Getting recommended in the AI results is possible for any business. After completing more than 20+ AI Visibility Audits, there are a few common issues we see come up repeatedly that are holding most businesses back.
Here are the top 7 issues that are holding most businesses back from being recommendd in the AI results.
Issue 1: Website does not answer relevant questions
If you want your business to appear for questions your audience ask, like “which local builders can help with high end bathroom renovations?”, then you need to answer this on your website.
The ideal places to answer common questions are within the headings of your page, within the FAQs and then expanding on the answers within the blog.
Start by listing the top 10 questions your audience are likely to ask as they search for businesses like yours, then answer those on your website, blog and on your social profiles.
Issue 2: Web pages have nothing for AI to summarise
AI does not index web pages like Google does. It retrieves them. In order to do this efficiently (without using all of the water on the planet to do so), it needs to quickly find relevant information.
You can help AI find the most relevant information by making sure your web page meta tags are accurate and you include a relevant summary at the top of your page.
This helps AI systems retrieve, parse and summarise the information.
Issue 3: Slow website
A slow website means it will take more time for any system to interact with this content. Note only is this poor user experience, it’s poor AI experience.
You can use GTMetrix to find out your web page speed. If it’s more than 3 seconds or any of the “Web Vitals” are not green, then you’ve got work to do.
Issue 4: Inconsistent business information
Consistency builds trust. And if your business information is inconsistent across your socials, website and directory listings, then that inconsistency will cost you.
Tools like BrightLocal are fantastic for checking NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency and getting these updated across your profiles so you have consistent structure.
Going further than this is something called “entity SEO”, which is about building context around your business through content and links so the search and AI systems can understand exactly what your content means.
Issue 5: Poor reputation
You do need to give a damn about your bad reputation. Trust is critical, especially now with many things being AI generated. No one wants to be tricked. And everyone has the power to find our your business reputation with a single prompt.
If someone ask AI about your business reputation, what comes up? Is it positive? How does it compare to competitors?
Clean up any low reviews. Ask your customers and staff for reviews on an ongoing basis. Reply to reviews. Add case studies to your website. Add a dedicated reviews pages to your website.
Tools like Trustindex are great low cost ways to combine reviews from multiple sources so you can display them on your website too.
Issue 6: Minimal online activity
If you’re not active online and contributing to your industry, then why would AI systems recommend you above another business that is?
Yes, it’s more work to do. And that is the nature of competition.
The high-leverage way to share content is to use the “they ask, you answer” method. This is basically when your customers and prospects ask a question, you answer it in your blog and on social posts.
These questions can be answers are text, video, images or a combination of these things.
It’s a simple way to get relevant content out without scratching your head about what you should create.
Issue 7: Missing relevant schema
Here’s a technical and important one. Adding schema will help the AI systems retrieve the relevant content on your web page to surface it in the AI results.
Schema is structured data that tells search and AI systems what your content means, rather than what it says.
Schema exists for various types of use cases, including LocalBusiness, Organization, Product, FAQPage, Review and more.
It’s easy to add, so check with your web development team (or ask your AI system) to put this in the relevant places on your website.
Resolve these issue to be seen in AI
The above issues the most common we see holding business back with their AI visibility. By resolving them, you’ll put your business in a much better place to be seen as the recommended result.
Get the full picture with an AI Visibility Audit
If you want a full picture of where your business exists in the AI results, then get started with an AI Visibility Audit.
We’ll review your business and analyse the top prompts your ideal customers are looking so you can see the opportunities to outperform your competition. Contact us to get started.
