SEO in the AI era: 5 things to get found on Google and in AI answers

Why “old SEO” stopped working

Search has changed. People now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, and get an answer before they click any link. Ranking with keywords alone isn't enough. Google and AI tools need to clearly understand who you are, trust you, and be able to read your site.

The 5 things

1. Schema — tell Google & AI who you are
2. FAQs — direct answers AI can quote
3. Topic clusters — prove you're the expert
4. Backlinks — borrow trust from big sites
5. robots.txt — don't lock the door on crawlers

Thing 1 — Schema: tell Google & AI exactly who you are

Time: 20–30 min · Difficulty: easy (copy-paste)

Schema (structured data) is a small piece of code in your page that labels facts for machines: this is a business, this is its name, logo, address, phone, social profiles. Search engines and AI systems use it to understand your site without guessing.

Which schema to add first

Copy-paste example (LocalBusiness)

<!-- Paste inside <head> of your home page. Replace the values. -->
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Sharma & Co. Chartered Accountants",
  "url": "https://www.yourwebsite.com",
  "logo": "https://www.yourwebsite.com/logo.png",
  "telephone": "+91-98XXXXXXXX",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "…",
    "addressLocality": "Pune",
    "addressRegion": "MH",
    "postalCode": "411001",
    "addressCountry": "IN"
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/yourhandle",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yourco"
  ]
}
</script>

1. WordPress? Use a plugin like Rank Math or Yoast. Fill in the “Local SEO / Knowledge Graph” settings and it writes this code for you.
2. Shopify / Wix / custom? Paste the code into the theme's <head> or the site-wide custom code box.
3. Test it at validator.schema.org and Google's Rich Results Test. Fix any red errors. Make sure your name, address and phone match your Google Business Profile exactly.

Thing 2 — FAQs: direct answers AI can quote

Time: 1 hour · Difficulty: easy

People type full questions into Google and ChatGPT: “GST registration ke liye kaunse documents chahiye?”. AI tools look for pages that answer the question directly, in 2–3 sentences. A good FAQ section gives them exactly that.

How to write FAQs that get picked up

1. Collect real questions. Check your WhatsApp/DMs, sales calls, Google's “People also ask” box, and AnswerThePublic. Pick the 5–8 most common per page.
2. Write the question as people say it. “How much does a website cost in India?” beats “Pricing information”.
3. Answer in the first sentence. Give the direct answer first (40–60 words), then add detail. No fluff before the answer.
4. Put FAQs on the relevant page (service pages, product pages, blog posts), not just one giant FAQ page.
5. Use proper headings. Each question as an H2/H3 so machines can see the Q→A structure.

Thing 3 — Topic clusters: prove you're the expert

Time: plan in 1 hour, build over weeks · Difficulty: medium

Instead of random blog posts, build one main “pillar” page on a big topic and many smaller pages on each sub-topic, all linked to each other. This shows Google and AI that you cover the subject in depth, so they trust you as the go-to source.

Example: a CA firm in Pune

How to build one

1. Pick 1–3 core topics that match what you sell. Don't try to cover everything.
2. List 8–15 sub-topics per core topic, using real questions from your FAQs (Thing 2) and “People also ask”.
3. Write the pillar page (1,500–3,000 words): an overview that briefly covers every sub-topic.
4. Write one cluster page per sub-topic, going deep on one question each.
5. Interlink everything. The pillar links to every cluster page, and every cluster page links back to the pillar (and to 1–2 related cluster pages). Use descriptive anchor text, not “click here”.
6. Publish 1–2 cluster pages a week. Consistency beats a one-time burst.

Thing 4 — Backlinks: borrow trust from big websites

Time: ongoing · Difficulty: medium

A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Google treats links from trusted sites as votes of confidence, and AI tools lean on the same trusted sources when deciding whom to cite.

Free ways to start this week

Thing 5 — robots.txt: don't lock the door on crawlers

Time: 5 minutes · Difficulty: easy, but critical

robots.txt is a small text file at yourwebsite.com/robots.txt that tells crawlers (Google, Bing, AI search bots) which parts of your site they may visit. One wrong line can make your whole site invisible.

✗ Danger: blocks everything

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Often left behind by developers after a website launch. Check yours today.

✓ Healthy starting point

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml

Decide on AI crawlers

1. Open yourwebsite.com/robots.txt in a browser and look for Disallow: /.
2. In Google Search Console, open Settings → robots.txt to see what Google reads and any errors.
3. Make sure your sitemap URL is listed, and submit it in Search Console → Sitemaps.

Your action plan: the 5-thing checklist

• Thing 5 · 5 min — Check robots.txt for Disallow: /, add the sitemap line, submit the sitemap in Search Console
• Thing 1 · 30 min — Add Organization / LocalBusiness schema to your home page and test it
• Thing 1 · 15 min — Make NAP (name, address, phone) identical on your site, schema and Google Business Profile
• Thing 2 · 1 hr — Collect 20 real customer questions; add 5–8 direct-answer FAQs to your top pages
• Thing 3 · 1 hr — Choose 1 core topic; list 10 sub-topics; plan the pillar and cluster pages
• Thing 3 · weekly — Publish 1–2 cluster pages a week, each linking to the pillar
• Thing 4 · 45 min — Create 3 free profile backlinks (Google Business Profile, ProvenExpert, Bookshop.org)
• Thing 4 · 30 min — Ask 3 partners or clients to link to you

Free tools used in this guide

• Google Search Console — indexing, robots.txt, sitemaps, links
• validator.schema.org & Google Rich Results Test — check schema
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free) — backlinks and site audit
• AnswerThePublic / Google “People also ask” — FAQ ideas

Want more like this? Follow growth_by_cc on Instagram for the Free Backlink Hack series and more SEO-for-AI tips.