What is Be Recommended by AI?

It’s a practical guide and companion course that shows small businesses how to make their products and services discoverable and trusted by AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Siri, Alexa, and Bing Copilot.

Who is this guide for?

Owners, solo entrepreneurs, and marketing teams of small companies with limited budgets who need to compete for visibility in an AI-driven search world.

You’ll learn how to: • Clean up your digital footprint so AI systems can correctly identify your business. • Use schema and structured data to make your site AI-readable. • Build trust signals through reviews, citations, and consistent profiles. • Create a Custom GPT or similar AI assistant to represent your brand inside ChatGPT. • Monitor and improve how AI tools describe and recommend you.

Do I need technical skills?

No. The book includes plain-language instructions for platforms like Wix, WordPress, and Shopify so you can implement the key steps without coding.

Why is this different from traditional SEO?

Traditional SEO tries to rank you on search-engine results pages. AI discovery focuses on being the trusted answer inside conversational tools. The book explains how to format content, earn citations, and build entity authority so AI assistants confidently recommend you.

What is the companion course?

An optional online course that follows the book’s roadmap with screen recordings, templates, and checklists to help you implement each step faster. The course release date will be announced, and it is planned for January.

How soon will I see results?

Many businesses notice improved AI visibility within a few weeks to a few months, depending on their starting point and how quickly they apply the steps.

How do I purchase the book or join the course?

Click the “Get Your Copy” or “Join the Course” buttons on this site. The book is available on Amazon and the course link will be emailed to you once it launches.

Why SEO Alone Won’t Get You Found by AI in 2026

Ina &Co Marketing
Sep 16
3 min read

Updated: Sep 18

The Ground Is Shifting Under Traditional SEO

For two decades, search engine optimization (SEO) meant one thing: earn backlinks, research keywords, climb Google’s rankings and wait for people to click. That playbook still matters, but the way customers search is changing fast. By 2026, more buyers will simply ask an AI assistant—ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity—“Who’s the best ___ near me?” and get one conversational answer.

When the decision happens inside an AI chat window, the familiar “ten blue links” aren’t where the sale is won. The AI delivers its own summary and cites only the sources it trusts. If your business is not part of those trusted sources, you’re invisible—no matter how strong your SEO score looks.

How AI Discovery Works

Large language models (LLMs) don’t rank pages by keyword density. They parse and interpret content to understand:

Who you are – is your business a clearly defined entity with a consistent name, address and profile across the web?
What you offer – are your products and services described in structured, plain language?
Why you’re credible – do independent, authoritative sources mention you?

Instead of chasing backlinks, you need to give AI systems clean, consistent facts and strong trust signals.

Classic SEO vs. AI-Era “Answer Engine Optimization”

Classic SEO (what you’ve always done)	AI-Era / AEO (what you must add or change)
Goal: win clicks on Google’s 10 blue links	Goal: be the trusted answer inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Siri—often with no click at all
Fast, mobile-friendly site	Still required – but just hygiene
High-quality content and reputable backlinks	Still required – but not decisive
Exact-match keywords and keyword density	De-emphasized – AI understands context and meaning
Ranking-chasing for individual keywords	De-emphasized – there may be no results page
Link-exchange schemes	Irrelevant – AI favors authoritative citations
—	Added: Schema.org structured data so AI can read your site like a database
—	Added: Build an entity (Google Knowledge Panel, Wikidata, Wikipedia mentions) that AI can verify
—	Added: Consistent profiles across Google Business, LinkedIn, directories
—	Added: Topical authority clusters—interlinked articles proving depth on 3–5 core subjects
—	Added: AI-readable formatting—clear FAQs, bullet lists, short definitions
—	Added: Custom GPTs or NLWeb integration to let customers (and AI crawlers) “talk” to your brand
—	Added: Ongoing monitoring of what AI systems say about you and correcting it

The bottom line: classic SEO is now the starting line, not the finish.

Why SEO Isn’t Enough

AI Answers Bypass the ClickCustomers increasingly get their answer inside the chat itself. If you rely on a search results page to drive traffic, you’re missing where decisions are made.
Context > KeywordsGenerative models weigh context, citations and structured data far more than keyword frequency.
Trust Signals Drive VisibilityReviews, press mentions and a Knowledge Panel presence carry more weight than a perfectly optimized blog post.

How to Pivot to AEO

1. Structure Your DataAdd Schema.org markup (Product, LocalBusiness, FAQ). AI tools can then read your site like a database, not just a page of text.

2. Build Entity AuthorityClaim and fully populate your Google Business Profile. Seek legitimate third-party mentions—local news, industry blogs, professional directories.

3. Publish AI-Friendly ContentWrite in natural, concise language with clear headings, FAQs and bullet points. AI models lift well-structured facts, not marketing fluff.

4. Create a Public Custom GPT or NLWeb EndpointA custom GPT trained on your business data lets people—and AI systems themselves—interact directly with accurate information about you.

The Takeaway

SEO is still valuable, but it’s only baseline hygiene. By 2026 the businesses that win will be those that layer Answer Engine Optimization on top of classic SEO—adding structured data, entity authority and trust signals so that when customers ask an AI assistant a question, the system recognizes your business as the authoritative answer, even if the user never clicks a single search result.