AI tools are changing how people discover and compare businesses. But results still depend on solid SEO fundamentals.
Focused on impact, not buzzwords.
AI SEO (sometimes called AIO or GEO) is not a separate discipline or a shortcut to instant exposure. In practice, it’s an extension of proper SEO : making sure your website is accessible, clearly structured and unambiguous so AI platforms can understand what you do and when to recommend you.
Most agencies get this wrong. They package AI SEO as a standalone service, lean on vague promises and focus on tactics that sound impressive but aren’t grounded in how these systems really work. In many cases, businesses are pushed towards AI optimisation when more fundamental issues, like poor performance, weak content, unclear positioning or broken SEO basics, are the real blockers.
At ALT Agency, AI optimisation is handled as part of a wider, senior-led SEO strategy. Our Birmingham-based team will assess whether AI visibility is actually a priority for your business, and only focus on it when it makes commercial sense. Where it does, we integrate it into technical SEO , content and structure; the things that move the needle everywhere, not just in AI outputs.
AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews don’t “discover” businesses in a vacuum. They surface information based on what they can access, understand and trust across the web. In practice, that means the same fundamentals that underpin good SEO: crawlable websites, clear content and strong external signals.
Where AI SEO is often misunderstood is in the idea that it requires special tricks. It doesn’t. If a website is hard to crawl, vague about what it does or poorly represented elsewhere online, AI systems will struggle to recommend it accurately, regardless of how much “AI optimisation” has supposedly been done. In reality, generative engine optimisation comes down to three core areas:
AI systems rely on similar technical foundations as search engines. If your site can’t be crawled, rendered or interpreted properly, it won’t be surfaced. Fixing performance, structure, indexing and technical barriers is the starting point for any meaningful AI visibility.
AI platforms favour clarity over creativity. Clear explanations, consistent terminology and well-structured content make it easier for systems to understand what you offer and when to recommend you. This is about identifying gaps and opportunities in existing content, not generating more for the sake of it.
AI recommendations are heavily influenced by third-party sources. Mentions, citations and coverage in trusted publications all contribute to how a brand is perceived. While we don’t run PR campaigns ourselves, we advise on the strategy, priorities and types of coverage that will actually support AI visibility.
“When we decided to redo our website, we called quite a number of web designers and were provided with numerous addresses of sites created by each designer. We found that ALT Agency had the most sites that we thought were innovative, creative and professional. After speaking a few times with ALT Agency we decided to go with them. It’s the best decision we’ve made in quite some time.
Joe Sapak“There are two important considerations when looking for a designer, work quality and reliability. Alt Agency offer both in spades.
Ben Stephenson“Craig is 100% on it and I mean on it, I can’t recommend him and ALT Agency highly enough.
Al Gosling“I found Craig & ALT Agency through the UKBF forums and I can honestly say its been a pleasure to work with Craig & his team. The end result is exactly what I wanted and more. The site is for my landscaping company with the aim of drumming up more business around our local area as well as somewhere to showcase our previous work to potential clients.
Will Crozier
Your website is technically sound, content is clear and you’re already competing effectively in organic search. In this position, improving how AI platforms interpret and reference your business can become a worthwhile next step.
If your site is slow, unclear, poorly structured or lacking a coherent SEO strategy, AI optimisation won’t have much impact. Fixing fundamentals will deliver far better returns first.
In competitive sectors, AI answers can influence how brands are compared and shortlisted. If AI platforms consistently misrepresent your offering or surface competitors instead, that’s a signal worth investigating.
For some businesses, PPC, conversion rate optimisation, local SEO or UX improvements will generate results more quickly and predictably. In those cases, AI SEO is something to revisit later rather than prioritise now.
Whether you call it AI SEO or GEO, it requires judgement, not guesswork. At ALT Agency, it’s handled by senior, Birmingham-based SEO specialists who plan and execute strategy themselves. There are no juniors learning on the job and no account managers relaying instructions. You work directly with people who understand how technical decisions, content changes and prioritisation affect real performance.
We don’t treat AI optimisation as a standalone service or a shortcut to visibility. It sits within a wider performance mindset that looks at everything influencing results: site quality, technical foundations, content, conversions and revenue. AI visibility is considered alongside these factors, not in isolation.
Qualification and prioritisation are central to our approach. If AI SEO isn’t the right focus for your business right now, we’ll explain what is and why. That might mean fixing SEO fundamentals, improving UX, addressing conversion issues or focusing on other channels that will deliver faster ROI.
Where relevant, AI visibility is assessed as part of our wider SEO audits , not treated as a separate exercise. We look at whether your website can be accessed and interpreted by AI systems, how clearly your offering is communicated, and where AI-generated answers don’t align with reality. Where we do assess AI visibility, it’s handled as an insight-led review to inform strategy and prioritisation, not as an ongoing reporting exercise.
Those insights are used to guide prioritisation, not to create a parallel stream of "AI tasks". If improving AI understanding will support wider performance goals, it’s folded into the SEO strategy alongside technical fixes, content improvements and structural changes.
We review how AI tools currently describe and understand your business using consistent, low-bias questioning across multiple platforms. This helps identify gaps, inaccuracies and missed opportunities that aren’t always obvious through traditional audits.
We address those issues through changes that improve clarity and accessibility, such as technical fixes, content refinement and better structuring of key information. The focus is on making your site easier to understand for both users and machines, not chasing AI-specific tricks.
Rather than relying on immature or unreliable "visibility scores", we validate progress through practical signals. This includes referral traffic from AI platforms where available, changes in how your brand is described over time, and correlated improvements in SEO performance and user engagement.
Senior-led SEO that prioritises real business impact.
We integrate AI optimisation into proven SEO foundations, ensuring your website is clear, crawlable and performing where it matters. Talk to us to see if AI visibility will really move the needle for your business.
Speak to a SpecialistIs AI SEO a separate service?
No. We treat AI optimisation as part of a wider SEO strategy, not a standalone product. In most cases, the work that improves AI visibility overlaps with good technical SEO, clear content and strong fundamentals.
Do I need AI SEO right now?
Many businesses don't. If there are bigger issues with your website, SEO foundations or conversion performance, those will usually deliver better returns first. We’ll only recommend focusing on AI SEO when it makes commercial sense.
Can you guarantee visibility in ChatGPT or other AI tools?
No. Anyone promising guaranteed visibility in AI platforms is being unrealistic. AI systems change frequently and don't offer fixed rankings in the way search engines do.
How do you track AI traffic?
We use practical signals such as referral traffic from AI platforms where available, alongside sense-checking changes in AI-generated descriptions when it’s useful to do so.
