I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about AI search and whether it changes everything we know about SEO. So in this episode I’m breaking down something I think is worth understanding: the difference between being found on Google and being cited by AI.
They’re not the same experience, and they don’t work exactly the same way. I walk through how Google finds and ranks your website, how AI search tools decide whether to reference you, and why the foundation for both comes back to the same thing and that is how credible and consistent your presence looks across the web.
I also bust a couple of myths that are floating around out there, because I almost fell for one of them myself.
If you’ve been wondering whether any of this actually matters for your small business, this episode is for you.
Enjoy the episode!
🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool. This week’s recommended tool is Exploding Topics.
It’s a tool that discovers trends. There’s a paid version and a free version. I like it just for the informative nature of what’s trending as it goes across all kinds of industries. Like “dog food maker”. Apparently a big thing right now. Even Dash has one for making treats.
🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is The Real Reason You Procrastinate (It’s Not Why You Think) on All it Takes is a Goal with Jon Acuff. I like his episodes. They are short and to the point. I have a habit of procrastinating. I have a habit of overthinking. And I know the two are related. I loved the angle of this episode and what he boiled procrastination down to. I’m not gonna tell you because that would ruin the effect of listening to it. He also mentioned he has a new book called Procrastination Proof. I bought it and read it in two days. I took quite a few notes and know where I get hung. And am actively trying to keep one of his suggestions active in my head to work through my procrastination habit.
💡 Related Resources
- Orbit Media Studios – https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/ai-vs-google/
- Stan Ventures – https://www.stanventures.com/news/how-people-search-in-2025-are-we-seeing-a-revolution-in-search-behavior-4206/
- Eight Oh Two – https://eightohtwo.com/blog/2026-ai-search-behavior-study-ai-now-first-stop-for-search/
- Spark Toro – https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/
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There is so much bad advice and spammy tactics going around about how to get found in AI search.
First let me just get the most prominent myths out of the way. So we focus on what’s true.
Putting an file called LLM.txt on your website will not automatically help LLMs (those AI search platforms) see your website any better than not having.
Consider this… if it were that easy, it could totally be manipulated to whatever you wanted it to say but not actually be true.
It’s like when a kid says they cleaned their room and really all they did was throw everything in a closet or under the bed. Nice. Try.
The other big one is adding FAQs to every page.
I admittedly almost fell for this one. I kept hearing it SOOOO much I thought, well shit it must be true. Thankfully, I like evidence.
There is zero evidence that this is the key to getting cited in AI search browsers. It’s always been a good practice type of thing for SEO in general. So good to do, but not a drop-everything-add-all-the-questions-now kinda thing.
What makes your website show up in Google and what makes AI cite your website have a LOT of overlap.
The platforms are different, but here’s what I want you to know: the fundamentals aren’t.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that AI search engines generate the results you see based on standard search results, the results you see in Google or Bing.
The other thing to keep in mind, is that the results are also influenced by the individual searching.
Preferences and past conversations can influence a search today.
This newsletter isn’t meant to go into the inner workings of algorithms.
That’s boring and not at all something I enjoy doing and much of it is dependent on so many variables.
And I do want to share the differences that affect what you can do with your website to improve the chances of your website showing up in Google AND AI search.
AI search engines use traditional search engines to find information to cite.
The difference is the AI search engines are looking for only specific information to cite. If they find an answer that fits, it cites the website as the source.
This is why it’s so important to be specific in your topics.
Don’t beat around the bush with answering questions or talking around the subject.
Here’s an example…
Many business owners want to know.. How can I sound professional and not salesy in my website copy?
A copywriter might do a whole blog post on this and answer something like:
If you want to sound professional, you have to be careful with your words. It is important to talk to people in a nice way so they don’t think you are just trying to sell them something. There are many ways to do this correctly, and we’ll talk about them below.
A more direct answer sounds like this:
To stop sounding like a salesperson, stop using “bragging words” like best or amazing. Instead, use facts to show why your idea is good. Don’t tell people what to do by saying “Buy this now!” Instead, ask them a helpful question like “Would you like to see how this works?”
Much different, right?
The difference with AI search tools compared with traditional Google search is that they have been sometimes known to put a heavier weight on something I call digital street cred.
That is, how credible and consistent your presence looks across the entire web, not just on your own site.
In technical terms, it’s called E-E-A-T by Google.
Signals on and off your website about your business that show you have [1] experience, [2] expertise is documented, [3] authority, the recognition that backs up your expertise and [4] trust, where tools and people can trust you and your website.
Most of us have spent years thinking about search in one way: get on Google, show up in results, hope someone clicks.
Search behavior is changing, in particular thanks to AI. People aren’t just going to Google anymore.
They’re typing questions into ChatGPT. They’re using Perplexity. They’re asking Gemini. They’re even asking AI driven functionality inside of social and other platforms.
And in all of those places, they’re getting answers, not just a list of links to sort through themselves.
Google is now composing paragraph responses, not just listing results.
And then there are the platforms that are entirely AI-driven like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini.
People are using both. They’re not ditching Google, they’re adding AI tools to how they search depending on what they’re looking for.
People are using AI chat as a research tool, but Google usage itself hasn’t declined mostly because it’s still the default on every phone and browser.
It’s sitting at roughly 90% of the market share.
To switch the phone default requires effort and there isn’t currently much of a benefit.
In all of these cases, the experience is the same: instead of ranking your website, AI is deciding whether to reference your website. Whether to name your website. Whether to cite your website as the one having the answer.
And the way it makes that call comes down to how clearly you communicate what you do and who you help, how consistently that message shows up across the web, and how much credibility your overall presence signals.
That’s the digital street cred piece. Same foundation as SEO, just with the volume turned up a bit on those trust signals.
How else is a tool or a person supposed to choose?
They choose the most trustworthy in their eyes.
Here’s The Takeaway
You have control over your own website and how it gets talked about.
While I’m a big fan of checklists, sometimes we need to remove the idea that we have a checklist of items to do on our website then move on to the next thing. SEO and AI SEO and website marketing is iterative.
Review what your website is for and make decisions that will best help your audience first.
Unless we get to a world where we’re all reading each others brains and fed knowledge from all the educational material in the world and not needing websites, this will always be the priority.
If you’re wondering what this looks like for your own business, a discovery call is a good place to start.
You’ll walk away with some clarity on your next steps. Reach out through the form below and we’ll get something on the calendar.
About This Show
Created by Compass Digital Strategies, the Small Business Marketing Sweet Spot is a weekly podcast for service-based small business owners who want more website visibility, traffic, and leads. Hosted by Barb Davids, each episode covers the what, why, and how of SEO, content marketing, and digital strategy. Plus expert guest conversations on productivity, branding, and mindset. Because growing your business and loving your life aren’t separate goals.
