Get your York business ready for AI search

Search is changing. What does that mean for your business?

Search has long involved more than a list of website links. Customers already use maps, reviews, business profiles and directories to decide who to contact. AI has added another way to discover and compare businesses.

Google’s AI Overviews provide generated summaries for some searches. Its AI Mode supports more involved questions and comparisons. Tools such as ChatGPT can also search the web and draw information together into an answer.

That gives customers a way to research a decision before they visit your business’s website. Your opening hours, services, expertise and customer feedback may help shape that decision wherever someone encounters them.

For a York business, the practical question is simple: does your online presence give people enough accurate, specific information to understand when you are a good fit? And is that information organised in a way that AI agents can find and use?

Your website can inform a decision before it earns a visit

A potential customer might discover your business in a search result, see it mentioned in an AI response, check reviews and then search for you by name. Another might visit your website immediately. These are possible journeys, rather than a single new route everyone follows.

Research suggests that AI summaries are changing clicking behaviour. In a study of US browsing activity in March 2025, Pew Research Center found that users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits with an AI summary, compared with 15% without one.

SEO still provides the foundations

Google says its existing SEO best practices remain relevant to its AI features, but it’s safe to assume that AI overviews and information gathered by AI agents require a different approach to search optimisation.

Customers can ask much more specific questions

Ofcom research published in April 2026 found that 54% of UK adults used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini. That measures AI use overall, rather than searches for local businesses, but it shows how widely these tools have entered everyday life.

Conversational search lets people put more of their requirements into a question and refine the answer through follow-ups. Google describes AI Mode as supporting longer, more complex and more specific searches.

For businesses, that creates a useful content test. Does your website explain who your service suits, how it works, what it costs and any practical restrictions? Or does it leave people with a broad description and a contact form?

If a detail matters to the buying decision, it deserves a clear, accurate answer. That helps customers whether they arrive through Google, an AI assistant, a recommendation or a direct visit.

Six priorities for a stronger search presence

1. Make your services and location unmistakable

Explain what you offer, who it is for and where you provide it. Give distinct services enough space to be understood. For a local business, that can mean making your premises, genuine service area and arrangements for appointments easy to find.

A customer should not have to piece together your offer from scattered posts or vague descriptions.

2. Answer the questions that influence a purchase

Use the questions customers already ask you: prices, timescales, suitability, what is included and what happens next.

For a York visitor attraction, that might mean duration, accessibility and wet-weather arrangements. For a professional service, it could mean relevant experience, fees and the process of becoming a client. Put answers where people need them, including your main service pages.

3. Turn your experience into evidence

Explain how you work through real examples, case studies and practical guidance. Introduce the people delivering the service and show relevant qualifications or experience.

Google’s content guidance emphasises original value, first-hand knowledge and evidence that helps readers assess credibility.[6] Interviews with you and your team can uncover useful material that generic website copy misses.

4. Keep your business information accurate wherever it appears

Review your Google Business Profile and relevant listings alongside your website. Check categories, contact details, opening hours and service descriptions, including seasonal changes.

Google confirms that complete, accurate profile information supports local visibility. Its local results also depend on relevance, distance and prominence.[7] A content refresh cannot change your physical location, but it can make your offer clearer.

5. Make important information accessible

Keep essential details in readable web content, with clear navigation and useful links between pages. Check whether search crawlers can access the pages you want discovered. OpenAI identifies OAI-SearchBot access as relevant to inclusion in ChatGPT search.[2]

Where technical changes are needed, I can prepare a clear brief for your web developer. The aim is to make useful information available and understandable.

6. Support your reputation beyond your website

Genuine customer reviews, relevant professional listings and local coverage can help people evaluate your business. Google also identifies reviews and links among the factors associated with local prominence.[7]

I help identify worthwhile opportunities to explain and substantiate your business elsewhere, with accurate information and useful contributions. Different search and AI platforms select sources differently; there is no universal formula for being recommended.

How I help York businesses prepare

I combine research, content strategy and hands-on writing to improve the information customers find about your business.

Start with an AI search and local content review

We begin with the services you want to sell and the people you want to reach. I review your key pages, business information and a defined sample of relevant searches to identify weaknesses and opportunities.

You receive a prioritised action plan covering:

• Gaps and unclear information on your most important pages.

• Customer questions your content should address.

• Inconsistencies in the business profiles and listings reviewed.

• Examples of how selected competitors explain their offer.

• Technical issues that need investigation by your developer.

Sample AI searches provide a snapshot of what appeared during the review. They are not a complete measure of visibility or a permanent ranking.

Improve the pages that matter

I work with you to turn the findings into better content. Depending on the agreed scope, that could include rewriting service pages, developing useful FAQs, interviewing your team, creating case studies or improving your About page and business descriptions.

We agree the pages and deliverables before work begins. You get content grounded in your actual services, experience and customers.

Review performance and keep information current

Ongoing support can include content updates, repeat checks of an agreed question set and reviews of available search, referral and enquiry data.

We look at what matters commercially: relevant enquiries, bookings and sales where they can be tracked. An AI mention is useful context, but it is not evidence of a new customer on its own.

An experienced content specialist, based in York

I’m Malek Murison, a York-based content and marketing consultant with more than ten years’ experience helping businesses explain what they do and why it matters.

My work includes leading content for Travelshift’s Guide to Europe, creating search-led content for Totaljobs and developing case studies and technical stories for DJI. I have also worked across website content, product messaging and email marketing for smaller businesses.

That experience brings research, interviewing, editorial judgement and practical delivery to your website. I take time to understand your business, find the information your customers need and present it clearly.

Make your business easier to find and choose

If you run a business in York and want to understand what AI search means for your website, get in touch.

Tell me what you do, share your website and explain which customers you want to reach. We can discuss where better content and clearer business information could help.

Email: malekmurison@gmail.com