Making Websites AI-Ready

July 5, 2025 In Blog By Metro Agency

Making Websites AI-Ready

As AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini increasingly deliver direct answers to users’ questions, fewer people are clicking through to websites. That means your site may see less traffic, unless AI systems are linking to it. While this shift is still unfolding, the good news is that many of the strategies that help AI find and reference your site are the same ones used in traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO): publishing high-quality, authoritative content that answers real user questions, and earning backlinks from other reputable websites.

SEO isn’t going away.  It remains essential because millions of people still rely on search engines. Effective SEO does double duty: it helps you rank in both search results and AI-generated answers.  But now, there are a few additional steps to help get your website listed in AI generated responses.  This is called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).  

The Keys to Generative Engine Optimization

  1. Solid Search Engine Optimization.  You need well-written content, targeted at your users’ needs, and a strong backlink profile.
  2. Content Tagging.  Appropriately tagging your content using schema.org structured tag sets can help AI systems recognize key content.
  3. An llms.txt file. This emerging standard gives website owners more control over how AI systems interact with their content:  what they can access, what they can’t, and how they should interpret it. While not yet universally adopted, major AI platforms are beginning to support it, and adoption is expected to grow.

    If you’re running a WordPress site, there are already plugins available to help you generate an llms.txt file. We’ve tested them—and currently, only one meets the proposed standard and works as intended.  

Want to make sure your website is “AI-friendly”? We can help. Contact us today to future-proof your content and ensure it stays visible in an AI-driven world.

Sample AI Results

The figure below shows a response from the Google Gemini AI engine.  Note the first website referenced, in the right column:   the California Mission Guide, one of the author’s websites.