You’ve heard of people who get famous on Instagram—Social Media Influencers. Now, think about your website becoming a different kind of influencer: an AI Influencer. This just means your business shows up as the trusted answer when someone asks a question online.
1. The Old Way of Searching is Disappearing
- The Problem: For years, you had to worry about Keywords (like “best pizza near me”). Google would give you a list of 10 blue links, and you’d have to scroll through ads to find what you wanted.
- The New Reality (AI Search): Tools like Google’s AI Overview (and other Chat AI tools) are now right in your face. Instead of 10 links, the search engine writes a custom answer for the person asking the question.
Example:
- Old Search: You get links to Yelp, TripAdvisor, and three different pizza shops.
- New AI Search: The answer might just say, “The highest-rated pizza place near you is Tony’s Pizza on Main Street, which is known for its New York style crust, according to its website and local reviews.”
2. Keywords Matter Less, Quality Matters More
This is the most important part for your business:
- The new AI answers aren’t based on how many times you jammed a keyword onto your website.
- They are based on the trust and authority of your website’s content. The AI system is looking for the best, most detailed, and most reliable source for the answer.
3. What You Need to Do to Win
To make sure your business is the one the AI writes about, you need to focus on your website.
- Be a Source of Authority: Your website can’t just be a digital brochure. It needs to have detailed, high-quality, and up-to-date information about your product or service.
- Instead of: “We sell great coffee.”
- Try: “Our ‘Morning Roast’ is a single-origin bean from Ethiopia with notes of cocoa and blueberry, roasted right here in Plymouth every Tuesday morning.” (This detailed information is exactly what AI loves to use!)
- Be a Real Business: The AI wants to confirm you are a legitimate local spot. Make sure your website clearly shows:
- Your Business Name
- Your Physical Address
- Who the Owner is (or at least that you are a local, established team)
The Bottom Line:
If you want the new AI search tools to send you local leads, you need a website that is an accurate, trustworthy, and detailed resource about your specialty. This makes you an “AI Influencer” and gets your business name directly into the written answer—which is the best kind of visibility you can get.
Does this new way of searching change how you think about your business’s website? Get in touch to discuss how MPH Digital can help your website be a local AI Influencer. Send us a note here