14 Jul How to SEO Your Website and Services on OpenAI and other LLMs
If you are a small business owner, it feels like every conversation these days includes the word ChatGPT. This powerful artificial intelligence, or AI, has changed how we think about information. People are using it like a new kind of search engine, asking it questions and looking for recommendations.
This brings up a huge question for your business: How do people find you in this new AI world?
The good news is that you can optimize your website for tools like ChatGPT. The even better news is that it is not as complicated as it sounds. This article will clear up the confusion and show you how to position your business for success in the age of AI, using methods that work today.
The New Town Square: Why Your Business Needs to Care About AI
Think about how customers found businesses twenty years ago. They might have used the Yellow Pages or asked a friend for a recommendation. Today, they use Google. Tomorrow, they will be asking an AI.
In fact, it is already happening. People are asking ChatGPT and other large language models, or LLMs, questions like “What is the best coffee shop near me?” or “Find a reliable plumber who services my area.”
These AI tools are becoming the new digital town square where people gather information and make decisions. If your business is not visible there, you are missing out on potential customers. Being optimized for AI means ensuring that when someone asks a question related to your services, your business is a part of the answer.
A Tale of Two Updates: How AI Actually Learns
To understand how to get noticed by AI, you first need to understand how it works. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so let’s set the record straight.
First, the AI’s core knowledge is not live. Think of ChatGPT like a giant encyclopedia that was printed in late 2023. Its foundational understanding of the world, its facts, and its data comes from that time period. It does not know about events or trends that happened after its last major training.
However, the AI is not completely stuck in the past. It also has the ability to browse the live internet to find current information when it needs to. So while its “brain” was formed in 2023, it can perform a quick search to answer a question about something that happened today.
What does this mean for you? You may hear about new technical files like an llms.txt. For now, that is just an idea floating around the internet, not something these tools actually use. You should focus on the proven methods that work with how AI learns right now.
How to Really Optimize for AI Today (The Right Way)
You do not need to learn a whole new set of complex rules. Getting your website ready for AI is about strengthening your website’s fundamentals.
1. Give Them a Map (Your Sitemap)
A sitemap is a simple file that lists all of the important pages on your website. It acts like a map, helping AI crawlers easily find your best content, like your services page, your contact information, and your blog posts.
2. Use Clear Labels (Structured Data)
This is the most important step. Structured data, often called Schema, is code you add to your website to label your information. Think of it like a price tag on a shirt or an ingredients list on a food package. It tells AI, in a language it perfectly understands, exactly what your content is about. You can label your business hours, your location, your services, and your prices. This removes any guesswork and helps the AI recommend your business with confidence.
Can ChatGPT do SEO?
This is a common question, and the answer is both yes and no.
No, ChatGPT cannot perform search engine optimization for you. It cannot log into your website and make technical changes or manage your marketing campaigns. It is not an employee that can do the work on its own.
But yes, it is an incredibly powerful tool that you can use for your SEO. As a small business owner, you can use ChatGPT as your creative assistant. Ask it to brainstorm blog post ideas that your customers would love. Have it help you write professional emails. Use it to better understand the questions your audience is asking online. It is a tool that can save you time and spark new ideas.
Get Ready for the Future Today
The world of AI is moving fast, but you do not have to be left behind. By focusing on solid, proven website practices, you can make your business more visible to both traditional search engines and new AI platforms.
At Life in Motion, we have been preparing our clients’ websites for this new age of AI. It is not just a theory for us. We are already tracking website referrals in Google Analytics coming directly from people using ChatGPT. It shows that being ready for AI brings real customers to your door.
If you want to make sure your business is seen in this new digital landscape, we are here to help.