A few years ago, a startup's discovery strategy was pretty straightforward.
Rank on Google.
Build a social following.
Run some ads.
Get mentioned by publications.
Now there is another question founders and marketing teams need to think about:
When someone asks an AI assistant which companies, products or tools they should consider, does your company show up?
That's a different marketing problem.
Someone might search Google for “best project management software for startups.”
But they might also ask ChatGPT:
“What are the best project management tools for a 30-person startup?”
Or:
“Compare these five project management platforms for a SaaS company.”
Or:
“What's a good alternative to Monday.com for a smaller startup?”
Google's AI features are also moving in this direction. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode can break a question into related searches, explore multiple sources and return links to supporting websites.
ChatGPT search similarly provides web-based answers with links to sources. OpenAI says public websites can appear in ChatGPT search, provided they are accessible to its search crawler.
So how does a startup actually become more visible?
1. Start with the questions your buyers ask
Don't start with keywords.
Start with questions.
Think about what a potential customer might ask before they ever know your company exists.
For example:
- What CRM is best for a Series A startup?
- What are the best AI tools for legal teams?
- Which payroll platforms work for remote companies?
- What alternatives are there to Salesforce?
- How much does X typically cost?
- What should a startup look for when choosing X?
- Which companies provide X?
- What are the differences between X and Y?
These are often much closer to buying conversations than generic informational keywords.
2. Build pages that answer those questions properly
A page shouldn't exist simply because someone decided the company needs another SEO article.
It should answer something useful.
That could be:
- A detailed comparison
- A category guide
- A pricing explanation
- A use-case page
- An alternatives page
- An industry-specific guide
- A “best tools for...” article
- A detailed FAQ
- A customer problem/solution page
The goal isn't to repeat your product description 20 times.
The goal is to make your company useful in the conversation.
3. Make your positioning ridiculously clear
AI systems need to understand what your company actually does.
That sounds obvious, but plenty of startup websites make this harder than it needs to be.
A homepage saying:
“The future of intelligent business infrastructure”
doesn't tell anyone much.
A clearer version might be:
“AI-powered equity management software for startups, investors and enterprises.”
Now there is something concrete to work with.
Your website should make it easy to understand:
Who you serve → What problem you solve → What category you're in → What makes you different.
4. Don't ignore third-party sources
Your own website is only one part of the picture.
A startup can say:
“We're the leading AI platform for X.”
That doesn't automatically make it true in the wider web ecosystem.
AI search systems can draw from multiple sources. That means your broader digital footprint matters too.
Look at:
- Industry publications
- Reviews
- Podcasts
- Partner websites
- Customer stories
- Founder interviews
- Comparison sites
- Industry directories
- Research
- Conference appearances
The objective isn't to manufacture hundreds of mentions.
It's to make your company genuinely understandable outside your own website.
5. Your founder can become part of the search footprint
This is particularly useful for startups.
If the founder regularly talks about the problem the company solves, shares useful insights and contributes to industry conversations, they create more publicly available information around the company and its expertise.
Founder-led LinkedIn isn't just a social strategy anymore.
It can become part of the broader discoverability strategy.
6. Keep doing SEO
This part is important.
AI search doesn't mean traditional SEO is dead.
Google explicitly says its existing SEO best practices remain relevant for AI Overviews and AI Mode. There aren't special technical requirements that magically make a website appear in Google's AI features.
So don't throw away your SEO strategy.
Build on it.
Technical SEO, useful content, clear structure, authoritative sources and strong websites still matter.
7. Measure AI visibility separately
Traditional analytics can tell you:
- Organic traffic
- Paid traffic
- Conversions
- Referrals
- Engagement
But you should also start asking:
What happens when someone asks AI about our category?
Track prompts such as:
- “Best software”
- “ companies for startups”
- “Alternatives to ”
- “ reviews”
- “ vs ”
- “Who provides ?”
Then monitor whether your company appears, how it is described and which competitors appear alongside you.
The answer can change depending on the question, source material and model, so treat this as an ongoing measurement exercise rather than a one-time SEO audit.
The bigger shift
The interesting thing about AI search isn't simply that people are searching somewhere new.
It's that the shape of the search is changing.
Instead of:
“CRM software”
people can ask:
“I'm running a 40-person B2B SaaS company and need a CRM that won't require a huge implementation. What should I look at?”
That's a much richer buying signal.
Startups that create useful information around those questions have more opportunities to become part of the answer.
And that's what AI visibility should really mean.
Not trying to trick an AI into mentioning you.
Making your company, expertise and information easy for search systems to understand, verify and reference.
FAQ
What is AI search visibility?
AI search visibility is the ability of a company, product or brand to appear in answers generated by AI search experiences such as ChatGPT search, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
Is GEO the same as SEO?
No. They overlap heavily. Google says traditional SEO best practices remain relevant to its AI search features, while AI-focused strategies also consider how information is represented and referenced across conversational search systems.
Can a new startup appear in ChatGPT?
Yes. OpenAI says public websites can appear in ChatGPT search, although inclusion or placement isn't guaranteed.
How long does AI visibility take?
There isn't a guaranteed timeline. It depends on the website, authority, content, competition, crawlability and how much useful information exists about the company across the web.
What should a startup do first?
Start by identifying the questions your ideal customers ask, then build genuinely useful pages and content that answer those questions clearly.
Sources: Google Search Central, Google Search, OpenAI Help Center and OpenAI.
