Businesses scramble to get noticed by AI search

“In order to survive, you have to adapt,” says Ann Lowe, head of PR and communications at Spice Kitchen. The company sells gift sets of spices.

To support its latest product, Spice Kitchen is building a content cluster about the history of the spice trade. It’s a dedicated subsection of the company’s website that aims to demonstrate authority on the topic.

“We’re wanting to see whether we can hit the AI search bots with that content,” she says. “It won’t be a shop. It will look almost like a training course. This is for people that are doing research, but they get to discover us along the way.”

She’s worked closely with an agency – Lumos Digital.

“Historically, you’ve always optimised the product page so that you are picking people up at the moment they’re ready to buy,” says Nathan Pearson, co-founder Lumos Digital.

“Now, that focus seems to be shifting towards the research and decision stage and winning them at that point,” he says.

He recommends companies publish buying guides. “If you’ve got a guide of the best trainers for long-distance running, make sure all the products are listed and have a clear winner. AI loves that.”

Research or media organisations who want to rank in AI can learn from some of Spice Kitchen’s other practices.

Andy Lochtie, co-founder, Lumos Digital, emphasises the importance of expertise, authority and trust indicators.

That would include having lots of links in to your website from other trusted websites, linking out to high-quality websites, and having content policies and author biographies to boost credibility.