With such an overwhelming number of options to choose from, consumers are using AI to do the shortlisting for them, so here's how to make sure yours is on that list
Just when you thought you’d fully grasped the best practices of search optimisation, AI swooped in and changed the game. That’s the thing about technology, it’s developing so quickly there’s always a new update and another tweak needed to please Google’s latest crawlers. But even before the AI revolution, search optimisation best practices changed so frequently, and with that process now becoming even faster, we’ll probably be writing a very similar blog later on this year with even more updates.
The shift is all down to changing consumer behaviour. The ubiquity of social media and AI means people now expect instant, personalised answers that compare products, summarise reviews, and recommend the best options without requiring hours of research. When planning a holiday, choosing a restaurant, or deciding which software to invest in, consumers are increasingly asking AI to do the hard work of narrowing down the choices for them.
That shift is already reshaping how people discover brands online. Traditional search engines like Google have introduced AI Overviews, meanwhile LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, are rapidly emerging as primary search tools in their own right. 50% of consumers already turn to LLMs as their first point of reference when making purchasing decisions, like which brands and products to choose. Even the people sticking to traditional Google searches aren’t escaping AI’s pull, with only 8% of users scrolling past the AI Overview to click on the regular search results below.
Now, it is critical for brands to feature AI results. Without this, you're invisible to a huge percentage of your target audience, the ones who already have intent and just need convincing.
SEO, GEO, AEO, What’s With All The ‘EOs?
The way AI tools select which information to feature in their answers and overviews follows a deliberate logic, built on an in-depth assessment of digital authority, cross-source consistency, and contextual relevance. As with anything that follows a logical pattern, there’s an equally logical strategy for brands to follow to maximise their chance of inclusion. This practice of optimising website content for AI comes in two forms, GEO and AEO.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) means optimising your content so LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, can understand and reproduce it in their generated answers.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) means optimising your content so it forms part of the direct answer given by AI search tools such as Google AI Overview and Microsoft Copilot, and voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa.
Luckily, GEO and AEO strategies overlap significantly with traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). The same tactics that improve your website’s organic visibility in SERPs will also improve your chances of featuring in AI-generated answers, with just a few additional tweaks.
Tips and Tactics For Better AI Search Optimisation
Potentially the most important thing to consider in your optimisation strategy is the age of your content. Going back and updating older content with more recent data and current trends matters just as much as generating new material. AI tools want to provide the most current information possible, so they’re unlikely to cite your article from 2024.
Content also needs to be easy to access and clearly structured, so AI software can understand (in a manner of speaking) the information as quickly as possible. In practice, that means leading with the answer in the first sentence. It also means breaking content into short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered steps, and clear headings correctly labelled with H1, H2, and H3 tags.
Ensure you’re consistently publishing content around topics closely tied to your brand. There’s no point appearing in the AI-generated answer for ‘best skincare routine for teenagers’ if you’re a luxury skincare brand specialising in anti-ageing formulas, users searching this are highly unlikely to take an interest in your brand. Focus on channelling your efforts into content that’s actually going to reach your target audience.
And finally, another incredibly important tool in building your credibility in the figurative eyes of AI is brand mentions. Interestingly, unlinked brand mentions actually carry more weight than direct links to your site. This means that every time your brand is mentioned online in relation to a topic AI is scanning for, that association strengthens your standing as a trusted source. The strategy then, is to have your brand show up in as many relevant articles as possible.
What Does PR Have To Do With AI Search Optimisation?
Working with a PR agency is the easiest way to maximise brand mentions in well-established publications already considered credible sources by AI. The benefit of this is two-fold. These mentions strengthen your own case for becoming an authority on a particular topic. At the same time, until your brand reaches that level of authority, mentions in such publications act as another entry point into AI-generated answers and overviews.
To demonstrate this in action, we searched ‘best staycation deals in Dubai’, and the top result listed in Google’s AI Overview was Rove Hotels’ current 36-Hour Staycation offer. Rove Hotels is already considered a reliable source, as an award-winning hotel chain, a brand we are proud to say has been a client of Katch for the past 7 years. In those 7 years, we’ve generated thousands of brand mentions across top-tier regional publications, each one reinforcing Rove Hotels as a credible source for any query relating to hospitality in the UAE.
But why did Rove Hotels’ 36-Hour Staycation come up as the top result over perhaps more internationally renowned hotel names also running staycation offers this summer? AI needs more than a single mention from one site to consider something reliable enough to include in its overview. Reliability comes from countless leading publications, including the likes of Time Out Dubai, Gulf News, and Khaleej Times, all echoing the same message.
This is where a well-connected PR agency in Dubai proves its value, securing coverage of one key message across multiple top-tier media outlets. It's also proof of the value of long-term PR strategies over a single campaign.
The same strategy works just as well for GEO as it does for AEO, where questions are typically phrased in a more conversational, personal way rather than shortened to keywords, as is common practice on Google search. Without keywords to rely on, AI works harder to interpret the question and determine what information is relevant, leaning more heavily on widespread brand mentions than any other of its other criteria.
In this conversation with ChatGPT, we asked for family-friendly staycation options in Dubai. Incredibly (it’s not rigged, we promise), three of the five recommendations are PR clients of Katch: JA The Resort, Centara Mirage Beach Resort Dubai, and DoubleTree by Hilton Resort & Spa Marjan Island. Across the press releases and media alerts we distribute for each of these three, we consistently push the same overarching narrative of family-focused staycations. This means multiple credible publications are all telling AI the exact same thing, positioning the brands as reliable sources of information for such answers.
Borrow Trust Before You Earn It Outright
If you're looking for a shortcut to getting featured in AI Overviews and AI-generated answers, PR is your best bet. In fact, a brand’s own site only comprises between 5% and 10% of the sources that AI-search references, with the rest coming from a broad and diverse array of third-party sources such as publications and user-generated content. Piggybacking on the authority and credibility of publications that have spent years establishing themselves as trusted voices is an essential part of your GEO and AEO strategy, not just a shortcut.
Working with an integrated marketing agency in Dubai, like Katch, means one team working on your PR strategy and strengthening your GEO and AEO simultaneously. Our digital, content, and PR departments work together to push a consistent brand narrative across every channel. This consistency is what AI recognises, and what strengthens your authority on the topics your target audience is actually searching for.
