A customer looking for a local supplier used to type a few words into Google and scan ten blue links. Increasingly they ask a question in full – of ChatGPT, of Perplexity, or of the AI summary that now sits at the top of Google – and get one answer back, with a handful of businesses named.
If your website is not written in a way those tools can use, you are not in that answer. And there is no second page to be on.
How AI reads a website differently
A traditional search crawler was largely matching keywords and weighing links. An AI system is trying to extract meaning: what does this business do, where, for whom, at what price, and can I state that confidently enough to repeat it?
That changes what helps you.
- It rewards direct, factual statements over marketing language.
- It rewards clear structure – headings that describe what follows, short paragraphs, lists.
- It rewards questions answered explicitly, in the words a customer would use.
- It rewards consistency – the same business name, address and phone number everywhere it appears online.
- It ignores vague copy. "We deliver outstanding solutions tailored to your needs" contains no extractable fact.
Write answers, not brochures
The most useful change most sites can make is to state things plainly.
Instead of "flexible packages to suit every budget", write "packages start at $190 a month and include the screen, the software and support". Instead of "servicing a wide area", list the towns. Instead of "fast turnaround", say "most installations are completed within two weeks".
You do not have to publish every price. But every fact you are willing to state is a fact an AI can quote – and a reason for it to name you rather than the competitor who wrote nothing specific.
Put a real FAQ on every important page
FAQ sections are unusually effective here, because they match the format of the question being asked. Use the actual questions customers ring up and ask, phrased the way they phrase them:
- "How much does digital signage cost for a small café?"
- "Do I need a special screen for a shop window?"
- "Can I keep my existing phone number if I switch to VoIP?"
- "How long does a website take to build?"
Then answer each in two or three sentences, directly, before adding any detail. The first sentence should be the answer – not a preamble.
Structure the page properly
- One H1 that says what the page is about.
- H2s that read like questions or topics, not clever slogans.
- Short paragraphs. Two to four sentences.
- Lists for anything enumerable – features, steps, inclusions, areas served.
- Descriptive link text. "Digital signage pricing", not "click here".
Add schema markup
Schema is a small block of structured data in your page code that spells out the facts in a machine-readable format: business name, phone, address, hours, services, prices, reviews, article details, FAQ questions and answers.
It is invisible to visitors and it removes all ambiguity for anything reading the page. The types worth having for a small business are LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, and Article on blog posts. Google's Rich Results Test will validate it for free.
The things that still matter as much as ever
None of this replaces the fundamentals. AI systems lean heavily on the same signals that drive local search: a complete and active Google Business Profile, a steady flow of genuine reviews, consistent details across directories, and a site that loads quickly and works on a phone.
What is new is that thin, vague copy now costs you more than it used to. A site with five pages of generic text was mediocre in a list of ten results. In a single AI-generated answer, it simply does not appear.
Where to start
Pick your three most valuable pages. Add a genuine FAQ to each, replace the vaguest paragraph on each with specific facts, and make sure your business details and services are marked up in schema. That is a morning's work and it covers most of the gap.
Bold Media Group builds websites for Australian small businesses with this baked in – structured content, FAQ sections and schema markup as standard, not an upsell.
If you would like to know how your current site reads to an AI assistant, send us the address and we will tell you what it can and cannot work out about you.