Your Customers Are Using ChatGPT. Is ChatGPT Recommending You?
For as long as we can all remember, getting found online largely meant one thing: searching for something on Google.
However, that is changing.
Today, potential customers aren’t just typing their search into Google; they’re asking ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok, and other AI platforms questions such as, “Who is the best Accountant near me?”
Can you recommend a reliable Roofing company in Essex with good reviews? Can you recommend a reliable Solicitor in Dublin with good reviews?
And instead of being presented with 10 Blue links and deciding for themselves, they’re increasingly receiving something very different directly from AI.
When somebody asks AI about the services you provide, does it mention your business or your competitors?
This is the next evolution of search.
Google rankings are no longer the whole story; they remain super important and a massive part of intent-based search, but let’s get one thing straight.
Google is not disappearing, and traditional search engine optimisation is more important than ever because the AI platforms are looking for websites with solid SEO fundamentals, along with social signals, review links and many other signals before deciding who to recommend.
This is a different type of search, but it complements what already happens on Google.
There may be no traditional keyword to Target because the customer is having a full conversation in AI Search.
An AI search could be something like the following.
I’m looking for a reliable commercial Cleaning company in London that can clean a 15,000 sq. ft. office three evenings a week. I would prefer an established company with strong customer reviews. Who would you recommend?
That’s where AI search or answer engine optimisation comes in.
Here at Altitude Internet, we’ve been helping businesses improve visibility in search engines for more than a decade. We’ve watched search changing enormously over that time: first with mobile optimisation, then with local search and then voice search.
Then Google‘s featured snippet and AI-generated results changed the layout again.
But AI search could be one of the biggest changes yet, so we’re adapting the strategies that we use for our clients.
AI search works alongside SEO to help strengthen the signals AI platforms use to discover and understand your business.
Importantly, there is no magic switch that you can flip to suddenly become number one on ChatGPT, and anyone promising that should probably be treated with a healthy degree of scepticism.
Instead, here at Altitude Internet, we concentrate on the things that we can directly influence.
Each AI platform works slightly differently; ChatGPT doesn’t work exactly like Gemini and Gemini doesn’t work like Perplexity.
Therefore, our strategy isn’t based on finding a temporary loophole; instead, we focus on building Content, authority, structure, reputation, and a digital footprint that helps search engines and AI platforms better understand your business.
We create content AI can actually understand. This might include frequently asked questions pages, developing case studies, explaining processes, showing your expertise, experience, authority, and trust, and generally making your website easier for machines to understand.
This can include page structure headings, internal linking, navigation, crawlability, indexation, Mobile usability, site performance, duplicate Content, broken links, schema and structured data.
The objective here is quite simple.
We need to remove ambiguity because we want search engines and AI platforms to clearly establish who you are, what you offer and how the different information across your website fits together.
Together, these signals establish that your business can be trusted.
So more than ever, reviews, links, citations, PR, awards, accreditations, industry recognition, website business directories, case studies, brand mentions, and customer experiences all come together and are super important.
These signals combined can help to establish that your business is a genuine, active and credible organisation and is more likely to be recommended on the AI platforms, including ChatGPT.
The strategy evolves as the platforms evolve, and this is a very fast-moving landscape.
We don’t see SEO and AI search as competing services; quite the opposite, they come together. Essentially, AI search will only work for you if you already have a strong SEO foundation in place.
Many of the things that Google has rewarded for years form solid foundations for the AI-optimised engines, for example, useful content, authority, relevant links, expertise, good user experience, trust, and reviews.
If you want to find out whether AI can find your business, click the link below to schedule a call with the team here at Altitude Internet.
We will take a look at your existing Website SEO performance, content, and wider Online presence and identify where we believe there could be opportunities to strengthen your visibility across both traditional and AI-powered search.
Click here to learn more about AI search optimisation.
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Altitude Internet is an award-winning Digital marketing agency established in 2014. Helping and supporting small and medium-sized businesses globally to generate more traffic, leads and enquiries and to build their online footprint across traditional search engines and AI platforms.
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Altitude Internet has a proven track record of generating traffic, leads and enquiries for websites globally. We offer a wide range of services, including Google Management, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Ads, AI Search and Website Development.
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Read this case study to see how we transformed online visibility for an online construction company.
