How AI Search Results Are Ranked

Digital Marketing Articles, Local SEO, News
Ai Relating Seo 1
Ai Relating Seo 1

AI-powered results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are not ranked the same way as traditional blue links but SEO principles still influence them.

Here’s what’s happening under the hood:

  1. AI Models Use Source Authority & Relevance
    When AI (like Google’s SGE) generates an answer, it pulls information from trusted, high-authority websites. For example, those with strong E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

    If your site is well-optimised, credible, and frequently referenced, it’s more likely to be used as a source citation in AI answers.
  2. Structured Data Helps AI Understand Your Content
    Schema markup (e.g., FAQ, How-To, Product, LocalBusiness) makes it easier for AI to understand context and extract the right snippets. This can increase your chances of being featured or referenced in AI-generated results.
  3. Topical Authority Matters More
    AI systems look for websites that demonstrate deep topical expertise and not just single-page optimisation. Publishing comprehensive, interlinked content around your niche strengthens your authority signal.
  4. User Intent Alignment
    AI search prioritises helpful, intent-matching content. Therefore, your pages must clearly address searcher questions and provide genuine value, not keyword stuffing.
  5. Engagement Metrics Still Count (Indirectly)
    Though AI models don’t directly use clicks or dwell time, Google does. Crucially, it’s that engagement data helps identify which pages are genuinely satisfying users, feeding back into ranking signals.

How SEO Helps You Rank in AI-Driven SERPs

  1. Build Authoritative, Helpful Content
    • Create in-depth, trustworthy pages that answer common user questions in your field.
    • Use conversational, natural language because AI search often mirrors how people talk.
    • Add expert quotes, case studies, or data to build authority.
  2. Optimise for Featured Snippets & People Also Ask
    AI often uses these elements to source data. Structuring your content with clear headings, concise answers, and bullet points helps position your site as a preferred source.
  3. Use Schema Markup Extensively
    Implement structured data for local SEO, products, reviews, FAQs, and articles. This helps AI understand who you are, what you offer, and your credibility.
  4. Strengthen Local SEO
    Since AI often tailors results by location, optimising your Google Business Profile, local citations, and location pages improves visibility in AI and traditional search alike.
  5. Focus on Brand Mentions & Backlinks
    AI systems weigh mentions and inbound links heavily. Therefore, building your digital footprint by PR, partnerships, and local news mentions increases your likelihood of being referenced in AI summaries.

The Bottom Line

  • AI search isn’t replacing SEO, it’s evolving it.
  • The focus is shifting from keyword ranking to topic authority, trust, and clarity.
  • SEO helps ensure your business remains visible, credible, and referenced. Equally, that applies in AI-driven search results.

We hope you’ve found this article helpful. If you’d like to find out more or have questions about how SEO can help your business please contact us today.

Quick Query HML

What is National SEO?

National SEO is a long-term investment that can separate your business from the competitors. Although similar to local SEO, National SEO focuses primarily on ranking for broad keyword terms rather than ranking for specific geographical terms.

Optimising a website involves many activities to increase your rankings and likelihood of people finding your website. We want to increase your websites' relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Here's just a few of the activities we employ -

  • editing website content, adding new content
  • doing HTML, and associated coding
  • promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links
  • optimising mobile search as it's surpassed desktop search
  • promoting mobile first on search is key

HML pledges' to offer the very best value online marketing service to all our members and our guaranteed commitment to outperform your competitors, generate you more income through our rigorous SEO work and comprehensive open reporting.

Seo 6370764

More Options for National SEO?

Find out about what's included in our National SEO membership packages and do compare us, as we pride ourselves on offering the best value comprehensive SEO with guaranteed commitment. National SEO Guide & Pricing

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO (search engine optimisation) targets local people doing local searches for your products or services which accounts for nearly half of all searches.

46%
of searches now have a 'local intent'

So what is local search optimisation?

Local SEO is similar to National SEO in that they both aim to improve the visibility of your website in a web search engine's unpaid results (SERP - search engine results page) often referred to as "natural", "organic", or "earned" results. The higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive. These visitors can then be converted into customers.

Local SEO, however, differs in that it is focused on optimising a business' for local people searching for its products or services. These can be brick-and-mortar businesses with physical locations, like a grocery store or dentist's office, or service-area businesses that operate throughout a certain geographic area, like an electrician or house cleaning company.

With good enough SEO and authority, anyone in the world can rank for a search query like ‘how to fix my dripping tap’. But when someone is looking to purchase locally a product or service, it becomes ‘plumbers near me’ or ‘best plumber in [their location]’. That’s a local search and you’ll need local SEO to ensure you rank high enough for people for find you.

How do we optimise for local searches?

Local seo mobile

As these people searching, typically include a location or ‘near me’ (which aren’t even necessary if searching using Google Maps), search engines understand that what the searcher wants is business suggestions or lists based on location, and so that’s precisely what they offer up in the local search engine results pages (SERPs).

Ranking for local search involves a similar process to general SEO but includes some specific elements to rank a business for local search. Local searches trigger search engines to display two types of results:

On the Search engine results page: local organic results. The local organic results include web pages related to the search query with local relevance. These often include directories such as Yelp, Thompson Local, Facebook.

The 'Local Pack' displays businesses that have signed up with Google and taken ownership of their 'Google My Business' (GMB) listing.

This includes everything from claiming a business listing to ensuring a franchise location appears in a local search on Google (a process known as location data or citation management). It can also extend to managing online ratings and reviews, local-centric social media engagement, and beyond.