A client recently told me a story that stopped me mid-conversation.
Her client — a new father — had been thinking about buying insurance for his newborn.
So he did what most people do today: he searched online. But this time, AI surfaced the results. A couple of insurance agencies in Penang came up. He went through the links, made his decision and reached out to two of them via WhatsApp.
The first agency never replied.
The second — my client’s agency — responded within the day. They met in person and spoke about the best insurance policies for his newborn. Within a week, the sale was done.
My client credited two things for that win. First, her website was credible enough that AI noticed it. Second, it was credible enough that a real human decided to contact her. The AI did the introduction. She did the rest.
That story is a perfect snapshot of where we are right now — and it’s a good moment to talk about what’s actually working in the age of AI search.
Authority Is Everything Now
The businesses showing up in AI search results aren’t necessarily the ones running the biggest ad budgets. They’re the ones that have earned credibility over time — through consistent content, through being cited and referenced by others and by having a website that clearly communicates who they are, what they do and who they serve.
This is not new thinking. This is SEO 101 from 15 years ago. What’s changed is that now an AI is the one doing the initial filtering and first-level evaluation — and AI is, in many ways, a tougher audience than Google’s old algorithm. It’s looking for signals that your business is real, trustworthy and relevant to the person asking.
So the question isn’t “How do I get AI to pull up favourable results for my brand?”
The question is: “Is my website genuinely credible?”
Online Age Matters
One thing worth knowing about my client’s website: we built it for her more than 15 years ago. The domain has been active and consistent all that time. In the world of SEO — and now AI search — domain age is a genuine trust signal.
An older domain that has been continuously maintained tells search engines (and AI) that this is not a fly-by-night operation. It’s a business that has been around, that has shown up consistently, and that isn’t going anywhere. Even if you’re a new business owner and haven’t decided anything concrete yet, our advice is: get your domain name now.
But domain and website age alone aren’t shortcuts. Her website has been redesigned at least twice over those 15 years. The content has evolved and improved in accordance with her company’s growth and positioning. The back-end and front-end structure has been updated to reflect how people search and what they need to find. Longevity without upkeep is just an outdated website that helps nobody. What counts is a website that has grown alongside the business — and continues to give visitors every reason to trust what they see.
That’s exactly what her website does. The credibility cues are all there: clear information about who she is, what she offers, her credentials, her images, her experience and enough context for a prospect to feel confident before they’ve even made contact. By the time the new father messaged her on WhatsApp, the website had already done a significant part of the selling.
Build Your FAQ For Tough Prospects
One of the most practical things you can do right now is rethink your FAQ page. Most businesses write FAQs around questions they want to answer — which is usually about their products, their process and their pricing. That’s what every website does.
AI pulls answers from content that matches what people are actually typing into search. Which means your FAQ needs to reflect the real questions your prospects are asking — even the awkward and impolite ones, the ones that make you uncomfortable, the ones that reveal they are newbies and understand very little about your industry.
Think about what your prospects ask you in that first phone call or first meeting. Those are your uncomfortable but much needed FAQ questions. Write them out. Answer them clearly. That’s the content AI is looking for.
Original Content Is Far More Valuable Today
Here’s the irony of the moment we’re in: AI is trawling the entire internet for content and yet it’s actively devaluing content that was generated by AI.
Original, human-made content carries more weight.
But what does “original” actually mean? It’s not just “written by a human.” It’s content that carries a point of view. It’s the opinion that your competitors are too cautious to publish. It’s the contrarian thinking backed by real experience. It’s the uncomfortable truth about your industry that clients need to hear but rarely do.
It’s also your voice. Your style. The way you phrase things after years of talking to clients, writing proposals, making sales calls and explaining complex ideas in simple language. That’s genuinely hard to replicate — and it’s exactly what makes your content yours.
The insurance client my client won? He didn’t just find her through AI. He evaluated her through her website. Her voice, her credibility, her content — those were what convinced him to tap that WhatsApp button.
How Do You Create Authority and Credbility?
- Write content worth referencing or resharing.
- Guest post or share your articles on public platforms.
- Collaborate with others in your industry.
- Have a point of view that’s unmistakably yours.
- Get your name and your website mentioned.
- Have others talk about you and your work positively.
- Answer real questions. Update your FAQ with the questions your actual clients ask — not the ones you wish they’d ask.
- Invest in your website for the long haul. A website that has been consistently maintained over many years carries more authority than a brand-new one, no matter how beautifully designed. Start now, keep going, and update it as your business evolves.
- Write with a point of view. Share your opinions. Be willing to say something that not everyone agrees with. That’s what makes content stick — and what makes AI (and humans) pay attention.
- Respond when people reach out. The first agency in that story had everything else right — and lost the sale because nobody replied. Getting found is only half the job.
If you’ve found this useful, please share this with your network. Or sign up to get updates via email.