How to become more findable in AI systems such as ChatGPT and Gemini
The question: how do I become visible in AI answers?
More and more organisations are asking themselves the same question: “Why don't my articles or products appear in AI answers?” Where Google used to let you compete in a list of search results, modern AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity give a ready-made answer straight away, often without mentioning sources or links.
This leads to a new problem: your content is available online, but is no longer seen. And that means missed visibility, less traffic, and ultimately: a drop in leads or sales.
The challenge: AI doesn't (yet) understand your content well enough
AI tools are advanced, but they depend on well-structured, reliable and clear content. Many websites, however, lack the technical optimisation needed to actually be understood by these systems.
Your content may be strong in substance – but if an AI system can't interpret the context properly, your website is simply skipped. That's frustrating, especially when you've already invested in good SEO, content marketing or CRO.
The solution: schema markup
Schema markup – also known as structured data – helps you bridge this gap. It's a piece of code you add to your website to explicitly tell AI systems what they are reading:
- What type of content is this?
- Who is the author?
- What is it about?
- Is this a blog, a product, a company page?
By providing this context, you make your content ‘AI-proof’.
What exactly are AI search engines?
AI systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity use enormous amounts of data to answer user questions directly. They don't index pages in a list like Google, but use a model that answers directly based on text – based on sources they consider reliable.
And that's exactly where the difference lies: you don't become visible because you rank well in a search result, but because an AI chooses your content as the basis for an answer. And that only happens if that content is well structured, up to date and understandable to machines.
Why schema markup works – and is essential
Schema markup makes your content:
- More understandable to AI By making explicit what your page is about, you increase the chance that an AI will use your information.
- More trustworthy AI systems assess sources partly on the basis of structure, metadata and consistency.
- More likely to appear in snippets and summaries Structured content in particular is displayed more often in AI summaries or as the “best answer”.
Extra: become visible in AI shopping
The opportunity: AI as a shopping platform
AI is also increasingly used for product advice. Prompts such as “What is a good noise-cancelling headphone under €150?” increasingly lead to shopping lists in AI answers. Want to be among them as a web shop? Then your product info needs to be AI-readable.
The approach: use Product schema markup
Give your products structured metadata, including price, stock status, description and reviews. Example:
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org/”,
“@type”: “Product”,
“name”: “Coffee machine Deluxo 3000”,
“image”: “https://jouwsite.nl/images/deluxo3000.jpg”,
“description”: “A powerful coffee machine with steam function and smart controls.”,
“sku”: “DELUXO3000”,
“offers”: {
“@type”: “Offer”,
“priceCurrency”: “EUR”,
“price”: “179.99”,
“availability”: “https://schema.org/InStock”,
“seller”: {
“@type”: “Organization”,
“name”: “Your Web Shop”
}
}
}
Important:
- Add ProductReview and AggregateRating for extra trust
- Work with up-to-date and complete product information
- Make sure the markup matches what is visible on the page
Implementation: how to add schema
- Use tools such as Schema.org or Merkle’s Schema Generator
- Copy the generated JSON-LD code
- Place it in the <head> of your page or use a plugin (such as Yoast SEO on WordPress)
- Test with Google’s Rich Results Test
Other tips for better AI findability
- Write clear, factual content
- Add an FAQ section with FAQPage schema
- Use LocalBusiness schema for local visibility
- Add date, author and organisation details to your content
- Use HowTo schemas for step-by-step guides
Conclusion: make sure AI understands you
AI as a search engine changes the rules of the game. It's no longer just about keywords or backlinks – but about how machine-readable your content is. With schema markup you make your site understandable, trustworthy and visible in AI answers and shopping listings alike. Want to get this right? We help you with the strategy, implementation and optimisation of your schema markup. Get in touch with us.