Becoming Discoverable in the Age of AI

The internet arrived and search engines appeared. Businesses quickly learned about search engine optimisation, or SEO, and there was a strong push to become the first business listed—or at least appear on the first page of Google—when someone searched for a particular topic.

Now we have AI, and we also need to consider AI discoverability. People are increasingly asking AI tools to find information, answer questions and recommend businesses. We want our businesses to be included in the information those tools use. We want AI to find and recommend us! Our farm, our agritourism venue, our product, our tours....

The first step is to make sure your website is not blocking AI bots from accessing and reading your content. This is something worth discussing with your website developer.

The next step is to become a trusted source of knowledge for your topic.

You want to become the expert—the person or business AI can turn to for reliable, useful and consistent information. Blogs are a great place to begin. And yes, you can use AI to help you write a blog that may, in turn, help AI find your business.

However, simply publishing the occasional article is not enough, and vague AI prompts aren't going to be as much help as you think...

You need to provide answers to the questions people are actually asking. What do your customers want to know? What information do they need before making a decision? What are the questions your team answers repeatedly?

Put those answers online so they can be found.

Make sure the information about your business is consistent across your website, social media platforms, business listings and other online profiles. Add the name of a real person to your articles so readers—and search tools—can see who created the content and understand where the expertise comes from. This gives it credibility... in a world where you never know what is real or not! It starts the paper trail, and it provides a name to reference... and cross reference!

You should also look beyond your own website.

Build relationships, contribute articles to other websites, take part in interviews and look for opportunities to be featured by relevant organisations, publications and industry groups. When other credible websites refer to your business or publish your expertise, it can strengthen your online authority.

Over time, you are building a library of useful information. The stronger and more credible that library becomes, the more likely AI tools are to recognise your business as a valuable source.

If AI sees you as one of the leading sources of information in your field, the chances of it mentioning or recommending your business to potential customers may increase.

This matters in agritourism too.

Even though we operate physical venues, deliver real experiences and sell tangible products, we cannot afford to be left behind as customer behaviour changes.

Tell your story. Answer questions. Be clear and precise... make sure the information doesn't contradict but it all matches, and make sure you use words that AI coding programs understand... Share your knowledge. Build your authority and become the business that knows its subject inside and out.

Become the “know-it-all” online—in the best possible way—and give AI the information it needs to discover, understand and recommend your business... product... tour... or whatever your offer may be.