Panicking About AI Search? Here's What Actually Matters.

If you've Googled your own brand recently and felt your stomach drop because you weren't there, you’re probably also getting that feeling when you think about customers not being able to find you using ChatGPT or Claude too.

That's where most of my clients are at right now. AI is top of the agenda, and it's making people panic about something that, until recently, they hadn't even thought to worry about.

So let's deal with it properly. Not with the hype and the "you must act now or get left behind" panic button, but with what's actually true.

First: breathe

Even if your brand is appearing in AI search results right now, it's probably accounting for a really tiny slice of your actual traffic. The majority of your visits, and the majority of your sales, are still coming through the normal organic route you're used to.

That's not me telling you to ignore AI search. It's me telling you there's no fire to put out today.

Second: it's not a new job, it's the same one

Here's the part that actually matters. ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Claude all find brands the same way Google always has. They're looking for clear websites, specific product descriptions, helpful content, and a consistent brand presence.

Which means fixing your SEO and fixing your AI visibility are the same job. You don't need a separate "AI strategy" sitting on top of everything else you're already doing. You need the fundamentals done properly, and the AI visibility will follow.

So if you've been holding off on tidying up your website because you're not sure where AI fits into it, here's where to look.

Where to actually check

1. Does your homepage say exactly what you sell?

Open your homepage now. Read the first two sentences. Could a stranger (or an AI!) tell within five seconds what you sell, who it's for, and what makes it different?

❌ Vague: "Beautiful things for beautiful people."
✅ Clear: "Hand-poured natural soy candles, made in Somerset, for calm, considered homes."

The vague version sounds nice, but It also doesn't mean anything to anyone. If your homepage is leaning on pretty pictures to do the talking, that's your first fix. Say it in words, not just images.

2. Do your product pages answer real questions?

Go to your bestselling product. Does the description list features, or does it answer what a customer would actually type into Google, or ask ChatGPT?

What's it made of, and why does that matter? How long does it last? Who's it perfect for? What's it ideal for?

Those are the questions doing the heavy lifting, not a list of specs nobody asked for.

3. Do you have at least one genuinely helpful piece of content?

A blog post, an FAQ section, a guide? Something that answers a question your customer is actually searching for. It doesn't need to be long. Three hundred well-written words answering one real question beats ten vague posts about your brand journey.

If you've got nothing like this yet, creating something now is your biggest quick win.

4. Is your brand story consistent everywhere?

Google your brand name. Look at your website, your Google Business Profile, your Instagram bio, any stockist or press pages. Do they all say the same thing, in the same tone, with the same key details?

This is where AI search behaves differently to a normal Google search. Google mostly looks at your site. AI tools stitch together everything they can find about you from across the web to decide whether you're trustworthy. Inconsistency reads as a red flag, and a competitor with a tidier story can end up recommended instead of you.

5. Does every image have proper alt text?

Alt text is the written description behind each image. They’re what screen readers use, and what AI uses, since it can't actually "see" your photography. Bad alt text is "image1.jpg" or nothing at all. Good alt text is "hand-poured rose and geranium soy candle in a recycled glass jar." Check your top five product images first.

6. Does every page have a clear, specific title and heading?

Vague titles like "Home" or "Shop" get discounted before anything else is even considered. "Natural Soy Candles Hand Poured in Somerset" tells both Google and AI exactly what they're looking at. Check your homepage, your top collection page, and your bestseller first.

7. Is your Google Business Profile claimed and up to date?

If you haven't claimed it, that's fifteen minutes well spent today. If you have, check the description still matches your website, and that you've added photos recently. It's a small thing with an outsized effect on how trustworthy you look across the web, to people and to AI.

None of this needs an AI strategy

What you’ll notice from the list above is that none of these improvements solely impact AI search, but rather they support the searchability of your website across the board. You already knew how to do that, you just hadn't necessarily connected it to AI yet.

Now you know what you need to be focussing on, how you tackle it depends on how hands-on you want to be.

If you'd rather improve your SEO yourself at your own pace, Found First takes you through exactly this , with no jargon and no guessing.

If you want a proper SEO audit and someone to talk it through with, Spark - SEO Audit & 1:1 gives you that second pair of eyes and points you in the right direction.

Want it dealt with in one go? My SEO VIP Day means we sit down together and clear the list in a single working day.

And if you'd genuinely rather it was just handled, Illuminate is the done-for-you option where I do the SEO work while you get on with everything else.

Whichever way you go, the destination's the same: a website that's clear enough for your customers, Google, and AI to all find what they're looking for…Now, doesn’t that sound nice!