For 20 years, SEO meant one thing: get Google to find you. That is no longer true. A growing number of your potential customers never touch Google anymore. They ask Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity for recommendations and those systems read the web in a fundamentally different way than Google did.
Here is the uncomfortable part. Most small business websites are invisible to this new kind of search, and nobody is telling them why. Let me tell you why, and what to fix this week.
1. Add schema.org markup
Schema markup is structured data that tells machines what your page is about. Name, address, phone, opening hours, price range, service area. If your site has none, AI models have to guess. They usually guess wrong.
Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify all support adding JSON-LD. WordPress has plugins. The minimum viable markup for a local business is: LocalBusiness schema with name, address, geo coordinates, opening hours, and telephone. If you sell services, add Service schema with a price range. If you have reviews, add AggregateRating.
2. Write a real FAQ page
An FAQ page with 15 to 25 questions is the single highest-leverage thing you can build for AI search. Models love FAQs because they are already in question-and-answer format, which maps directly to how users prompt them.
Not the generic questions. Your customers ask specific things: What is your minimum order? Do you travel? What does a typical project cost? What is your turnaround time? Write those down. Answer them honestly. Add FAQPage schema markup and you have just built a Claude-friendly knowledge base.
3. Name things the way humans search
If your page title is "Home" or "Untitled" or your business name, you are not helping anyone. Titles should read like natural questions or claims. "Hudson Valley wedding venue with in-house catering" is a good title. "Welcome" is not.
4. Get your Google Business Profile right
AI search engines crawl Google Business Profile data because it is structured and verified. Make sure yours has the right hours, photos from the last 12 months, your full service list, and active responses to every review. Treat it like a mini-website, not a phone book listing.
5. Publish actual answers, not marketing copy
If your service page says "We provide industry-leading solutions tailored to your needs," no AI model is going to recommend you. They surface pages that answer specific questions. Write a blog post called "How much does a Hudson Valley wedding venue cost?" and include a real answer. That one post will do more for AI visibility than a year of tweeting.
How to check your work
Open Claude or ChatGPT and ask: "What do you know about [your business name]?" If the model has nothing, or makes things up, that is your baseline. Fix the items above and ask again in two months.