AI Optimisation (AIO)

Search is changing quickly. Your customers are no longer only typing a few keywords into Google and clicking a list of blue links. They’re also asking questions in AI tools, reading AI-generated overviews in search results, and using assistants to summarise what they need before they ever visit a website. That shift is why more businesses are now looking beyond traditional SEO and investing in AI Optimisation (often shortened to AIO).

At Digital Yak, we help businesses improve how their services, products and expertise appear in AI-influenced search journeys. The goal is simple: make your website and content easier to understand, easier to trust, and easier to include in AI-generated answers — while still supporting strong performance in normal search results.

What is AI Optimisation (AIO)?

AI Optimisation focuses on making your content the preferred answer when someone asks an AI system a question related to your business. Rather than chasing a single ranking position, AIO is about increasing your visibility inside AI-generated responses across modern search experiences.

That means ensuring your key information is:
• Clear and easy to summarise
• Structured in a way that AI can extract accurately
• Supported by real expertise, detail and context
• Consistent across your website and wider online presence

In practice, AIO often overlaps with good SEO, but with a stronger emphasis on clarity, structured information, entity/topic signals, and content that answers real questions in a direct and useful way.

Why does my business need AI Optimisation?

If you rely on online visibility for enquiries and sales, it’s no longer enough to only think about classic rankings. AI is increasingly shaping the “first impression” a customer gets — whether that’s a summary at the top of search results, a recommendation inside an assistant, or an AI-generated shortlist of options.

AI Optimisation can help your business to:
• Appear in AI summaries and answers for your key services
• Build trust faster through clearer, better-structured information
• Reduce reliance on one channel by strengthening overall discovery
• Increase qualified traffic (people arriving with stronger intent)
• Protect your visibility as search behaviour continues to evolve

Most importantly, AIO supports the same end goal as SEO: more of the right people finding you, understanding you, and choosing you.

What does AI Optimisation include?

Our AI Optimisation service is built around practical actions that improve clarity, structure and authority. Depending on your website and goals, this can include:

• AI visibility review and content gap analysis
  We identify the questions your customers are asking and where your website currently does (or doesn’t) provide strong, quotable answers.
• Topic and “entity” mapping
  We strengthen the way your services, locations, products and expertise are presented so both people and machines can clearly understand what you do and who you do it for.
• On-page structure improvements
  We refine headings, internal links, page layout, and content formatting so key points are easy to find, scan and summarise.
• FAQ and question-led content development
  We create and improve pages that answer the real queries customers ask before they contact you. This is one of the most reliable ways to earn AI inclusion while improving conversion rates.
• Schema and structured data recommendations
  Where appropriate, we help implement structured data so search engines and AI interfaces can interpret your content more reliably (for example, services, organisation details, FAQs and other useful page elements).
• Content improvements that support trust
  We help strengthen the signals that show genuine expertise and credibility: clearer service explanations, transparent “how it works” sections, proof points, and content that’s specific rather than generic.
• Local and service clarity
  If you serve a specific region (or multiple locations), we ensure your service areas and offerings are explained consistently, reducing ambiguity in both search and AI summaries.
• Measurement and reporting that focuses on outcomes
  AIO isn’t just about “being mentioned”. We focus on the actions that lead to real results: enquiries, calls, form fills, sales and measurable growth.

AI Optimisation and SEO – why you need both

It’s tempting to think SEO is “old” and AIO is “new”, but in reality they work best together.

Strong SEO provides the technical foundations and discoverability that help your site get crawled, understood and trusted. AI Optimisation builds on that by improving how your content is selected, summarised and referenced in AI-led experiences.

If your website is slow, poorly structured or thin on content, both people and algorithms will struggle with it. If your website is technically sound but your content doesn’t answer questions clearly, you may still miss out on visibility in AI-generated results. A joined-up approach is the most resilient strategy.

How we deliver AI Optimisation at Digital Yak

We keep things straightforward and results-focused. Our process typically includes:

1. Discovery and review
   We look at your current website, your services, your audience and your competitors, then identify quick wins and bigger opportunities.
2. Technical foundations
   We flag issues that can undermine visibility, such as site structure problems, weak internal linking, or pages that are hard for search engines to interpret.
3. Content improvements and creation
   We refine your key service pages, build helpful question-led content, and ensure your messaging is clear, specific and consistent.
4. Authority and reinforcement
   Where relevant, we support wider visibility through content strategy and marketing actions that increase brand signals and trust over time.
5. Ongoing refinement
   Search and AI evolve constantly, so we treat AIO as an ongoing discipline. We review performance, refine priorities, and keep building momentum.

Why use Digital Yak for AI Optimisation?

Digital Yak is a creative design and marketing agency, so we don’t treat AIO as a “hack” or a quick gimmick. We combine technical knowledge, content strategy and strong design thinking to make your website work better for real users — while also supporting how modern search systems interpret and surface your content.

You’ll get:
• A practical, jargon-free approach
• Improvements that support both AIO and SEO
• Content that’s written for humans first, not keyword stuffing
• A team that can implement changes properly (not just hand over a list)
• Ongoing support, with the option of monthly packages or bespoke work

If you’d like a simple starting point, our free SEO and AIO report can highlight foundational issues and opportunities before we build out a wider AI Optimisation plan.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our AI Optimisation services.