127: How to Get Found on Google and AI Search with a Clearer Website

In this episode, Jules White explores what it really takes to stand out in AI search, and why this isn’t about choosing between Google or AI, but understanding how they now work together.

Jules explains why clarity around your niche, your services, and what you want to be known for has never been more important. She walks through how AI tools are interpreting search intent, why going deeper on your core topics helps you get found, and how this can bring more qualified visitors to your website.

The episode also breaks down practical ways to strengthen your website so it supports both visibility and conversions, from clear messaging and structured pages to trust signals, links, and technical foundations that help search engines understand what you do.

If you’ve been wondering how to adapt your website for AI search without overcomplicating things, this episode will help you focus on what actually matters.

Key Takeaways:

• Google and AI work together: Why it’s not about choosing one over the other, and why Google still plays a key role in visibility 
• Clarity is everything: How being specific about your niche, audience, and services makes it easier to show up in search 
• Go deeper, not broader: Why focusing on core topics helps you appear for more specific, high-intent searches 
• Content that actually works: Why case studies and real examples can be more effective than creating lots of blog content 
• Website foundations matter: How clear messaging, page structure, and hierarchy help both users and search engines 
• Build trust on your pages: Using reviews, snippets, and links to strengthen credibility and authority 
• Make it easy to take action: Why clear calls to action and simple user journeys improve conversions 
• Technical elements still count: The role of page titles, headings, internal links, and structured data in helping your site get found 
• Local advantage: Why location-based businesses have a strong opportunity to stand out in search

Transcript

Introduction

Jules White: Hi, welcome back to the Website Success Show. It’s Jules here and today I want to talk about how to stand out in AI search.

Why AI Search Matters

Jules White: Now I’ve been working with a few clients over the last few weeks and done a few SEO audits, website audits.

I’ve been talking to people at live events I’ve been at as well, and something comes up time and time again, which is about how to show up in AI search.

And things are definitely changing and have changed already in terms of how we actually show up.

I think we definitely need to not forget about Google.

Google still has only just dropped below 90% of the searches that happen, like the search traffic, so we need to make sure that we are showing up there first.

Definitely.

And Google is also part of this AI conversation as well.

Google’s terrified of losing its search traffic, so it’s making sure that it is there and it’s delivering the AI search results as well.

So it’s something that is not a one and one or the other.

So it’s not like, oh, I can just do AI search and forget about Google and I can just do Google search and forget about AI.

We are at the point where things are changing and have changed forever, and...

The Importance of Being Clear on Your Niche

Jules White: One of the most important things, which has kind of been one of the most important things anyway, even if we’re talking about SEO and not talking about AI search and the way things are right now, is being really clear on your niche and on who you want to show up for.

I always say whenever you come into a website, it should be really obvious what you do, ideally who it’s for, how you’re going to make their life better, and what they need to do to get it.

But also we need to add onto that what you actually want to be showing up for.

Whenever I’m working with clients and we are not clear on that, it does make things harder.

It makes it harder to work out what you are actually trying to optimise a website for.

It makes it harder to create content as well, and it definitely makes it harder to understand your marketing, understand your customers, and understand the journey that people take through your website if you’re not really clear on what you’re doing and what you’re selling.

Specific problems that it solves, who it’s for, and what you want to be known for in relation to that.

And I think that’s the big thing right now in terms of how businesses can position their business to be the ones that are showing up in AI search and showing up on Google as well.

As I say, there’s so much overlap between these things, but by being really clear on your niche and going really deep with that as well.

So if you think about the core topics that relate to what you do, rather than covering everything really broadly and being a something for everyone, then by going deeper when somebody is asking those real nuanced queries within their AI search, which is what people are doing right now.

They’re asking AI very specific questions, and then the AI is going out and doing loads of searches in the background, something called fan-out query searching.

So it’s going and it’s doing maybe hundreds of searches in the background to bring together the best result for that person and for what that person is actually looking for.

And if you can position your brand as being the expert in that thing, then it brings people through to your website who are already so much further along that buyer’s journey.

That’s the thing.

People are quite nervous about losing traffic to their website, but now that’s not the only metric we should be thinking about.

We also need to be thinking about whether we are being cited in those AI overviews as the expert in what we do.

And I think the great thing for location-based businesses and local businesses is that it’s immediately easier to try and stand out in one area than it is if you are trying to compete against the whole of the internet.

And I would say if you aren’t a location-based business, but you can work with local customers, then it’s something not to ignore on your website because that can also then help you to have another way of standing out.

It doesn’t just have to be that you are the specific niche person for what you do.

Core Topics and Content Strategy

Jules White: So once you’ve decided on your niche and the people that you want to help, have a think about those core topics.

In relation to how you help people, what are the core fundamental underlying things that you need to talk about?

So for my business as a website and SEO consultant, the main things that I talk about, my core topics, are SEO, search engine optimisation, conversion rate optimisation (CRO), and making social media optional.

So that’s part of the showing up in search, getting visitors, getting wizards, getting visitors to your website without having to rely on social media and breaking free from that social media dependency.

So you are actually connecting with people when they’re out there searching for what you do, rather than trying to just shout into the void of social media and getting burnt out from just having to do the constant posting and the constant content creation.

And that’s not to say you don’t need to create some content because you will, once you’ve been through and optimised your core pages of your website, then you need to create something that helps to show that positioning as an expert in what you do.

And it might be for many, many businesses, it’s not about blogs.

So you don’t have to just create 101 AI-generated blogs that are not necessarily going to deliver anything more than the AI’s already got in it.

And I think this is sometimes where people are getting frustrated, where they’re actually creating all this content for their websites, and it’s not necessarily bringing the right people through and not necessarily performing as they would have expected it to be.

So for a lot of businesses, rather than focusing on blogging, you could actually spend time creating really strong case studies that help show how you’ve helped your clients and that can actually then bring clients through.

It can bring traffic through to your website and can get you then cited in the AI search results as well.

You might not as a business owner need any blogs at all.

Many businesses do, and blogging can help with many businesses, but it’s not the only way to actually get traffic coming into your website.

So that’s really an important thing I think to think of is that with all of this and with everything I do with my membership and my one-to-one clients, it’s all about focusing on the most important things first.

And knowing what to prioritise first, so you stop wasting your precious time and start building visibility that lasts and that performs for you and brings clients to you even if you are out walking the dog or on the beach or doing the thing that you actually love to do in your business.

Creating an Effective Homepage

Jules White: It’s also worth thinking about the clear path through your website.

So even if somebody comes into your website, if they find you either through search or through another way, you’ve got a clear path that helps them to understand how to buy from you.

There are many things you can do to help with the conversion rate on your website, but as I say, it’s really important as soon as they come in that people know what you do, how it’s going to help them, how it’s going to make their lives better, and what they need to do to get it.

It’s really important, if you were thinking about any page of your website, whether it’s a homepage or a sales page, that we start off either talking about the problem that people are experiencing and in really plain language.

I think with all of this, it’s important that our website talks about things in plain language that Google can understand.

This is something I will quite often do with clients where if they’re a location-based business, we’ll look at their Google business profile and we’ll look at the categories and the services that are available to them for their type of business.

And this is where we can do a little bit of competitor spying as well.

But look at the language that Google understands, the service that Google understands—the services rather, the services that Google understands in relation to what they do—and mentioning those on your website.

Quite often, we can end up getting caught in very emotive language and we do want some of that on our website.

We want people to feel something and to experience something when they come through to our website.

But we also need to have that clear language there as well that does actually talk about the problems that we solve in very plain language and what we do in the language that Google can understand.

We are now moving to the point where Google understands entities.

So Google understands that this business exists in this location and it performs this particular service, and Google knows that that service is a thing.

It’s no longer at the point where Google doesn’t actually understand the search intent of what people are looking for.

And that’s the thing with AI search as well, is there’s so much more that it understands about search intent, that it’s really important that we position our business in ways that Google and the AI search can understand what we do, and that we are an expert in this particular thing.

So starting with that on the top of the page, starting, as I say, with the hero section, top of the page, before you start scrolling: what you do, how you’re going to make their life better, what they need to do to get it.

Talk about the problem that you solve, or the transformation is the other way you can approach it.

So you can either talk about what people are trying to escape and avoid or talk about where they’re trying to get to and what they will have, how their life will be better from working with you or buying your product or service.

Trust Signals and Reviews

Jules White: Adding trust signals into your website as well.

Making sure on your homepage that you are adding things like customer reviews in a way that’s really easy for people to digest and skim-read as they’re going through your page.

So taking some snippets from your reviews.

You don’t have to post a whole great long review completely on your website; you can split that review and use it in different places.

Or pick out the parts of the review that really talk about the problem that your offer solves, and just use that, maybe use that as a headline for the review and then add a paragraph is probably the most that you need to use in one place from a review.

And then bold the words that then also align with the problems that you’re solving or the solution that you’re delivering for people, or have delivered for people, if this is a review.

And then ideally within that, if you can have that review, have a real person’s name, ideally a picture if you can there, that makes a big difference in terms of people actually trusting that this is a real review.

If it’s a review that you’ve actually copied from somewhere else, say if it’s a Google review and you’ve taken a snippet out of that, make sure that you then link to your Google business profile so that people can actually click on that review and it will take them over and they can see all of your other lovely reviews there as well.

Building in things like a bio section, so an about us section, into your homepage, whether it’s you or whether it’s about your team or your business.

Just having a little snippet in there that shows how you’ve helped people that then can go across to your about page and they can learn more about maybe the process of how you work and your background and those kind of things.

But having something in there that is ideally similar to how you’re describing yourself and your business in different places across the internet.

This is all about building you up as a trusted authority in what you do.

So if you can use that same language there as you use on your Google business profile, as you use on your social media accounts, if you’re using them, as you would use if you’re getting any PR or doing anything that’s helping to grow your business.

Using that same language time and time again helps the bots that crawl through your website to understand that you are this person, you do this, and this is the same business here as well.

This also then builds on that thing of what you want to be known for throughout the internet as well.

So yeah, it makes a big difference.

Building Authority with Links

Jules White: Adding links from both your website and ideally getting links coming into your website as well is a really strong way to increase the authority of your website.

So if you are a member of a professional body, or if you have been featured somewhere, if there’s a really strong white paper in relation to what you do or industry stats or anything that can show that you have done the research or that you are being cited by other sites.

Makes a massive difference because it’s showing that your website doesn’t exist in isolation.

It’s kind of putting you in the arena with those other people as well.

So it is really important to make sure that you are thinking about links in your website, thinking about where else you can link to who is an authority in what you’re talking about on this particular webpage.

Who else is an authority that you can get to link back to you?

It could even be things like guesting on podcasts, guest posts, sponsoring local events if you’re a local business, being a member of professional bodies and getting directory listings and all of those kind of things.

That can all help to show that your business doesn’t exist as a single thing, that you know that it is all increasing those trusted signals on your website as well.

If you’re adding reviews to your page as well, you could also then link to specific case study pages.

If a particular client has left you a really good review that really relates to the problems you solve for them, then linking to that page as a case study page on your website can help people to understand more about how you help people.

It helps increase trust.

It also helps Google to understand how you’ve helped people as well.

And it shows your real-world lived experience.

It shows you’re not just a person who knows how to use AI to write content, but shows that you’ve actually helped people and the problems that you solved for them.

And the specific problems that you see coming up time and time again for clients can be things that you can weave into your sales pages, your services pages, even your homepage that talks about those problems in the language that people are using.

That can be massively powerful and much more powerful for businesses than just writing a load of blogs really.

Calls to Action and Pricing

Jules White: And then making sure that you’ve got strong calls to action throughout the page as well.

Ideally, if you can list your prices on your website, that can help to get AI to actually cite your business.

We are moving to a point now where AI agents will even go through and buy things through websites directly for us.

So it is something we need to have that in mind of: is there an easy path through my website, even if you haven’t got all the technical stuff set up, that can then allow that to happen automatically?

People should be able to come in and immediately know how to buy from you without making them burn mental calories.

So that makes quite a big difference.

SEO Fundamentals

Jules White: And then thinking about what you want these pages of your website to be showing up for, make sure that you’ve optimised those pages to help the bots have the best chance of actually crawling through them properly.

So making sure that you’re mentioning whatever you’re trying to get that page to show up for, making sure you’re mentioning it in the page title, your page description, which you’ll find in the back end of your website.

And then the page hierarchy makes sense as well.

So think of it like an English essay where you’ve got one heading, and ideally you’ve got that key phrase mentioned within that heading of your website.

So that’s your H1.

Website builders tend to set us up to fail for this, but you can just go in and actually, when you select that you want to add a heading to your website, make sure you select just one H1 ideally on each page.

And then the subheadings below that, that they all make sense in the hierarchy, that you’re not jumping from a H1 to a H4 or a H2 to a H4 or having multiple H1s throughout the page.

That really helps.

It helps Google to understand the important parts of your page and understand what bits it needs to focus on.

Understand what this page is all about as well.

And then ideally, within those headings, you want to at least once mention that target phrase that you’re trying to get this page to show up for as well.

Structured Data and Schema Markup

Jules White: Making sure that you’ve got structured data, so schema markup added into your website as well.

This is code in the backend that bots can read through and they can really understand how your website relates to other places on the internet.

So even things like if you’re a local business.

If you’ve got social media profiles, it’s probably an easier way to explain it.

There’s part of structured data that’s called Same As, and that then tells Google and the AI bots that are crawling through your website that this business is also the same business as this Facebook page over here.

Or is a business that’s located in this particular location, or is a business that knows about these particular topics.

That kind of stuff and adding that into your website, and you can use AI to help you write structured data.

I would definitely check it.

There’s ways you can do that.

I’ll link to something in the show notes that can help you to check this and make sure the structured data is actually working.

If you get problems with this, you might see it showing up in Google Search Console, so you might get a little error message from Google.

You can also use AI to troubleshoot the messages as well.

I’ve had this definitely where I’ve used something like ChatGPT to create some structured data for my website.

And then it’s given me stuff that’s a bit out of date.

So I would always say when you do that, when you get it to generate structured data, make sure you prompt it afterwards: is this correct?

And then it should tell you if there’s going to be any problems with that structured data.

Doing that is something that many, many websites don’t do, especially websites that are built on GoHighLevel, unfortunately.

It’s literally imminent that they’re going to be building in structured data within websites.

And it’s about time because that should have been there realistically beforehand, before now.

But not all websites do this, and not all websites will do it fully.

So there’s always opportunities where you can add additional structured data that can help your website to be more likely to be delivered in the search results.

And these are the things that give you that competitive edge.

You don’t need to do everything all at once, but fixing these fundamental things of your website, which once you know how to fix them, things like your page hierarchy.

Once you know how to fix it and how to easily check it, it is something you can go in and you can just do quite easily.

Or you can then direct somebody who helps you with your website or the person in your business who’s in charge of your website.

You can direct them that these are the things that need to happen.

And these are quick wins.

If you do that and you resubmit your site to Google through Google Search Console, then that can have an immediate effect on your website, so it makes a big difference.

Google Business Profile

Jules White: For location-based businesses as well, really making sure that your Google Business profile ties in with what your website is saying as well.

So making sure that your service, your categories and your services on your Google Business profile relate to pages specifically on your website.

And all of these things are the things that will help us not only show up in Google right now, but also be cited in AI searches right now as well and show up for those things moving forward.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Jules White: So whatever changes with technology—and things are changing rapidly and I definitely feel that myself.

I feel like that pressure to keep up with all of this, but by doing this work, what you are essentially doing is structuring your website in the best possible way to give it the best chance of showing up.

And it kind of all makes sense.

Once you see these things and you see what’s happening in the back end of your website, you can then kind of see why things weren't working.

And all of this helps you to focus your marketing on what you really want to be known for.

And build your business in a more sustainable way so that you can escape social media.

You can escape the constant content creation and the constant posting that goes hand in hand with that, really.

And you can actually build your business in a way that feels good to you.

So if you’re working on your website already and you want some clarity on what to focus on next, that’s exactly how I can help.

Come and join the Website Growth Club for step-by-step lessons and group support.

Or book one-to-one consulting if you prefer more tailored help and support for your business.

You can find out more at thewebsitesuccesshub.com.

And finally, make your website your hardest working team member.