The way people search for businesses and information online has changed, and if your marketing and SEO strategies haven’t evolved with it, you could be missing out on the benefits that AI Search has to offer.
Over 83% of people prefer to use AI Search compared to traditional search to find information, products, and services. With the majority of people preferring to use AI Search as their main way to get answers, it’s important that your business, practice or school is leveraging it to stay visible and be seen.
Here are a few ways to adjust your marketing strategy to properly leverage AI Search and stay seen!
1. Focus on Search Intent, Not Just Keywords
Old Strategy: Maximizing your content with as many popular keywords
New Strategy: Understanding why people are searching and creating content (with keywords) that answers that intent
AI Search engines are built to understand context and intent, which means that your content needs to go beyond popular keywords and truly address what your audience is really looking for.
What to do:
- Create content that answers specific questions (e.g.,
- Optimize for long-tail, conversational queries
- Add FAQ pages and content throughout your site
2. Structure Your Content (for AI and Humans)
AI Search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity don’t just scan the internet for keywords when producing content and answers, they analyze structure, meaning and context.
What to do:
- Use headings (H1, H2, H3) to create content hierarchy
- Break up large blocks of text with bullet points, visual breaks and summaries
Not only does this help AI, but it helps users digest your content and improves engagement.
3. Create Conversational, Natural Content
Your content should be read conversationally, using natural language. AI Search understands and produces content using natural language, so your copy should reflect that language too!
What to do:
- Avoid heavy use of jargon unless relevant and needed
- Add a Q&A section to your website to mimic how users would ask something and receive an answer to it
By incorporating natural, conversational language on your website, AI Search has the ability to scan your website easier and increase your visibility among potential leads.
4. Optimize for Voice and Mobile Search
AI Search is not just about manually typing into ChatGPT or perplexity, it’s also powering voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant (Hey Google!), and Siri.
What to do:
- Use more natural, question-based phrasing in your content
- For screenless results (voice assistants), keep content for answers short, clear and scannable
If your business, practice or school relies heavily on local or mobile traffic, this is imperative for staying relevant and discoverable.
5. Invest in Local Search Optimization
AI Search connects users with businesses near them based on intent, behavior and context, not just exact phrases.
What to do:
- Ensure your Google My Business profile is fully optimized
- Add location-specific pages with useful local content and keywords/keyphrases
- Use natural language that reflects how a potential customer would search your business in the area (e.g., “best marketing agency near Chester, NJ” – Katava Marketing of course!)
This helps ensure that when people locally are searching for a business nearby, you’re appearing at the top of those search results.
AI Search has rewritten the rules for becoming visible online. What may have worked for your business 5 years ago or even just one year ago won’t cut it today. If your marketing and SEO strategies aren’t aligned with how people actually search today, you’re hurting your chances of truly growing and succeeding as a business.
At Katava Marketing, we specialize in helping businesses grow by transforming and optimizing their digital strategies to stay competitive. From content creation to search engine optimization to AI marketing, we’re here to help you be seen and stay seen on and offline!