Why Your Website Doesn’t Show Up in AI Results (And How to Fix It)

Search is changing. People aren’t just Googling, they’re asking. Here’s how to make sure your business shows up when they do.

People Aren’t Searching the Way They Used To

Ten years ago, search meant typing a few keywords into Google and clicking through a list of websites.

‍Today, people ask questions in complete sentences.

“What’s the best accounting software for Australian startups?”

“Can I install solar panels in cloudy weather?”

‍And increasingly, they don’t click. They get their answer fully written directly from AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini, and Perplexity.

‍These aren’t search engines in the traditional sense. They’re generative engines. They don’t rank results. They generate them by pulling from sources they trust, patterns they’ve learned, and data they’ve been trained on.

‍And that means the rules of discoverability have changed.

You're doing the SEO right, but still not getting noticed

In traditional SEO, your goal was simple: rank higher. You structured your site so Google could crawl it, index it, and assign it a place in the results.

‍But AI search works differently.

‍Large Language Models (LLMs) don’t just index your website. They learn from it and from every other credible source they can access. Then, when someone asks a question, they generate a response by predicting what the best answer would be based on context, content, and credibility.

‍They don’t serve a list of options. They offer a conclusion. And if your brand wasn’t part of what they learned from, then you're not a part of the answer.

‍

This is where GEO comes in.

What is GEO?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.

It’s not a new version of SEO. It’s an entirely different layer.

Where SEO is about optimising your content for search engines to rank, GEO is about ensuring your brand is recognised, retrievable, and reliable enough to be referenced by AI.

GEO is about being part of the knowledge. Because that’s what AI pulls from. This means your brand needs to show up not just on your website, but across the digital spaces where AI goes to learn: 

• Reputable articles
• Review platforms
• Forums and communities
• Industry publications
• Structured data sources like Wikidata or the Google Knowledge Graph

SEO vs GEO: What’s the Difference?

The two work hand in hand, but they focus on different outcomes. You still need SEO. But GEO is what will keep you visible as search becomes more conversational and AI-driven.

It's Not About Ranking, It’s About Recognition

Here’s the fundamental difference.

In SEO, a strong website with good backlinks could get you onto page one.
In GEO, a strong brand presence across many credible sources is what gets you into the answer.

AI doesn’t just look at your domain authority. It looks at how often your brand is mentioned, how consistently it’s associated with a topic, and whether those mentions appear in places it deems reliable.

This is why mentions matter more than backlinks in the AI-driven search landscape. AI doesn’t follow links, it detects patterns. Recognition comes from repetition, association, and context.

Take Nike, for example.

Nike doesn’t need to rank for “best running shoes” to be included in an AI-generated answer. It’s been mentioned in product reviews, customer testimonials, sports news, blogs, Wikipedia, YouTube videos, Reddit threads — everywhere.

Because of that widespread recognition, AI tools confidently include Nike in their responses, even if the original query never mentioned it by name.

Retrievability Is The New Visibility

Another shift: AI doesn’t crawl the web in real time as Google does. It draws on a combination of:

1. What it learned during training
2. What it can pull from real-time sources using something called RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

This means if your brand isn’t:

• Present in high-authority, frequently updated sources
• Structured in a way that AI can easily process
• Mentioned in current conversations online

…it’s unlikely to be surfaced when someone asks a question.

You’re not invisible. But you’re not retrievable, and that’s what matters now.

Here’s a Simple Playbook on How to Show Up in AI Results

You don’t need to overhaul everything. Here are a few high-impact ways to improve your visibility:

1. Answer real questions

People ask AI tools the same way they’d ask a colleague or advisor by asking direct, conversational questions. Your content should mirror that behaviour.

Instead of writing promotional headlines like “Why we’re the best solar provider,” focus on questions your audience is asking, such as “How do I choose the right solar provider in South Australia?” Then, offer a clear, helpful answer.

You can also add FAQs to your website that address common queries. For example, a solar company might answer: “Can I use solar panels in cloudy areas?” using simple, straightforward language in a blog post or FAQ section.

This kind of question-first content helps AI tools understand and retrieve your brand more easily when generating answers.

2. Be mentioned where it matters

AI systems learn from reputable sources. That includes:

• Online publications
• Review platforms
• Thought leadership pieces
• Podcasts, YouTube interviews, Reddit threads

Mentions across these sources tell AI: that this brand is trusted and relevant.

Tip: Collaborate with partners. Contribute to community discussions. Share insights in places that reach beyond your website.

3. Build authority, not just links

Backlinks are still useful, but brand recognition is more important in GEO.

Authority now comes from being consistently referenced in the right context.

That might be through:

• Guest articles
• Interviews
• Testimonials on third-party platforms
• Citations in research or case studies

AI looks for patterns. The more your brand is associated with a topic, the more likely it is to be included in the generated response.

4. Structure your content for clarity and retrievability

AI models are better at processing structured content.

That means:

• Use clear headings and subheadings
• Add FAQ sections
• Keep paragraphs short
• Highlight key insights in bullet points

Think of your content as part of the AI’s training material. Make it easy to understand and extract.

This report shows that one of the pages is missing H2 tags, which may seem minor from a traditional SEO lens, but it matters more in the context of GEO.

Why? Because AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini rely on structured content to understand what your page is about. H2 tags help define the context and hierarchy of your content. They act like subtopics that signal what each section is covering.

If H2s are missing, AI may struggle to retrieve or summarise your content accurately, making it less likely to include your brand in an answer.

Even small fixes like this improve how AI interprets your expertise.

You Don’t Need to Be a Tech Expert

You don’t have to understand how AI works under the hood. You just need to know how to show up in the right places and make your content accessible.

GEO isn’t a replacement for SEO, it’s the natural next step. As AI continues to reshape how people discover brands, the goal is no longer just being first in line. It’s about being part of the conversation.

Want to be found more often?

At Double Bricks Digital, we help businesses like yours adapt to the future of search. If you want your brand to show up in AI answers, not just search results, we can help you get there.

Let’s talk about how to make your content AI-ready.