How to optimise for AI search (without killing off organic traffic)

Online search has now split in two; there's the search engine result page we’ve practically grown up with and now there's the AI-generated answer sitting above it, pulling content from websites without encouraging anyone to actually visit the site.

For marketers, this is now known as a zero-click AI summary because most searches now end without a visit to any website (mainly for informational intent). In the UK, the zero-click rate stands at 69% of Google searches, but this doesn’t mean you should abandon SEO, you should in fact be evolving your SEO strategy so that your business gets featured in the AI summaries. Let’s explain.

The businesses getting cited in AI answers tend to be the same ones that were already doing SEO properly: clear structure, genuine authority, content that actually answers the question. AI search rewards the fundamentals of good SEO practice and adds a new layer on top. Marketers must treat it as an extension of their existing strategy, not a replacement for it and they will protect the organic traffic while picking up the AI visibility too.

Build for entities, not just keywords

Search engines used to pick up on keywords alone, but AI now scans for context to build a comprehensive knowledge grid so they understand how subjects connect and how trustworthy that information is to answer specific questions. That means entity-based SEO matters more than it used to.

A few places to focus:

• Structured data. Schema markup gives AI tools a direct, unambiguous read of what's on the page, whether that's a product, an article, an FAQ or a review. It's the clearest signal you can hand over, so build it into your strategy from the start.
• Topical authority clusters. Instead of one standalone page per keyword, build out a cluster: a core pillar page supported by related articles that go deeper on specific questions. This tells search engines and AI tools that you cover the topic comprehensively, not just one part of it.
• Internal linking. Connect those cluster pages to each other with purposeful, descriptive links. It helps AI tools trace the relationships between your content and helps users find the next thing they need.
• External entity link building. Get referenced by other credible sources in your space. AI tools weigh up how a business is talked about elsewhere, not just what it says about itself.
• Answer the deeper question. Most content stops at the surface-level query, so aim to go further to demonstrate your expertise. For example, if someone's searching "how to reduce cart abandonment", they probably also need to know why it's happening in the first place. Content that answers the follow-up question before it's asked is the content AI tools tend to pull from.

Don't skip the basics of SEO

None of the above works if the fundamentals are shaky. AI tools still need to crawl, load and understand your site quickly, and human visitors still judge you in the first few seconds.

Tick off the below to get started:

• Page speed on both desktop and mobile.
• Readability: short paragraphs, plain language and following a logical flow improve readability.
• Headings that are short, specific and actually describe the section beneath them.
• Pages that are well designed and easy to navigate.
• Responsive design that resizes cleanly on every screen size.
• Small engaging touches like hover effects on buttons and subtle animation make a page feel considered rather than templated.

A slow, cluttered, hard-to-read page won't earn AI citations and it won't engage your human visitors either.

Analyse engagement signals to keep improving

Getting the content live is the start, not the finish. Engagement data tells you what's really working and what needs further revisions.

Worth tracking regularly:

• Time on page and scroll depth: this shows whether people are reading or bouncing straight off.
• Click-through rate from search results: a sign of whether your titles and meta descriptions are earning the click.
• Bounce rate and exit pages: this data flags where content is falling short or not matching intent.
• Heatmaps and session recordings: useful for spotting exactly where people lose interest or get stuck.

Use this data to refine rather than rewrite from scratch each time. Small, evidence-led changes such as a stronger heading, clearer CTA, a restructured intro, tend to compound over several rounds.

Is your business ready for the growth this could bring?

Ranking well and getting cited by AI tools brings more enquiries, more traffic and more people trying to buy from you or invest in your services. However, if the systems behind your website can't keep up, that growth turns into missed leads and slow responses instead of revenue.

Before you push hard on visibility, it's worth checking what's happening behind the scenes on an operational level. Consider what the following looks like in your day-to-day:

• Are enquiries routed to the right person automatically, or sitting in an inbox?
• Can your booking or quote process handle a jump in volume without someone manually keying everything in?
• Does your inventory require manual updating in multiple locations?
• Is your CRM connected to your website, or are two systems working in isolation?

Efficient back-end systems are what let a spike in demand become sustainable growth rather than a bottleneck. Get that groundwork right and every extra visitor your content brings in has somewhere useful to go.

Here at Serenity, we’re not just a marketing agency. We look at the big picture for our clients to make sure they achieve sustainable business growth. We specialise in designing and connecting existing systems so your operations can support the growth that digital marketing can bring to your business. Talk to our team today about what that could look like and see how we’ve achieved this for our clients here.

Where to go from here

AI search sits alongside organic search rather than replacing it and the businesses winning at both build on the same solid foundations: proper entity-based SEO, strong technical basics and content that keeps improving based on real engagement data. Add efficient systems behind the scenes and that visibility converts into growth your business will thrive with.

If you want a clear view of where your own site stands, book a digital performance review and we'll walk through it together.