Geoff Langdon
Head of Marketing Services
Is your message getting through?
AI tools are changing how your business is perceived, even when you’re not speaking.
From Google’s AI Overviews to ChatGPT responses, your brand might already be mentioned, described or summarised without your input. Sometimes accurately. Sometimes… not.
As these tools become part of everyday search and decision-making, protecting how your brand is represented is fast becoming part of content strategy.
Here’s what you can do to make sure AI reflects your business clearly, consistently and on your terms.
What do we mean by “brand voice” in AI?
Your brand voice is the tone, style and personality that runs through everything you write, from your homepage to your email campaigns.
In the context of AI, it’s less about how you sound and more about how you’re described.
AI tools might summarise your services, restate your value proposition or explain what sets you apart. If your content is vague, inconsistent or generic, then the AI-generated version of your brand probably will be too.
Where the risk lies
You can lose control of your brand voice in AI tools when:
- Your content lacks structure or clarity
- Older or off-brand pages are still indexed
- Third-party sources (e.g. directories or press) carry more weight than your site
- The language on your site doesn’t match what users search for
AI tools don’t just repeat your homepage copy. They collate summaries from multiple sources based on what they understand, not just what you say.
What you can do about it
1. Strengthen your core messaging
Make sure your key content explains:
- What you do
- Who you help
- Why you’re different
- How you work
- Where you're based and operate
This information should be easy to find, not buried in case studies or tucked away in PDFs.
2. Use consistent language
If your site calls your team “customer champions”, but everyone searches for “account managers”, AI tools might miss the connection. Make sure you:
- Use terms your audience actually uses
- Repeat key phrases across pages, not just once
- Align page titles, meta descriptions and on-page copy
3. Structure your content for clarity
- Use clear headings and short, purposeful paragraphs
- Add FAQs and summaries where possible
- Keep tone and structure consistent across key pages
This isn’t just about readability: it’s about machine legibility.
4. Add schema markup to your pages
Schema is a hidden layer of structured data added to your website’s code. It helps search engines and AI tools understand what your content means, not just what it says.
By using specific schema types (sometimes called 'tags'), we can tell AI tools:
- Who’s behind the site (e.g. Organization or Person tags)
- What each page contains (e.g. Service, FAQPage, Article, or Review tags)
- How different pieces of content relate to each other
These tags don’t change what your visitors see, but they give machines the extra context they need to describe you accurately, whether that’s in Google, ChatGPT or another AI tool.
5. Review how third parties talk about you
AI tools don’t just rely on your website. They often pull from other sources to build a picture of your business. That means your brand voice is shaped not only by what you publish, but also by what others say about you.
Take time to review:
- Directory listings like Google Business Profile, LinkedIn or industry-specific directories
- Wikidata or Wikipedia entries (if they exist)
- Press coverage, awards listings or partner sites
- Testimonials or reviews on third-party platforms
Ask:
- Are these descriptions accurate, current and aligned with your positioning?
- Do they reflect how you talk about your business?
- Is outdated or off-brand content being surfaced more often than your own?
If needed, contact site owners to request updates. If that's not possible, strengthen your own content so it's the most trustworthy and clearly structured source available.
It’s not just about rankings. It’s about reputation.
If someone sees your business described by ChatGPT, is it clear? Is it current? Does it sound like you?
That’s the new brand risk. But it’s also a new opportunity.
The brands that will succeed in AI search aren’t necessarily the loudest. They’re the clearest, most consistent and easiest to understand.