicting information can make it harder for search engines and AI systems to establish which details are correct.

7. Add appropriate structured data

Structured data, often called schema markup, gives search engines machine-readable information about a page.

Depending on the website, this might identify:

• • The organisation

• • A local business

• • A service

• • A product

• • An article

• • An author

• • A review

• • An event

• • A job vacancy

• • A breadcrumb trail

Schema.org provides recognised structured data types including Organisation, Local Business and Service. (Schema.org⁠)

Structured data does not guarantee inclusion in AI results, nor should it be used to add information that visitors cannot see on the page.

However, correctly implemented markup can reduce ambiguity and help search engines understand the relationship between your business, services, people and content.

For a local company, useful information may include:

• • Business name

• • Logo

• • Address

• • Telephone number

• • Website address

• • Opening hours

• • Service area

• • Social profiles

• • Type of business

Always test structured data and ensure it accurately reflects the visible content.

8. Make sure AI search crawlers are not blocked

AI platforms need permission to access your public website.

OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT Search. OpenAI advises publishers who want their content to be discoverable in ChatGPT search results to allow this crawler and ensure it is not being blocked by the website’s hosting provider, firewall or content delivery network. (OpenAI Help Center)

Review your:

• • robots.txt file

• • Security plugins

• • Cloudflare or CDN settings

• • Hosting firewall

• • Bot protection settings

• • Password protection

• • noindex tags

• • Canonical tags

Be careful when applying blanket bot-blocking rules. A security system intended to stop malicious activity could also prevent legitimate search crawlers from accessing the site.

You should still protect private, sensitive or restricted content. The aim is to make public pages accessible, not to expose information that should remain private.

9. Maintain your sitemap and indexing

An XML sitemap helps search engines discover the important pages on your website.

Make sure it:

• • Loads correctly

• • Contains your preferred page URLs

• • Excludes test or duplicate pages

• • Updates when content is published

• • Has been submitted to Google Search Console

• • Has been submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools

Microsoft recommends using XML sitemaps alongside IndexNow to help content remain fresh and discoverable across traditional and AI-powered search. (Bing Blogs⁠)

IndexNow can notify supported search engines when pages are added, updated or removed. Many WordPress SEO and caching tools can enable this automatically.

You should also regularly check Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for crawling, indexing and technical errors.

10. Build a trustworthy presence beyond your own website

An AI platform does not necessarily rely solely on what a business says about itself.

It may consider information from:

• • Customer reviews

• • News coverage

• • Industry websites

• • Professional directories

• • Trade associations

• • Local organisations

• • Social profiles

• • Forums and community discussions

• • Other reputable websites

This makes digital reputation increasingly important.

Seek genuine coverage, reviews, partnerships and directory listings. Avoid purchasing large quantities of low-quality links or manufacturing artificial mentions.

Google’s guidance specifically warns that pursuing inauthentic mentions is unlikely to provide the expected benefit because its AI features still rely on quality and anti-spam systems. (Google for Developers⁠)

A small number of credible, relevant mentions will usually be more valuable than hundreds of poor-quality directory links.