You’ve optimised your website with SEO best practices, double-checked all your digital marketing dos and don’ts, and you even ensured your business is aligned with your target audience. Yet your small business has seen less and less website traffic, resulting in fewer bookings or sales, and now you are worried about your bottom line. Don’t fret, the AI Overview might be the culprit, but there is hope.
Recently, more and more businesses have seen their analytics trending downward. Most experts have speculated that it’s due to the AI overview that now wins the first position in search engine results. Apart from competing with paid search (sponsored results), small businesses now also need to compete with this AI introduction. The question then arises: Is position tracking and chasing the top page rankings still worth it? The short answer is yes, says Kwezi Ngcukana, Senior Digital Strategist from Sauce Advertising.
“Position tracking remains valuable, but the metrics we track need to evolve,” he explains. “Traditional rankings are still important for organic search visibility, but they’re no longer the complete picture. We’re now dealing with what I call ‘answer box economics’, where appearing in AI-generated responses can drive more qualified traffic than a number one ranking that users scroll past.”
Showing Up in Generative Search
Ngcukana explains that the key is to track both traditional rankings and AI answer inclusion rates. “Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity don’t show you a list of 10 blue links – they give you direct answers. So while we still monitor rankings, we’re increasingly focused on answer inclusion rates.
“For local businesses, this is even more critical. A restaurant might rank third for ‘best salon in Sandton’, but if they’re the one mentioned in the AI answer with their hours, phone number, and recent reviews, they’re winning the visibility game. Optimisation requires structured data markup, clear topical authority signals, and content formatted to directly answer common user questions.”
With the above example in mind, Ngcukana explains what it means to make content readable for AI. “AI readability is fundamentally about structured, contextual information that machines can parse and understand with confidence. While human-readable content focuses on engagement and persuasion, AI-readable content prioritises clarity, factual accuracy, and semantic relationships.”
He provides the following key differences:
For Humans:
- Emotional storytelling
- Persuasive language
- Visual hierarchy and design
- Brand voice and personality
For AI:
- Structured data markup (Schema.org)
- Clear factual statements
- Consistent entity references (proper nouns, brand names, and specific identifiers used uniformly throughout content)
- Contextual relationships between concepts
- Real-time accuracy (AI systems heavily weight fresh, verified information), it is vital that information is refreshed consistently
For example, instead of writing “Where would be the best place for me to get my nails done in Bedfordview?,” AI-readable content states: “Found in Village View (Upper Level), this well-established chain provides a wide menu: manicures, pedicures, gelish, nail repair, nail rehab, plus brow, lash, facials, waxing, and more. Great for a comprehensive pampering session. Open daily 8 AM-6 PM, with a 4,8-star average rating from 662 verified Google reviews as of July 2025.”
“The optimal approach is where compelling human narratives are combined with factual information that AI platforms require for them to understand and recommend your content to users,” he adds.
Practical Strategies for Generative Engine Optimisation
Ngcukana shares a few tried and tested Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) strategies that entrepreneurs can use in their businesses.
1. Comprehensive Entity Management
- Ensure NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency across ALL platforms
- Implement structured data markup on every location page
- Create unique, detailed content for each location
2. Real-Time Information Architecture
- Live inventory updates where relevant
- Current hours, including holiday schedules
- Real-time availability (booking systems, table availability, etc.)
3. Multi-Dimensional Content Strategy
- FAQ content that directly answers common queries
- Service/product descriptions with specific details (pricing, features, availability)
- Regular content updates that reflect current offerings
- Shift from Keywords to Natural Language
- Create product-specific landing pages with unique local content
4. Review and Rating Optimisation
- Actively monitor and manage online reviews across platforms
- Respond to reviews (AI systems see this as engagement signals)
- Use review insights to create FAQ content
5. Local Context Integration
- LLMs try to understand the user’s intent, location, and context to serve results – structured geo-data becomes critical
- Create location-specific landing pages with unique localised content
- Reference local landmarks, events, and community connections
- Optimise for micro-local searches (“near Sandton City,” “walking distance from OR Tambo”)
Making the AI Overview Count
Once businesses show up in the AI overview, it is vital that they provide value that will encourage the potential customer to click through to their website, or risk readers just exiting or scrolling past.
“The key is to provide enough value in the AI answer to establish authority, but create compelling reasons for users to click through,” Ngcukana highlights. He provides a few recommendations.
Real-Time Hooks: This emphasises live information that requires clicking through, such as limited-time offers that create urgency.
Interactive Elements: Booking systems, quote calculators, or service customisation tools are all examples of elements that AI can mention these exist, but users must click to use them.
Authority Content: Position your website as the authoritative source with deeper insights, rather than prioritising speaking about your services.
Conversion-Focused Landing Pages: Much like a landing page for a specific campaign, users can click from AI recommendations. You can ensure they land on pages optimised for their specific intent. Creating AI-traffic-specific landing pages that acknowledge their journey is worth investigating.
The New Kind of Digital Marketing
There is no denying that GEO is fundamentally shifting digital marketing from visibility-focused to relevance-focused strategies. “GEO optimises for conversational, context-rich queries that AI systems understand semantically, not just specific keyword phrases. We’re optimising for how and what users are searching for, not just search terms.
“Furthermore, success metrics are evolving from ‘ranking position’ to ‘answer inclusion rate’ and ‘AI mention frequency’. Brands need to be part of the AI conversation, not just the search results.”
Additionally, Ngcukana explains that GEO requires constant data freshness and accuracy. “It’s not about launching campaigns – it’s about maintaining real-time, AI-readable business information across all touchpoints, based on understanding user intent.”
Since AI excels at understanding specific context and intent, businesses can use this to their advantage. “You can provide granular, location-specific, real-time information over generic, broad-appeal content. AI also pre-qualifies users before they reach your website. The traffic you receive is often more intent-driven, leading to higher conversion rates but potentially lower overall volume. It’s about quality over quantity.”
He added that early adopters of GEO will undoubtedly have a competitive advantage. “We’ve seen that businesses that understand AI search behaviours are capturing market share from competitors still focused solely on traditional SEO.
“The future belongs to brands that can speak both human and AI languages fluently – engaging customers emotionally while providing machines with the structured, accurate information they need to recommend your business confidently,” he concludes.
