Evolution of Search Part 2: Maximising Visibility on AI Assistants

Part 1 looked at the traditional SEO Signals That Now Power AI, which you can read here…

Part 2: New SEO Factors for AI Visibility

5. Entity SEO → Knowledge Graph Optimisation

SEO Principle: Entity SEO helps search engines understand what your business is, not just what keywords you target.

AI Evolution: AI systems rely entirely on entity understanding:

• Wikipedia and Wikidata entries establish entity authority
• Knowledge panel optimisation provides AI with factual foundations
• Brand entity signals help AI understand your category leadership
• Related entities (awards, chefs, suppliers) create context

6. Link Building → Digital PR for AI

SEO Principle: Quality backlinks from authoritative sites boost rankings.

AI Evolution: AI systems heavily weight mentions from trusted sources:

• Press citations from top-tier publications directly influence AI recommendations
• Industry awards provide credibility signals
• Editorial features offer context AI uses for positioning
• Brand mentions without links still count for AI understanding

7. Technical SEO → AI Crawlability

SEO Principle: Site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability affect rankings.

AI Evolution: Technical factors that help AI systems process information:

• API accessibility allows AI to fetch real-time data
• Structured menus in HTML (not just PDFs) enable AI parsing
• Clean URL structures help AI understand site hierarchy
• Cross-platform data consistency prevents AI confusion

8. User Signals → Engagement Metrics for AI

SEO Principle: Click-through rates, dwell time, and bounce rates influence rankings.

AI Evolution: AI systems track different engagement signals:

• Brand search volume indicates market preference
• Direct navigation queries (e.g., “Da Costa menu”) show intent
• Comparison queries (“Manuela LA vs Girl & the Goat LA”) reveal positioning
• Sentiment in reviews provides qualitative signals

Next – Part 3…

In part 2, we cover further SEO factors that are new, and important in achieving Visibility within AI driven search
Click here to read Part 3…