How Can I Rank in AI Search Results? | 5 Simple Strategies

1. Add Schema to Help Understand Your Content

Adding schema markup is like giving Google a ‘cheat sheet’ for your website. It’s a small bit of behind-the-scenes code that labels important information- whether that’s products, services, reviews, FAQs or opening hours.

When an AI search tool can instantly recognise what your content is about, it’s far more likely to show it in rich results like star ratings, FAQs or ‘People Also Ask’ boxes. For small businesses, this means more visibility and higher click-through rates without needing to create more content; you’re simply helping search engines read and present what you already have. 

Some of the most valuable schema types include:

FAQ Page – Marks up frequently asked questions and answers. This is one of the most common formats pulled into AI overviews, helping your content appear directly under popular queries.

HowTo – Best for step-by-step guides or tutorials. Adding this schema makes it easier for AI search to extract instructions, comparisons, or processes and display them understandably for users.

Review– Highlights customer feedback, star ratings, and testimonials. When implemented correctly, it can display star ratings in results, instantly building trust.

LocalBusiness– Essential for businesses with a physical location. It allows you to tag key details like opening hours, address, and services, making your site more likely to show up in AI-driven local searches. For example, a local cafe using LocalBusiness schema could appear with opening hours and reviews directly in the AI summary. 

Article– Used for blogs, news posts or editorial content. By adding article schema, Google can more easily understand the author, publish date and context, making your article a stronger candidate for snippets. 

Collectively, these schema types make your content easier for AI tools to break down and more attractive to showcase, without you having to create new pages from scratch. 

2. Structure Content in a Clear, Snippet Friendly Way

AI search relies largely on clarity and how clearly you construct your content. If your content is well-structured, easy to scan, and directly answers common questions, it stands an increased chance of being featured for summaries and snippets.

How to optimise:

1. Concise Answers to Queries:

Always start your web page content with brief, well-structured answers to common questions. This elevates the user experience but also aligns with AI’s preference for clear and immediate value. It’s also useful to integrate the question into your answer to increase the likelihood of showing up in the Google AI search results.

For example, if your page is about mortgage rates, begin with a single sentence explaining what they are before diving into comparisons.

2. Opt for Lists & Tables:

Organised information is key to increasing the opportunity of being selected. Laying your info out in such a way means AI tools can simply take out the data from these formats, making them ideal for showcasing step-by-steps, comparisons or summarised information. 

3. Choose Your Headings Carefully

Take the time to scan through headings, making sure content is sectioned beneath descriptive headings and subheadings. This helps both search engines and AI understand the content’s structure and significance, improving your chances of being highlighted. 

4. Leverage Text Fragments

Text fragments allow you to direct search engines to specific sections of a webpage, essentially “highlighting” precise information for AI tools. For instance, by including a URL with #:~:text= followed by the targeted text, you can define both start and end points within your content, guiding AI algorithms to the most relevant parts. 

3. Keep Your Website Fast and Seamless

Technical SEO ensures that AI search engines can efficiently crawl, understand and rank your content. AI-driven algorithms want to reference sites that are speedy, mobile-friendly and simple to navigate. If your site is slow or poorly structured, you risk being overlooked, no matter how good your content may be.

To stay competitive, it’s worth running regular health checks. It’s a good idea to utilise a website audit tool, like the one provided by SEMrush, to flag technical issues and identify steps to ensure your site is healthy, fast and optimised to appear in AI search results.

Here are the key areas to get right:

4. Build Human Authority (E-E-A-T)

In order to be specified on AI search engines, establishing natural human authority is something a lot of brands tend to forget about. AI Systems are no longer just looking at content ranking based on keywords; they prioritise expertise levels, trustworthiness and authority. A verifiable online presence is a priority for content to rank effectively in these systems, and AI evaluates authority by analysing various factors such as published articles, backlinks, social media engagement and endorsements from reputable third-party sources. 

AI Algorithms increasingly prioritise E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) when generating AI overviews and search results. To build this authority, content creators should never miss these opportunities:

5. Track and Measure AI-Specific Metrics

Final Thoughts

AI search can feel like a big shift, but it’s focused on making your content clear, useful and trustworthy. When you add schema, structure content for snippets, keep your site fast and show genuine authority, you give AI platforms everything they need to showcase your brand.

At Reach Digital, we help Colchester businesses do exactly that. From technical SEO to content optimisation, our team makes sure your website is prepared to compete in today’s AI-evolving landscape. Take a look at our SEO services to see how we can help your business stand out.