How AI search actually works
Instead of returning ten blue links, AI assistants (in search engines, chat tools, and voice assistants) increasingly answer directly — "who should I call about a slab leak near me" gets a short, synthesized recommendation rather than a results page. To generate that answer, the assistant pulls from sources it judges credible and clear, then summarizes or cites them. This changes what "ranking well" means: the goal shifts from being clicked to being the source an AI system trusts enough to reference.
What kind of content gets cited
Pages that directly and plainly answer specific questions tend to get cited — what a service costs, how the process works, what areas are served, what licensing and insurance look like. Content written in vague, brochure-style language ("we deliver excellence in every project") gives an AI system nothing concrete to extract and cite, even if it reads well to a human skimming a homepage.
FAQ content and clear structure
FAQ sections — genuine questions with direct, specific answers — are particularly well-suited to how AI search extracts information, because the question-and-answer format mirrors how these systems process and retrieve content. Pairing visible FAQ content with matching FAQ schema (structured data that explicitly marks the questions and answers) reinforces the same signal in a form these systems can parse reliably.
Consistency across the web still matters
AI systems often draw from multiple sources — your website, your Google Business Profile, review platforms, directories — and cross-reference them. Consistent, accurate information across all of these (the same service area, the same core claims, matching contact details) builds the kind of confidence that makes a system more likely to treat you as a reliable source, the same way inconsistent information undermines traditional local SEO.
What doesn't help — and might hurt
Keyword stuffing, vague superlative claims without specifics ("the best," "unmatched quality"), and thin content built purely to multiply page count don't help AI search — there's nothing substantive for the system to extract or trust. Worse, content that reads as generic or interchangeable with every competitor gives an AI system no reason to distinguish you from anyone else, which is precisely the fate honest, specific positioning is meant to avoid.
If you'd rather talk it through, that's what Karen does: a focused conversation about your goals and constraints, and a clear read on what to fix first.