Four practical formatting tips you can use today to improve GEO

Woman using a camera to create content for AI search

I've been learning how to optimize owned content for AI search. Here are four tips I've picked up that you can implement immediately.

Why does AI search matter for your brand right now?

When people search the web for an answer to a question, more and more of them are using ChatGPT, Perplexity or another AI search platform instead of typing into Google. And even the people still using Google? They're often getting an AI-generated answer at the top of the page and never clicking through to an actual website.

Which means getting your brand included directly in AI answers is becoming just as important as ranking on page one used to be.

Here's an example. If a potential donor searches, "What is the best charity to donate to if I care about kids in Colorado?," you want your nonprofit to show up in that AI summary.

Here's the shift in plain terms:

Old way: show up on page one of Google, hope they click
New way: show up inside the AI answer itself, whether or not they ever visit your website

So how do you actually make that happen? Here are the four tips to show up in AI search that you can implement immediately.

1. Use question-based subheads

People search AI using questions. Your content should answer their question, fast.

Answer the question immediately and concisely in the first one to two sentences of the paragraph. You can add nuance and detail after that. But don't make anyone (or any bot) hunt for the answer.

Example:

Subhead: Does [Your Brand Name] offer free small business banking accounts?

Paragraph: "[Your Brand Name] offers free small business banking accounts, including savings and checking accounts. [Then keep going with the nuance — minimum balances, perks, how to apply, etc.]"

That first sentence is doing all the heavy lifting. AI engines are scanning for a direct, quotable answer and this gives them one immediately.

A good question-based subhead usually does three things:

Phrases it exactly how a person would type it
Keeps it short
Gets answered in the very next sentence

2. Break your content into clear sections

AI (and let's be honest, humans too) loves content that's easy to skim.

Use bullet points and numbered lists wherever you can. Add H3 subheads to break up long blocks of text. If your content is one giant wall of paragraphs, you're making it harder for AI to pull out the specific piece that answers someone's question, and harder for a human reader to stick around long enough to find it either.

3. Use FAQs everywhere

AI loves FAQs. They provide answers to common questions in clear, easy-to-scan formatting, which is exactly the kind of content AI engines are built to surface.

Put FAQs on your webpages. Put them on your press releases. Use them to answer the niche, specific questions that don't naturally fit anywhere else in your content but would drive potential customers to your brand.

4. Include alt text and transcripts

This one's a double win. Adding alt text to images and transcripts to video or audio content is good practice for accessibility and inclusive content.

But it's also content AI can search. AI crawlers read alt text and transcripts to surface answers, which means they're another way your brand can get found. They also give AI crawlers more context about your overall digital footprint, and the more context AI has about who you are and what you do, the more likely it is to mention you when someone asks a relevant question.

A few places worth auditing first:

Product or service images
Team headshots and bios
Event or award photos
Video testimonials or webinars
Podcast episodes
YouTube channel

The owned content takeaway

Publish content that answers questions directly, format it so it's easy to scan and give AI crawlers as much context as possible about who you are.

FAQs

Do I need to redo my entire website to start showing up in AI search?

No. Start with your highest-value pages — your homepage, your awards or recognition page, and any press releases — and apply these four tips there first. You can work outward from there.

Does this replace traditional SEO?

No. Think of it as sitting alongside traditional SEO, not replacing it. Many of the same principles (clear structure, good headers, accessible content) help with both. AI search just adds a new layer of "is this easy for a bot to read and quote" on top of "is this easy for a human to find."

Do I need to mention ChatGPT or Perplexity by name on my website?

Nope. You're not optimizing for a specific platform, you're optimizing for how AI tools in general read and extract information. Clear, direct, well-structured content works across all of them.

Why should I trust you about AI optimization, aren't you a PR person?

Fair question. I'm Alison, the principal communication strategist behind Indigo Communications. I spent over 10 years as an in-house communications professional before starting my own business, and I've built my career helping brands and leaders get noticed. I'm a professional reputation builder and a business awards expert, through and through.

More and more brands need to show up in AI search, making being a trusted brand with real third-party credibility matters more than it ever has. Winning a business award and then actually amplifying it the right way for AI search can genuinely change how many people find you, and most companies are leaving that entirely on the table.

That's exactly why I'm learning and sharing everything I can about GEO, AEO and AI search optimization.

Can winning business awards can help your brand show up in AI search?

I built a free 3-minute assessment that scores your award PR strategy specifically on AI visibility, whether your nominations, press releases and award wins are actually set up to get found by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview. Take the assessment here.

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