So, you think that optimizing your site or blog posts for people using AI search doesn’t apply to you, because you don’t use AI.
I hear some version of this statement pretty regularly. From smart people, talented people, and successful business owners who are not as successful at the blogging part.
Some people have gone a step further and even added words like “AI” or “ChatGPT” or “Claude” to their banned words list. (RIP to all the guys named Claude out there whose reach has suddenly dropped.)
Those people blocking AI will also block seeing posts like this show up in their feed, posts that have useful tips on getting booked.
(Yes, I see the irony, but stay with me.)
If you have strong opinions against AI yourself, I get it. I feel the same way. But tuning out AI search because you don’t like AI is like deciding you don’t want to read reviews about your restaurant and then just assuming nobody is leaving reviews because you haven’t seen them.
Meanwhile there’s a line of new customers standing outside the door, scrolling a one-star review from someone named Gary, who knocked off four stars because you are perpetually out of oat milk. You could have fixed this oat milk situation had you not skipped the reviews, but your customers are reading all about Gary’s unfortunate lack of oat milk for his matcha latte and deciding to go elsewhere.
AI search works the same way.
Whether you personally use it has no bearing on whether or not your potential customers or clients do.
People are using keywords less, and using conversational prompts and questions more
For years people used search phrases like the amount of words used cost them money. “Brand designer for therapist” or “coach pricing”. Click, scroll, sigh.
Now they open ChatGPT, Perplexity or the AI answer at the top of Google and type out their whole question, like “who is the best brand designer for a small business selling homemade candles that will work within my budget, and what should I expect to pay?”
Then AI will read a handful of sources and triangulate them all into a single answer that links or lists the sources within it. A blue clickable link at the top of Google used to be the prize, but now there are more seats in the house and you want to be mentioned across the different tools and experiences people are using to find it.
AI makes your blog more findable
AI handles a lot of the beginner questions right from the start, like “what is somatic coaching?” or “what does a brand designer do?” The answer will show up right there, and plenty of people won’t even click.
Does that sting? Yeah, a little.
Is it the end of blogging? Not one bit.
Those early stage questions are people who are mostly browsing. What is left, as they really identify the exact services and type of person they want to work with, is citations that will directly refer those ready-to-buy people to your blog. The one person reading your pricing post has their card in their hand, they have done their research and are excited to move forward and work with you.
You can hate AI and still get referred
Showing up as a referral or clickable source in AI comes down to 2 things:
How your posts are written. AI looks for clear, direct answers with specific details from your own work. Anything it can pull from directly to help answer a prompt.
How other people write about you. AI loves looking at where your name or brand is mentioned on other sites like podcasts, other blogs, social communities and more.
So you can hate AI all you like. You can mute it and never hear about ChatGPT again. You can even go write every post by hand with a fountain pen, if that’s your thing (kinda cool, honestly), but your potential clients are still typing their questions into these tools and you still need to care about who it recommends.
Write off understanding how optimizing for AI search works, because you ignore AI, and you hand those recommendations right to competitors who are paying attention.
Service pros, how you can use AI optimization
People ask for specific recommendations. People are really cozying up to ChadGPT who knows alllll about their little candle business, and they’re asking things like “who’s a good brand designer for my business with a price I can afford,” and Chat knows everything about them already, like their business, their location, and more.
The questions they ask it are about trust, money and fit. The AI is going to go search the web for direct answers and to find people with real expertise to help them.
So it’s going to go search websites that can help answer that specific question.
Every time you explain how you price your services, you’re giving the AI something to pull from.
Every time you describe how you worked on a client project and the results you got, you give it something it can quote, especially for people with similar businesses.
Every time you write down frequently asked questions from your client calls, you give AI something it can quote directly.
3 tips that will help your AI visibility
1. Answer the question at the beginning of your post
When a user prompts AI with a question, AI looks for the best answer to that, and it tends to pay the most attention to the beginning of articles. By adding in what you are answering and how you will help people with that problem or query right from the start, you are helping AI trust you as the best source.
2. Write conversion-ready posts
A lot of service pros avoid these posts because it feels awkward, it feels like selling. But they are also questions people are asking AI after they have started to narrow down their options, and need to get a clear idea of who they are about to book with. Start with these.
Pricing: Add what you charge, what’s included, and what your scope is.
Your process: Describe what happens after someone books with you, from the first call to the final handoff.
Is this right for me? Write about who you are a great fit for, and maybe who you’re a poor fit for as well. And what people usually have to have in place before they hire you.
Questions to ask before hiring: What questions should they ask before hiring you, or someone like you? What questions would set them up for success?
3. Get mentioned on other people’s sites
The more people talk about you, the more trust you earn in AI. Google likes links to your site, but AI really likes mentions of your brand and understanding overall sentiment. Getting mentioned more means higher frequency of AI citations.
Guest posts on blogs
Podcast interviews
Partner marketing campaigns
Roundups and industry Q&A events
Local meetups or networking events
Anything you sponsor
In Writing Rituals, we spend a whole session on collaboration opportunities because it helps you in Google and AI answers at the same time.
Mute away, if you must
Skip AI forever if you want to. Mute it on Threads, mute it everywhere.
The cafe owner can skip Yelp and reading user reviews.
Their customers still read Gary.
So make sure that when someone asks ChatGPT who to hire, there is the right content, made for a specific purpose, to reflect your business in the best way.
If you want help identifying and writing those, join the next season of Writing Rituals. It’s my blogging membership for small business owners who want to learn more about blogging with SEO and AI search in mind.