Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly more important in all sorts of areas, including online search. This quickly developing technology is not only at work ‘under the hood’ of search engine algorithms, it is also fundamentally changing the way people look for and receive their information online.
If you’re not adapting to this new type of search, you could be missing out, and there are a number of reasons why you might already be failing to show up in AI search.
What AI Search Is and Why It Matters
AI search uses generative AI to create original content. In this case, a summary of search results is presented instead of, or in addition to, the usual list of websites and pages we’re used to seeing in search engine results pages (SERPS).
Generative AI is the same broad type of technology as ChatGPT, which, as of June 2026, has nearly 1 billion active users on the app with around 2.5 billion daily prompts.
Google AI Overviews have been with us for over a couple of years now, and you’re probably used to seeing them at the top of a search page. Using a specialised version of Google’s Gemini AI, the system essentially sifts through relevant websites to produce a summary based on the search query or question. It is designed to be more contextual and to provide information that wouldn’t be possible with traditional search.
Google AI Mode takes things even further, and Google says it lets you ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches. As in most areas of search, Google is leading the pack, but other systems like Bing Copilot are also gaining traction.
Essentially, AI search is important because it is quickly starting to change user behaviour, how we seek information and who we trust.
How is AI Search Different to Google Search?
Google search is often considered the main way that people source information. With mobile access to the internet, it’s much easier to find something online than it is to go searching through a library.
Google search does the searching for you by analysing billions of web pages with keywords that match your query and ranking them in order of relevance. SEO then works to help with ranking based on keyword research.
AI search, on the other hand, goes the extra mile by trying to understand the query itself by using an LLM (Large Language Model) to process human language. AI search then uses its findings to answer the question as accurately as possible.
AI models each choose from a different source pool:
- ChatGPT: Training data (editorial sources, Wikipedia and Reddit).
- Google AI Mode: Google index, editorial sources and structured data entities.
- Microsoft Copilot: Bing index, LinkedIn entity signals and organisational Microsoft 365 data.
It’s important to recognise that each AI model will have a different process when trying to source information, so simply targeting your content to just one will limit your user engagement on other platforms.
This is where GEO, or Generative Engine Optimisation, becomes more prevalent, as it creates the need for content to both rank and be the most favourable choice for AI search.
How to Show Up in AI Search
While SEO was once seen as the driving force of online visibility, businesses must now also consider GEO. GEO, or AI search optimisation, is simply a set of best practices intended to improve AI search visibility, just as regular SEO is a way to improve rankings and organic traffic on what could now be thought of as ‘traditional’ search engine results pages.
The two approaches are not entirely separate, though. Modern search is a blend of the sophisticated search algorithms that Google and other search engines have been refining for years, and newly emerging AI search formats.
You shouldn’t neglect existing SEO techniques, but you also need to produce content and use techniques that are relevant to AI search in particular.
5 Reasons Your Content Is Not Showing Up in AI Search
SEO for AI search is an ongoing process that requires constant attention, particularly as the technology behind this new type of search and user behaviours continues to evolve. But if you’re wondering why you’re not showing up anywhere, it could be down to one of the issues below.
1. Poor Content Quality or Lack of Authority
AI tools favour expert-level, trustworthy content. This means that thin, duplicated, incorrect or vague content is unlikely to get picked up.
Producing high-value, accurate content was always a good idea, but it is even more vital for AI search. It’s also important to publish content consistently. Content that’s released on a regular basis shows that your site is active and constantly being updated and therefore boosts its relevance when AI is trying to pick the best answer.
Google’s E-E-A-T still very much applies. This stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, and these are qualities to keep in mind regarding your content.
The good news is that a small company or website could outperform larger businesses or organisations if they have and correctly present these E-E-A-T qualities in their own niche. Publish genuinely helpful, original content on your niche, and this can help you get picked up by AI search, as well as providing value to your users.
2. No Clear Topical Relevance or Structure
Expert and valuable content is essential, but AI algorithms also have to be able to find and recognise it. AI needs clarity and structure in order to extract useful information, and things like poor use of headings, no schema, or scattered messaging can hamper your efforts.
It’s generally a good idea to use strong headings, FAQs where appropriate and keyword-rich sections with clear context.
3. You’re Not Optimised for Conversational Queries
AI systems like ChatGPT are designed to be able to ‘chat’. AI search is shaped by how real people ask questions, and if your content doesn’t answer ‘how?’, ‘why?’, ‘where?’ or ‘what?’ in user-friendly language, you may miss out.
Conversational questions are even more likely when people are using voice-based search. Therefore, AI prioritises and draws sources from the content that best answers the question or search intent, so be clear and answer the question as directly as possible. This is known as Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).
Try to build content around questions people genuinely ask. Tools like AnswerThePublic and Google’s People Also Ask (PAA) feature can be useful for researching what people are actually searching for.
4. Lack of Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data helps AI and search engines to better understand your content at scale. You can do this using schema, which is a vocabulary of tags that you add to your website’s code to make information easier to identify.
This can include a schema to identify content types such as FAQs, how-to guides, product information and organisational information. Appropriate schema on key pages and sections can help with both SEO and GEO.
5. Low Domain Authority or Poor Backlink Profile
AI search looks for content that demonstrates credibility, such as trustworthy, well-cited sources, and if your site lacks inbound links or has a weak reputation, it may be excluded. Your content might also be missing relevant statistics that can easily be picked out and used within AI-generated answers.
Existing SEO strategies like content partnerships, digital PR and link building can also be leveraged to increase trust and improve performance in AI search.
Bonus Tip: Keep an Eye on AI Search Evolution
It’s worth remembering that this is an emerging space, so what’s excluded today may be included tomorrow – and vice versa.
It’s always worth keeping content up to date, regularly reviewing performance and staying agile with SEO practices.
How to Track AI Search Performance
Knowing how to optimise content to increase AI search performance is often only half the battle. With generative AI constantly evolving, it’s important to keep on track of where your content ranks with AI visibility.
There are a number of different tools you can use to track AI search performance, including Semrush, which has a dedicated AI visibility tool that identifies which specific AI programmes use your content more than others and which countries get more mentions of your content than others. AI visibility tools can also provide further suggestions that are content-specific in order to boost GEO.
There’s also the option of employing a specialist team who can dedicate their time to monitoring and consistently updating your content to adapt to the evolving AI search.
Start Getting Found Where It Matters
Appearing in AI search is the next frontier of digital visibility. It might still seem a little niche now, but all the indications are that AI will play a bigger and bigger part in the way that people search for information, products and services.
Maxweb Solutions can help you to audit, improve and future-proof your website’s performance for both traditional search and AI-driven search tools. Get in touch today to find out how we can help.
Posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026 in Latest News.
