Visibility in AI-generated answers is now as important as appearing on the first page of a Google search result. However, not all visibility is equal.
While traditional search returns a list of links that require you to make decisions about which source to explore, AI search makes some of those decisions for you by constructing an answer it considers relevant. In doing so, it retrieves and potentially combines information from multiple sources across the web, making decisions about what information to use and how to present it.
Your brand might simply receive a passing mention. Or, if your content is reliable, relevant and accessible, it could be used to help construct the answer itself and therefore become a cited source.
Ultimately, though, these AI answers mean that a single carefully crafted webpage may no longer be someone’s first point of engagement with your brand. AI search now has a certain amount of control over those first impressions.
So while visibility is still a challenge, it’s also important to ensure your brand is represented in the way you want, whether that’s being known for your expertise or simply getting the facts straight.
At ustwo, we don't just want AI to know we exist, we want it to understand our expertise and use it to help construct answers.
Be clear about who you are and what you know
If your website describes your company as an expert in digital healthcare, but your LinkedIn page only discusses generic product design and technology without a connection to health, that channel isn't doing much to reinforce that specific expertise.
Consistent information across your online presence, including third-party sources, reduces ambiguity about who you are and what you do. When those sources contain conflicting or unclear information, AI-generated answers may also be inconsistent.
We’ve seen confusion between ustwo, the digital product studio, and ustwo Games, a business formed from our games team in 2015. Information about the two has not always been clear, and so we've seen some AI search responses conflate them or put too much emphasis on ustwo being a studio that creates games.
Corroborate your claims
Saying something consistently doesn't necessarily make it credible. In our Guide to AI visibility we briefly discussed backing up statements with evidence such as data and references. Building authority goes deeper than these individual proof points. Content should be supported by demonstrating and substantiating your expertise.
For example, our homepage says we have full-stack engineering capabilities. On its own, this is an isolated statement with little evidence behind it. However, we also have a dedicated engineering blog with in-depth practitioner articles written by our team. This showcases our craft and skill in building digital products and corroborates the original claim.
Our engineering blog is contributing to our technical credibility, as we see an increasing amount of its content cited for "full-stack" related queries.
Similarly, we briefly talk about our sustainability practices on some of our landing pages, which is enough to make our values clear to most. To corroborate this, our new Environment and Sustainability policy page elaborates on what we stand for and provides evidence supporting it. This gives AI search tools more substantive information to draw on when qualifying our broader claims.
Within a month of our sustainability policy going live, queries such as “ethical product development” have returned answers that cite our content.
Corroboration can come from different places
Supporting evidence could live on other channels. But a multi-channel approach shouldn’t be about spreading the same content across the web simply for the sake of visibility. You should show up where your audience is already present, or where there’s an opportunity to reach a new audience. This can demonstrate your expertise in different contexts and help broaden and enrich your point of view.
For example, a topic could be explored as a long-form article on your website; a series of LinkedIn posts that contextualise it around outcomes; a discussion thread that invites practitioner comment; a podcast conversation with leaders in the field; and a video of a live panel event with peers. Each piece can reach a different audience and demonstrate your expertise in a different context, showing that your knowledge isn't isolated to a single piece of content while reinforcing and corroborating the same core expertise.
Your own content can provide evidence to support a claim, but independent sources can strengthen it even more. Original point of views referenced by others, recognition and awards, reputable third-party coverage, testimonials and practitioner discussion can all corroborate expertise without relying on your brand making the claim itself.
Good practice for people is good practice for AI
The above principles simply require you to write and distribute your content in a way that makes it easier for people to understand why your brand has authority. This human approach also gives AI tools clearer information to work with. There is no need for tricks or content written purely for AI.
This is a discipline with a lot of unknowns: no universal rules, ambiguity as to how the AI tools works, there isn't even an agreed term to describe it (generative engine optimisation (GEO), answer engine optimisation (AEO) or AI search optimisation). We, therefore, adopt a test, measure and learn approach. We're putting these principles into practice for our clients as well as our own brand and we’re encouraged by what we’re seeing.
The aim is not simply to be mentioned, but to become a source that people and AI search tools can confidently rely on, giving you more influence over how your brand is represented in those first impressions.