The AI search revolution: how should your company respond?
Google's AI overviews value good SEO practice
If you don't tell your story, someone else will
We sat down with search experts Charlie Marchant and Tim Cameron-Kitchen from Exposure Ninja to find out more about the latest trends in AI search – and what this means for corporate digital communicators.
Since June 2024, there have been many changes in the world of AI search: Google AI Overviews are becoming ubiquitous and feature in 60% of “long tail” keyword searches (specific queries involving three or more words). And it's not just Google AI Overviews – AI search engines including ChatGPT and Perplexity are also transforming how people search for information about your company.
So if ChatGPT is eating everything, how do you “feed the beast”?
A detailed, up-to-date corporate website is a big part of the answer. If you don't provide rich facts about your business, or set out your positions clearly, then generative AI search will turn to other sources that do. Not having a voice in the conversation about key business topics poses a real reputation risk.
The good news is that there are steps companies can take to ensure that accurate information is surfaced when customers, jobseekers, investors, journalists, social media influencers and other key audiences ask questions about who you are, what you do and where you stand.
Provide lots of facts
Bowen Craggs’ research has long shown that hard facts are important for building trust. Our research into what the next generation of audiences want from corporate websites shows that it is not enough to simply describe company culture or your progress towards net zero: you must also provide evidence.
Generative AI also values hard facts highly. If your company does not provide facts about a topic, such as microplastics use or gender equality, then ChatGPT and other generative AI search engines will look elsewhere to find the answers.
Review sites are also important sources for AI search, which is a reason for incorporating Trustpilot and Glassdoor ratings on your corporate website. Jobseekers and customers will be happy if you do this, too.
If you don't tell your story, someone else will
Talking openly and transparently about controversial topics is vital. Bowen Craggs’ research shows that the corporate website is the mothership of truth – the place where people go to get information about your company’s policies and where it stands on all contentious issues, from animal testing to climate change.
Having a clear stance is increasingly important in the age of AI search, where failure to address controversial topics head-on will lead to Google and other search engines to give people answers based on other sources, which are outside of your control and may not be correct.
Detailed FAQs and general adoption of the language that real people use, rather than corporate jargon, is vital.
FAQs using naturalistic language are a SEO-friendly way to set out your stance on key issues, in clear and transparent terms.
External accreditations
It's not just about what you say on your website; it's also about what other people say about you.
Press coverage, third-party accreditations and external validations are ranked highly by AI search tools (and human stakeholders, who also see these as important trust signals).
Third-party sources, such as links to recent media coverage, are featured on AMD’s leadership biography pages.
Rank well in 'regular' search
Traditional SEO good practice remains important and fuels AI search performance.
Improve SEO by ensuring that there are trust signals on the corporate website, such as named authors on blogs and articles, transcripts for videos, and a consistent breadcrumb trail.
Having the basics of good SEO in place will have a positive knock-on effect for serving all visitor groups more effectively.
Multimedia: videos and images
Increasingly, AI search is pulling in not just text, but images and videos, too. Always provide transcripts and subtitles for videos: not only do these have important accessibility and SEO benefits; they are also digested by AI bots.
Generative AI is fundamentally changing the way people search for information about your company. This makes it more important than ever for your corporate website to be the trusted authority.
The corporate website is the mothership of truth and should be updated regularly, with detailed qualitative information, data and external accreditations. Address controversial issues directly and in depth, and use FAQs and naturalistic language to answer common questions – even, and especially, difficult ones.
It's not just about ranking higher in AI search results; incorporating these steps will also help you build trust and boost your company’s reputation among all audiences, including customers, jobseekers, investors, journalists and partners.