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Search results driven by artificial intelligence have expanded rapidly in recent years as chatbot searches and AI results in major search engines take up more space on the internet. But many website owners are behind the curve on preparing themselves for AI SEO.
A recent Squarespace survey found that 46% of entrepreneurs believe AI could make or break their business in the next five years. At the same time, internal data also shows that as many as 80% of users don’t update their website’s SEO in the first 90 days after launching a website, pointing to a big missed opportunity.
Read on to learn what AI SEO is, why it’s so important, and how to prepare for this turning point in SEO.
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the practice of optimizing your online presence and website so that it appears in AI-driven search results like Google’s AI Overviews or ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity responses. Since the niche is relatively new, you may also see AI SEO referred to as AIO (AI Optimization), GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization), among other terms. Across Squarespace, you’ll see us using AIO.
This isn’t exclusive to showing up in text responses from AI search engines and chatbots. It can also refer to showing up in the sources listed alongside AI search results or in dynamic search results like shopping suggestions.
“AI is changing how people discover your brand and products and where you can make yourself visible. ”
Why is AI optimization important?
AI chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, with ChatGPT reporting 37.5 million search-like prompts per day. While Google still holds the largest share of the online search market by a large margin, the company is adding AI Overviews to the traditional search experience and AI Mode as a conversational, chatbot-style search alternative. Both significantly change the search results page or search experience.
And when it comes to making buying decisions for products and services, prospective customers are increasingly turning to generative AI results to guide their choices. In some cases, visitors from AI search results are shown to convert into customers or subscribers at higher rates than traditional search visitors.
In short: AI is changing how people discover your brand and products and where you can make yourself visible. Learning how AIO works and adapting your website as it evolves will give you a distinct advantage over your competitors. This urgency will only increase in the coming years. Getting ahead on AIO is not just about maintaining or growing sales, but is also a important opportunity to reach new audiences as well.
AIO vs. traditional SEO
Like search engines, AI companies use web crawlers to index and search content online. They “read” your website to categorize its content and any products. But unlike traditional search, AI search doesn’t always respond with the same results, even you make similar searches. And AI search platforms can prioritize different sources for responses than traditional search results.
The good news is that right now, many tactics that are successful in SEO can also work for AIO. These tactics include:
Having valuable, unique informational content on your website related to your business or area of focus
Maintaining strong technical SEO and clean sitemap files
Using content tags and headings to make it easy for crawlers to understand your site
Promoting your business in credible online news and review sites
Listing your business for local searches with Google Business Profile
Making sure your site allows crawlers so that your content can be referenced
Including structured data on your product pages
As the web adapts to AI search, Squarespace is focused on ensuring the platform has everything you need to stay ahead on both SEO and AIO. Squarespace already has numerous tools to address the points above, so content creation, page and image tagging, structured product data, and web crawler access is easy.
How to measure AI optimization
There are paid tools on the market that can help you measure your website’s visibility in AI search results. But there are less formal ways to get a sense on your own too. Try asking AI chatbots questions related to your business and services. You’ll need to do your search more times than you would on a regular search engine, and it’s worth asking the same question on different LLMs to compare the answers.
This starts with considering what someone might search in regular search and AI chats to find a website like yours. Those are your target keywords or key search terms.
For example, for a nature retreat service in Denver, CO, you might need to ask an AI chatbot “What is the best nature retreat service in Denver, CO?” dozens of times. You’d then note each time your service appears in the results or sources and average the results to get a sense of the effect of your AIO efforts.
AI search results, especially in chatbots, are “nondeterministic,” meaning they won’t generate the same response to similar prompts. Whereas SEO can be measured by searching for your website or related terms in a search engine and seeing how high you appear in the results, measuring AIO requires more testing. Google's AI Overviews don't change quite as much, but they fluctuate more often than traditional search results. Keep an eye on the cited sources for key search terms every month or so.
Ways to improve your AI visibility
Like traditional search engines, AI crawlers consider your entire online presence to rank and associate your website within various search results. Summarizing the tactics above:
Strengthen your SEO basics. Organize your site clearly, use relevant keywords in your copy, update your page titles and descriptions, and get listed in local search results.
Build your brand. Collect testimonials, encourage reviews, and explore other ways to get your website mentioned by other trustworthy sources. This can include common forums like Reddit and Quora, local news sites, business directories, and relevant online publications to your industry.
Focus on providing value. The goal of any search engine is to deliver the most helpful results for a given prompt. Focusing on unique insights or products will help you stand out long term.
Beyond the strategies above, AI chatbots are increasingly pulling in product data directly from online sellers. That means AI chatbots can have a direct link not just to your overall business information, but the up-to-date availability of products and services, so keeping your product information updated and organized is important.
Standing out in the AI era
As AI search tools get better at delivering quick answers, they’re also becoming more transactional. They can point users to a list of products or services, but they don’t communicate the intangible things that help someone decide which one to choose. That decision often comes down to brand: the identity, trust, and connection that build confidence and loyalty. A clear, memorable brand signals quality and makes your business stand out, and it’s more important than ever as more people turn to AI to find products and services.
Not only that, but early reports suggest that a strong, regularly referenced brand makes your website more likely to be cited in AI overviews and chatbot responses.
Here are a few brand signals that still matter in the AI era:
A beautiful, well-organized website. This is often the first impression someone gets of your business. Clean design, helpful content, and clear structure make you look professional and make it easier for both visitors and AI tools to understand and reference your site.
Customer satisfaction and connection. In addition to helping with AIO, positive reviews, testimonials, and active engagement from your supporters show that you deliver real value. These signals build relationships with visitors that keep them coming back.
Consistent marketing activity. Social posts, email newsletters, and marketing campaigns help keep your brand top of mind and contribute to a strong online presence that potential customers can reference and AI can pick up on.
As the search landscape continues to evolve, creating a strong, recognizable brand—with beautiful visuals, human relationship-building, and your unique ideas—will go hand-in-hand with optimizing for the latest AI tools. The businesses that invest in both will be the ones best positioned to grow, no matter how AI impacts the future of entrepreneurship.