AI optimisation (AIO)

Search has quietly changed. More and more of your customers are getting their answers straight from ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity – without ever clicking a website. AI Optimisation makes sure that when they ask, your business is the one being recommended.

AI is shifting the optimisation landscape

For years, the goal of marketing your website was simple to explain: rank on Google. Climb the list of blue links, get the click, win the customer. That game hasn’t disappeared but a new one has started alongside it, and most businesses haven’t noticed yet.

Today, when your customer has a question, they increasingly type it into an AI tool and read the answer it writes back. No list of ten links to compare. No scrolling. Just a confident, conversational reply that names specific businesses as the answer.

So, the question for your business is no longer only “do we rank?” It’s “are we the answer the AI gives?” That shift is what AI Optimisation is all about, and it’s exactly the kind of change we love getting our claws into. Let’s walk you through it in plain English…

When someone asks AI for a recommendation, will it say your name?

Book your AI visibility audit

Why AI search is changing marketing

Search is splitting in two. Alongside the familiar Google results page, a whole new way of finding answers has arrived – and it behaves nothing like the search you grew up with.

The pages winning on traditional Google are not automatically the pages AI tools reach for. Being number one on Google no longer guarantees you’re in the answer your customer actually reads.

AI answers name specific brands, products and providers. If your business isn’t in that answer, you’re effectively invisible to a fast-growing slice of ready-to-buy customers – and you won’t even see them slipping away in your analytics. This is exactly where many businesses are about to fall behind, and exactly where we help.

20-30%

of searches now run through AI engines – and that share is climbing fast

~60%

of searches are expected to end without a single website click

<20%

overlap between the top Google links and the sources AI tools choose to cite

So, what is AI Optimisation?

AI Optimisation (AIO) is the practice of shaping your website and your wider online presence so that AI tools understand it, trust it, and surface it (as a mention, a citation, a recommendation or a link) whenever someone asks a question related to what you do.

The most important thing to understand is that AIO does not replace SEO. It sits alongside it, built on the very same foundations – a fast, crawlable website, clear content and genuine authority – with a new layer of signals stacked on top. Good AIO is simply good SEO, taken further.

You may have heard it called a few different things. AEO. GEO. LLMO. They sound like alphabet soup, but they’re all describing the same goal:

AEO

Answer Engine Optimisation – being the answer the engine gives.

GEO

Generative Engine Optimisation – showing up in AI-generated responses.

LLMO

Large Language Model Optimisation – being understood by the models behind the tools.

AIO

The umbrella term we use at Tiger – and the one this page is all about.

Why your business should care

It’s tempting to file all of this under “interesting, but not yet”. We’d gently push back on that because the businesses getting found in AI answers now are building an advantage that will be genuinely hard to displace later.

Think about how a real person behaves today. They no longer ask a friend or trawl through ten tabs. They ask the assistant on their phone:

"How are marketing agencies using AI?"

"How do you evaluate if a marketing agency is actually using AI, or just rebranding?”

"What are the best AI tools for marketing agencies?"

The AI doesn’t show a results page. It gives a shortlist – sometimes a single name. The businesses on that shortlist didn’t get there by luck. They got there because their website and reputation were structured, clear and trustworthy enough for the AI to confidently put them forward.

And here’s the kicker: AI search is still early. The brands that become the trusted, cited source today are teaching every model that they’re the answer – and that head start compounds. Leave it a year and you’re not catching up to your competitors’ marketing; you’re catching up to a reputation the AI has already learned. We’d much rather get you in early.

How AI decides who to recommend

To get chosen, it helps to understand how the choosing happens. Don’t worry – no jargon, just the bits that matter for your business.

An answer engine works in a loop, not a line

A traditional search engine works in a tidy line: it crawls the web, indexes pages, ranks them, and waits for a click. An answer engine is messier and far more clever. It plans, searches, reads, checks its own draft, and – if it’s not satisfied – loops back and searches again until the answer feels solid. One simple question can quietly trigger dozens of internal searches.

Two characters inside that loop decide your fate. There’s the router, which asks “Can I even find this business’s facts?” – and if your locations, prices, opening hours or what’s-included aren’t published clearly and in a structured way, it shrugs and leans on someone else. Then there’s the critic, which compares the candidate answers head-to-head before replying and keeps the clearest, most specific one. Precision wins. Vague waffle loses.

One question becomes many (“query fan-out”)

When someone asks “best marketing agency near me” the engine doesn’t take it at face value. It fans that one question out into a cluster of smaller ones it answers for itself: What services do they offer? What results have they achieved? What do clients say? How much do they charge? It then gathers information to satisfy all of them.

The lesson for your website is simple but powerful: your content needs to answer the sub-questions, not just the headline one. This is where so many businesses quietly fall behind — they’ve got a lovely homepage and nothing that answers the real, specific things people ask.

Retrieval is a bit like a raffle

The SEO expert Mike King describes AI retrieval brilliantly: think of it like a raffle draw. Every clear, well-structured passage on your site is another ticket in the draw. The more quality passages you offer (across many pages, not crammed into one) the better your odds of being pulled into the answer. Our job is to get your business as many good raffle tickets as possible.

Traditional SEO

The Goal

Rank in the list of blue links

Measured by

Positions, clicks, traffic

Wins through

Keywords, links, technical health

The outcome

A visit to your website

AI Optimisation

The Goal

Be the answer – or be cited within it

Measured by

Mentions, citations, share of voice

Wins

Through
Clarity, structure, authority, trust

The outcome

Influence, even when there’s no click

What your business should be doing

No single trick wins this. AI tools reward businesses that are clear, credible and consistent everywhere they appear. There are four building blocks – and this is exactly what we'll review, improve and build with you.

1. Foundations

Can AI even read your site? We make sure AI crawlers (Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and the rest) are allowed in and can reach every page, that your site structure is logical, that it loads fast and works beautifully on mobile, and that your content is formatted in clear headings and short, self-contained paragraphs a model can lift and quote.

2. Content with depth

This is where the magic happens. We build genuine topical authority across related pages, answer the real questions people ask (in their words), give every service and location its own strong page, and pack in concrete facts – what's included, prices from, specifics etc, so there is something solid to cite rather than guess at.

3. Trust & authority

AI weighs who to trust. We strengthen the volume, recency and quality of your reviews; earn brand mentions and citations on reputable, relevant sites through digital PR; surface your expertise with named people, case studies and partnerships; and keep your message consistent everywhere it appears.

4. Local & structured

Every location you serve is a separate visibility opportunity. We tidy your Google Business Profiles and make sure your name, address and phone match everywhere, then add structured data (schema) so AI can extract clean, accurate answers from your pages without guesswork.

Writing content AI will quote

There’s a craft to this, and it’s where being your Brand & Message Architects really pays off. The same content can be invisible or irresistible to an AI depending on how it’s written. A few of the principles we apply:

Be specific, not vague. 

"Marketing agency near me" becomes "Worthing marketing agency offering strategy, SEO, AIO and PPC for established Sussex businesses."

Put the data in the sentence.

"Our clients love us" becomes "We've delivered a 112% increase in ticket sales and a 769% jump in shopping-ad revenue for clients." Numbers are quotable; feelings aren't.

Lead with the answer. 

Each key page should open with a direct, concise reply to the exact question it targets – then back it up.

Use question-style headings

AI tools are more likely to surface content that is accurate, relevant and regularly updated.

Cut the waffle.

Short sentences, clean structure, plain English. Good for the machine, lovely for your human readers too.

How Tiger Marketing helps

Plenty of agencies will offer to "optimise your website for AI". We do something bigger. We don't just optimise websites – we optimise businesses to become trusted sources of information that AI platforms are more likely to reference, recommend and cite.

That distinction matters. Tweaking a few meta tags won’t earn you a place in the answer. Becoming a genuinely clear, credible, well-structured authority will. We’ve spent years helping established businesses get found, build trust and ROAR Louder – first in Google, and now in the AI tools shaping what your customers see next.

We’re a small but mighty team based in Worthing, working in partnership with ambitious businesses right across the UK. We dig deep to understand you before we touch a single page, because we can’t make you the answer until we truly understand the questions your customers are asking. And because everything we do is driven by data, you’ll always know what we changed, why, and what it moved.

Our AIO process

We work through four detailed methodologies: housekeeping, planning, execution and analysis, all pointed squarely at AI visibility...
1

AI visibility audit and benchmark

We establish a clear baseline: where you appear in AI answers today, plus a technical, content and local audit. You can’t prove progress without a starting line, so we draw one.

2

Competitor benchmarking

We see who’s currently winning the answers in your space and why – so we know exactly what we’re aiming to beat.

3

AI prompt and question research

We map the real prompts and questions your customers use – by product or service and by location – backed by keyword research and search-intent data. This becomes the blueprint for everything else.

4

Technical audit and website recommendations

We check AI crawlers can reach you, your site loads fast and your structure is logical, then hand you a prioritised list of fixes split into quick wins and long-term strategies.

5

Content strategy and page optimisation

We build and refine pages for both people and AI: strong service and location pages, content clusters and knowledge hubs that establish you as a genuine expert.

6

FAQ and question-led content

We answer the real questions, in your customers’ words, in a format AI can lift and quote directly, turning common queries into citable answers.

7

Schema and structured data

We add the behind-the-scenes markup (LocalBusiness, FAQs, review schema and more) so AI extracts clean, accurate facts from your pages without guessing.

8

Authority building and digital PR

We earn brand mentions and citations on reputable, relevant sites because the topical fit of a mention matters as much as the volume.

9

Local optimisation

We standardise your Google Business Profiles and your name, address and phone across every location, turning each one into its own AI visibility opportunity.

10

Reporting and ongoing optimisation

A clear monthly report with what changed, why, and what we did, plus quarterly strategy reviews. As AI search evolves, so does your plan.

FAQs

Is AI Optimisation replacing SEO?

No – and be wary of anyone who says it is. AIO is built on the same foundations as SEO: a fast, crawlable site, clear content and real authority. It simply adds a new layer on top so AI tools can understand, trust and cite you. The best way to think about it: good AIO is good SEO, taken further. We do both, hand in hand.

What's the difference between SEO and AIO in plain English?

SEO helps your website rank in search results

AIO helps your content get discovered understood and cited by AI tools

SEO is about ranking in Google’s list of links and earning a click to your site. AIO is about being the answer the AI gives – getting mentioned, cited or recommended inside the response itself, even when nobody clicks through. One wins you visits; the other wins you influence at the exact moment someone’s deciding who to choose.

Which AI tools are we talking about?

The big ones your customers are already using: ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews (and AI Mode), Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, plus the growing crowd behind them. Most read the live web in real time, which is good news as the work we do on your site can feed directly into the answers people see.

How does AI decide which businesses to recommend?

It looks for clarity, structure, authority and trust. Can it easily find your facts (prices, locations, what’s included)? Are your pages well-structured and specific? Do reputable sites mention you? Do you have strong, recent reviews? The clearer and more credible you are across the board, the more confidently an AI will put your name forward.

My business already ranks well on Google. Isn’t that enough?

It’s a brilliant head start, but it isn’t a guarantee. Studies suggest less than 20% overlap between the top Google links and the sources AI tools actually cite. In other words, ranking number one doesn’t automatically put you in the AI’s answer. AIO closes that gap.

Is it too early to bother with this?

We’d argue it’s exactly the right time. AI search is still young, which means the businesses getting structured, clear and cited now are building an advantage that compounds. Wait a year and you won’t just be catching up to competitors – you’ll be catching up to a reputation the AI has already learned. Early movers have the easiest path.

How do you measure AIO results?

Honest answer: measurement in this space is still maturing, and we’ll always be transparent about what can and can’t yet be tracked – although this space and AI software is evolving weekly. We monitor keyword rankings and featured-snippet/AI Overview appearances, track your share of voice and citations across AI tools where measurable, watch traffic and engagement, and – most importantly- keep an eye on leads, enquiries and conversions.

As of 2026, some AI visits even show up in Google Analytics under a new AI Assistant channel, and we tag the links we control so those visits aren’t lost to ‘direct’.

What is ‘query fan-out’?

It’s the way an answer engine takes one question and expands it into many. Ask “best [your service] near me” and the engine generates its own sub-questions – price, opening hours, parking, reviews, what’s included – then gathers answers to all of them.

The practical takeaway: your content needs to answer those sub-questions, not just the headline one.

What is schema (structured data), and do I need it?

Yes – if you want to improve your online visibilty.

Schema is a bit of behind-the-scenes code that helps search engines and AI understand what a page is about.

Schema labels your information so machines can read what it is without guessing – “this is a business”, “this is a service”, “this is a review”.

It helps AI extract clean, accurate facts straight from your page.

Think of Netflix. You don’t search through every film one by one, you choose a category first (comedy, action, documentary etc). schema does this

What's digital PR got to do with AI search?

Quite a lot. AI tools weigh up who to trust, and earned mentions on reputable, relevant websites are a strong trust signal. It’s not just about volume – a mention from a site that’s genuinely relevant to your industry carries real weight. Digital PR helps build exactly those citations.

Will you use AI to write all my content?

No. We use AI as a tool to work faster and smarter, but the strategy, judgement, voice and creativity are firmly human-led with our experienced copywriters. Generic AI-generated content is easy to spot and easy for the engines to ignore. We’ll craft your brand story to make you distinctive, trusted and memorable, something only people can do.

How long until I see results?

Like good SEO, AIO is a long game rather than an overnight switch. Some quick wins (cleaning up profiles, fixing crawl access, adding FAQs and schema) land fast; building genuine authority and citations takes a few months to gather momentum. We start with the quick wins and benchmark everything so you can see progress as it builds.

Do I need to be a big brand for this to work?

Not at all. Some of the biggest opportunities are for established local and regional businesses, because being specific and well-structured about what you do and where you do it is exactly what AI rewards. Every location and service you offer is a separate chance to be the answer.

How do we get started?

With an AI visibility audit and benchmark. We’ll show you exactly where your business stands in AI answers today, where your quickest wins are, and what a sensible plan looks like – no jargon, no pressure. From there, you choose the pace that suits your budget.

What is AI?

We like to think of AI as a very eager, super optimistic, over-enthusiastic graduate.

It has an incredible amount of knowledge, is very friendly and really wants to help. It can work at remarkable speed, generate ideas, analyse information and is happy to support any area of the business they can. But like any new graduate, it doesn’t have years of real-world experience. It can misunderstand context, make confident mistakes, miss nuance and needs guidance from someone who understands the bigger picture. If left unattended it can go off on a huge tangent, so boundaries and handholding is necessary – especially at first.

And this is where we can help. Over time with workflows, skill sets and support, plus a Marketing Strategy, tone of voice, and defining your service, what you stand for and why, we can help you use AI effectively and efficiently.

Let's make sure AI knows your name

Start with an AI visibility audit – see exactly where you stand, 
and where the quick wins are.

Book your AI visibility audit

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