Optimize for AI Search: Why intent, rendering and summaries matter (including a practical checklist)

Bart Verschueren

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Search isn’t what it used to be. Google’s still the main player, but tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are changing how people ask questions — and how answers get found.

The good news? SEO isn’t dead. But it is evolving.

What hasn’t changed: fundamentals still win

Before you make changes, remember: search engines and generative tools share the same mission — to deliver the right answer to user intent. So these core principles still matter:

• Relevance: deliver content that answers user needs.

   

• Authority: credible sources and backlinks still matter.

   

• User experience: fast pages, good mobile UX, clear layout.

   

• Crawlability & indexability: pages must be discoverable.

   

If you already rank well on Google, you’re likely close to what AI tools want — but a few adjustments (below) will widen your visibility to conversational engines too.

Content changes: write for intent and clarity

Generative AIs love questions and context. That means your content needs to be structured in a way that helps them find and reuse the right answers.

1. Think in intents, not single keywords

Map pages to user tasks: informational (what), navigational (where), transactional (buy). Create content that answers a clear intent rather than trying to match one phrase.

2. Add a concise summary at the top (TL;DR)

Add a 1–3 sentence summary (TL;DR) at the top of your product and category pages. LLMs and retrieval systems favor short, high-signal text for citations.

3. Target long-tail, intent-rich queries

LLMs handle long, specific prompts well. Google queries are typically short, while prompts submitted to conversational assistants are often much longer and more specific — which increases the value of long-tail, intent-rich content. Build pages that combine product attributes + usage + qualifiers (e.g., “best ashwagandha for stress relief 60 capsules”) to capture niche demand.

4. Keep content fresh and factual

For transactional or freshness-sensitive queries (price, stock), AI may re-query search engines. Keep stock and pricing up to date and display freshness dates where relevant.

Technical changes: make sure AI bots can read your pages

1. Pre-rendering

Some generative assistants and retrieval bots don’t execute JavaScript. If your pages rely on JS, serve pre-rendered HTML so bots can discover and index your content. If bots can’t see your content, they won’t show it — no matter how good it is.

2. Structured data

Implement Product, Review, FAQ, and Article schema. Structured data is read easily by AI and helps generate richer answer cards and citations.

3. Open Graph & social metadata

AI cards and previews often use Open Graph. Add og:title, og:description, and og:image to control how your content appears in AI-generated cards.

4. Robust internal linking

Make sure important pages are linked from the main site and are reachable with meaningful anchor text. Crawlers rely on internal links to surface relevant pages.

Practical checklist (quick wins)

Use this action list to get started right away.

Content:

• Add a 1–3 sentence TL;DR at top of each product/category page.

   

• Align page content to a single primary intent.

   

• Create long-tail, intent-rich landing pages for high-opportunity queries.

   

• Use clear Hn structure, short paragraphs and bullets.

   

Technical:

• Pre-render JS-heavy pages.

   

• Add structured data for Product, Review, FAQ, Article.

   

• Ensure og:title, og:description, og:image exist and are correct.

• Implement strong internal linking.

Conclusion

AI search changes how users ask questions and how answers are assembled — but it doesn’t abandon core SEO principles. Deliver the right answer, make your pages fast and crawlable, structure content for intent and clarity, and add technical signals (rendering, schema, Open Graph) so AI bots can find and reuse your content.

Start by making your site AI-visible: rendered HTML, concise summaries, and structured data. Small, focused changes today will build lasting visibility — in both traditional search and AI-generated results.