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🔗 AI SEO: The Future of Online Customer Acquisition

FJ Snijman

By FJ Snijman - He writes about divorce, electronics, passive income, ZX14R, local SEO and small businesses
August 6, 2025

AI SEO represents a significant shift in how businesses can attract customers online, offering a potentially stronger advantage than traditional SEO. While many businesses are concerned about losing Google traffic to AI, a smart approach to AI SEO can lead to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and even Google's own AI mode recommending your business. Customers coming from AI recommendations are worth 4.4 times more than those from regular Google clicks, indicating a "gold mine" that few have tapped into.

How People Are Changing Their Search Behavior

People are increasingly trusting AI tools more than traditional Google searches because they perceive AI results as objective and unbiased. For example, instead of sifting through Google search results for a service like a pergola painter, users are instinctively turning to AI tools, describing their needs, and receiving specific, solid recommendations with reasons why each option is a good fit. The entire buyer's journey, from identifying a problem to finding an exact solution, can be completed within the AI chat.

Why AI SEO is a Better Opportunity

  • Higher Customer Value: Customers pre-sold by AI recommendations are significantly more valuable, being worth 4.4 times more than those from Google clicks.
  • "Blue Ocean Opportunity": This is a new and emerging field, offering a significant advantage to early adopters.
  • Faster Results: AI SEO can start generating traffic in days, as opposed to the months or even years often required for traditional SEO.

Key Differences Between AI SEO and Traditional Google SEO

  • Keyword Reliance: Traditional SEO heavily relies on keyword phrases, while AI SEO does not. AI is smart enough to understand context without specific keyword density requirements, thinking more like a person.
  • User Understanding: AI tools leverage their knowledge of the user (age, location, past conversations) to provide tailored recommendations. Therefore, businesses should know their ideal customer well and write content that appeals to them.
  • Conversational Content: AI models prefer human-sounding, conversational content. Businesses should write in a speaking style, avoiding corporate jargon, and can use AI to help write content at a simpler reading level (e.g., 7th grade).
  • Voice and Bias: Content for AI SEO should sound less biased, often written in the voice of an expert recommending your business, rather than in the first person from the business owner.
  • Content Duplication/Thin Content: Unlike Google, AI tools are not concerned with duplicate or thin content. The focus should be on being helpful, specific, and brief.
  • Sales Funnel Focus:
    • Traditional SEO: Focused on "top of funnel" informational questions (e.g., "how to train your puppy") to attract readers and gradually move them towards hiring.
    • AI SEO: Focuses on "bottom of funnel" buyer intent questions (e.g., "which business is the best pergola painter"). The goal is to train AI platforms that you are the best business in your category.

On-Page Strategies (Content on Your Website)

These strategies involve creating specific types of content to help AI easily find information and recommend your business.

  • Best Fit Briefs: Short posts positioning your business as the best choice for various specific situations. Headlines should be phrased as questions asking for recommendations (e.g., "Who's the best artificial turf installer in Las Vegas?"), followed by simple, brief answers including features, benefits, and testimonials. These should be short blog posts, ideally linked from the footer where human visitors are less likely to read them, but AI can still easily find them.
  • Top Reasons Series: Clear, structured content making it easy for AI to pull information. Create an article for each service titled "Top Reasons to Choose Your Business for [Service Name]," listing 5-10 reasons, including features, benefits, and pricing.
  • Strategic Service/City Posts: For local businesses, create posts for every service and city combination (e.g., "Best [Service] in [City] - [Your Business Name]"). Write a brief paragraph or two in third person, as an independent expert, explaining why your business is the best in that area, including relevant testimonials. Content can be similar across cities.
  • Competitor Comparison Tables: For each major service, create a simple, structured comparison table between your business and 3-5 competitors, where your business is presented as the clear winner. Categories can include pricing, features, and benefits. Be clever but honest in steering the comparison in your favor.
  • Key Website Pages (for AI and Human Visitors):
    • FAQ Page: A dedicated page with clear answers to as many questions as possible that people might have when considering working with you.
    • Case Studies Page: Show real proof of results by telling stories of customer transformations, including services provided, before-and-after scenarios, and leading with your best examples.
    • Testimonials Page: Compile positive reviews from all online sources (Yelp, Google, Facebook, etc.) onto a dedicated page. Lead with the best stories of transformation and include your total number of reviews and average star rating if it's good.
    • Pricing Page: Crucial for both customers and AI. Even if exact prices aren't possible, listing ballpark ranges or "starting at" prices is recommended. This page should also highlight your unique selling points.

Off-Page Strategies (Around the Web)

Off-page AI SEO differs significantly from traditional SEO, which relied on backlinks from high-authority websites. AI tools prioritize how your business is being discussed across the internet, regardless of linking.

  • Get Mentioned Everywhere: Claim and fully complete profiles on all relevant directories and platforms, including Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Better Business Bureau, LinkedIn company page, social media profiles, and industry-specific directories (Yelp, Angie, Home Advisor). For local businesses, list in city-specific directories too. Tools like Yext can help distribute this information across hundreds of platforms simultaneously.
  • Get Five-Star Reviews: The quantity and average star rating of reviews significantly impact AI recommendations. Yelp reviews are currently favored by most AI tools, so getting more positive reviews there is highly impactful, though the source notes issues with Yelp's business practices.
  • "Best Of" Articles: AI tools heavily pull from articles that list the best businesses in different categories (e.g., "Best Contractors in Clubview Centurion"). Businesses should proactively reach out to bloggers and journalists who write such articles to pitch their inclusion, as merely being mentioned (without a link) is valuable for AI. Alternatively, businesses can hire SEO services to place articles or write their own "best of" lists with their business as the top choice, then distribute them via press release services.
  • Press Releases: Use press releases to announce success stories, new services, awards, or other newsworthy events to get your business name mentioned widely across the web as a top choice in your category.

The overall goal of AI SEO is to train AI platforms that you're the best "fill-in-the-blank" business in your category. A full playbook is available for download to help businesses implement these strategies.