Is AI Recommending You or Your Business? cover art

Is AI Recommending You or Your Business?

Is AI Recommending You or Your Business?

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Being found by AI does not necessarily mean being recommended when a prospective client asks who they could work with.For that recommendation to be useful, the answer needs to connect your expertise with the person’s particular challenge – and give them a credible reason to consider you.Following our exploration of professional authority in episode 10, this conversation examines how that authority can translate into visibility in AI answers, including the role of your website, published content and evidence beyond your own claims.In this episodeLynnaire speaks with Tony Restell, founder of Social Hire (social-hire.com), about the company’s recently launched AI search optimisation service and what his team has learned from applying its approach to their own business and early clients.Tony describes the shift he has observed from search results that present links towards AI answers that recommend providers and explain those recommendations. He outlines three areas of work: making website information easier to interpret, building external evidence of credibility and publishing answers to questions prospective clients ask.The conversation explores why a clear specialism can give a business a more focused opportunity to appear in relevant answers, and why someone researching a challenge may encounter your expertise well before they are ready to contact a provider.Lynnaire and Tony also discuss the role of personal LinkedIn® articles and newsletters, attribution of original ideas, and the challenges of measuring visibility across tools that can produce different answers for different users.Five key takeawaysBeing discoverable means information about you can be found; being recommended means your expertise is presented as relevant to someone’s needs, ideally with reasons for considering you.Clear positioning around particular audiences and challenges gives prospective clients – and the systems they use – a more specific picture of where your expertise fits.Your own website is only part of the evidence available about you. Relevant reviews, independent mentions and other credible external sources can support what you say about your expertise.Content that answers prospective clients’ practical questions can introduce your expertise before they begin actively looking for a provider.AI visibility needs to be assessed across relevant questions, tools and occasions. One favourable answer does not establish a consistent recommendation or demonstrate a business outcome.Episode chapters1:00 – From visibility and authority to AI recommendations2:43 – The shift in buyer research and search behaviour8:38 – Schema markup and making website information understandable15:00 – Social Hire’s experience and early client examples22:03 – Early adoption, citations and attribution27:00 – External credibility and questions that show buyer intent33:36 – The role of LinkedIn articles and newsletters36:57 – Testing visibility across AI tools45:43 – Who can benefit and how to contact Tony48:03 – What businesses misunderstand about AI discoverabilityExamining your own AI discoverabilityBegin by identifying a specific situation in which you would want a prospective client to find you. What challenge are they facing, and what expertise would make you a suitable person or business to consider?Then examine three areas:Understood – Does your website clearly explain who you work with, what you do and the challenges you address? Ask your website provider what structured data is already in place and whether it accurately represents your visible content.Supported – What credible evidence beyond your own descriptions supports your expertise? Look at relevant reviews, recommendations, interviews, published work and independent mentions.Useful – Does your public content answer the questions people ask before they decide to engage someone? Review existing articles and resources before assuming you need to create more.Finally, test a small set of relevant questions across several AI tools and record the results over time. Distinguish between a mention, a citation linking to your content and a recommendation explaining why someone might choose you.Schema markup is one element to investigate, rather than a guarantee of recommendations. Google states that no special schema is required for its AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that established SEO fundamentals remain relevant. Structured data should reflect information visitors can also read on the page.About Tony RestellTony Restell is the founder of Social Hire, which has worked with B2B businesses on social media marketing and social selling since 2012. The company has recently expanded its services into AI search optimisation.Connect with Tony:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyrestell/Social Hire’s AI search optimisation service:https://social-hire.com/ai-search-optimization-geo-servicesResources mentioned and further readingFrom Benchmarks to Blueprints:...
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