How can I make my website more 'AI' friendly?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence; the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, particularly computer systems. It refers to the ability of computer systems to learn, problem-solve, make decisions, understand language, and perceive their environment. AI systems use algorithms and data to analyse information, identify patterns, and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.

There are some good principles that you can follow in order to make your website more 'AI' friendly which we'll run through:

Firstly, there is E-E-A-T which is Google's framework and very relevant for AI. So, you need to ensure all your content follows these guidelines:

• Experience: Show first-hand knowledge. Use case studies, original research, and personal anecdotes.
• Expertise: Demonstrate deep knowledge of your subject.
• Authoritativeness: Establish your site and authors as a go-to source. Have clear author bios with credentials.
• Trustworthiness: Be transparent. Have clear contact information, cite your sources, and ensure your site is secure (HTTPS).

It's also important to use natural language (not stuffing your content with lots of keywords), and where possible develop topic clusters - so a page about an overall topic, that then links off to sub pages about individual elements/sub categories of that topic.

So, here, it's important to make sure you use structured markup - i.e. Schema data to tell search engines what your content is about (Shopify themes generally add basic schema markup).

Also, it's important to use a logical structure on your pages, i.e. :

• <h1>: Only one per page for the main title.
• <h2>: For major sections.
• <h3>: For sub-sections within an <h2> block, etc

And use alt text to describe images, and of course, have a fast, mobile-friendly and stable website.

This is the type of content that can help get your site featured in AI overviews. Ideally this content should be 1,800+ words (around 3000 is pretty optimal). It can feature in your blog/news/how to guides section of your website, to help add value to site visitors. It must be informative, engaging and worthwhile and should follow these core guidelines:

• Include a concise summary at the top - i.e. 'key takeaways' - AI models love summaries they can quickly ingest and use as a starting point.
• Use lists, tables, and bullet points to break up complex information into easily digestible chunks. AIs can lift a bulleted list or a table directly into an AI Overview.
• Create an FAQs section - where applicable - at the end of a long article it's a good idea to include a dedicated FAQ section that answers the most common follow-up questions related to the topic.
• Create internal links by using descriptive anchor text to link to other relevant pages on your site. This helps an AI understand the relationship between your content and builds your site's knowledge graph.

• Write for humans, structure for machines
• Answer questions directly and comprehensively
• Build authority with E-E-A-T signals (author bios, sources)
• Use Schema Markup on everything possible (articles, FAQs, authors)
• Structure content logically with summaries, headings, lists, and tables
• Ensure your site is technically sound (fast, mobile-friendly, secure)

If you need any help with your Shopify store or any help with content creation then get in touch, we'd love to help.