How to help AI understand your business

Search engines used to just index your website. Now, they interpret it.

Tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Copilot don’t just list links: they explain things. And that means your content needs to do more than look good. It needs to be structured in a way that machines can read and understand.

Here’s how to make sure AI tools actually understand your business, and represent it accurately when your customers come looking.

Why this matters

When someone asks ChatGPT or another AI tool what your company does, or how your service compares to others, it pulls from what’s available: your website, your profiles and your content (amongst other web sources).

If that content isn’t clear, structured or specific, the answer might be:

• Generic
• Incomplete
• Based on someone else’s messaging

That’s a missed opportunity. But it’s also avoidable. Here's how.

1. Start with structured content

AI tools read your content in a different way to humans. They look for:

• Clear headings
• Short, focused paragraphs
• Summaries and FAQs
• Consistent naming of services, people and locations

Think of your site as a library. Structure helps the AI find the right book and turn to the right page.

2. Add schema markup

Schema is a behind-the-scenes layer of code that tells search engines and AI tools what your content means, not just what it says.

We use schema to:

• Define types of content: people profiles, services, locations and reviews, for example
• Label content for FAQs, articles, products and more
• Improve how your content appears in search previews and summaries

You won’t see it on the page, but it can make all the difference to how your content performs in tools like CoPilot, Gemini and ChatGPT.

3. Write like a human, but with machines in mind

Good writing still matters, but now it needs to serve two audiences:

• The human user, who wants clarity and value
• The AI tool, which needs context and consistency

That means:

• Use plain English: not just for people, but for AI summary engines
• Avoid vague claims: be specific about what you do, who you help, and how
• Keep key information near the top: AI models often summarise from the first few sentences
• Avoid copying and pasting AI content to produce your content. Ironically, AI doesn't like AI-generated content.

4. Say the things only you can say

Generic copy gets ignored - by users and by AI.

If your content could apply to any business in your sector, it won’t stand out. AI tools look for unique signals like real expertise, brand tone and clear differentiation. Try to:

• Highlight your specific approach
• Share examples or proof points
• Use the same terms your customers use

The more clearly you tell your story, the better the summary will be.

Helping AI get your business right

This isn’t about tricking algorithms. It’s about helping machines represent you more accurately, so your customers get the right information, in the right place, at the right moment.

And in most cases, you don’t need to start from scratch. A few smart improvements can make your content more visible, more useful and more likely to appear in AI-driven results.