Are You Optimising for the Right AI Prompt?

As you may have seen on LinkedIn, we’ve been having client meetings in Vega Gibraltar HQ this week. Naturally, the conversation has drifted into the territory of AI search optimisation -as many of our meetings do these days. It got me thinking, are people concentrating on the correct optimisations – are we looking deep enough within an AI chat to actually earn the conversion?

For years, search optimisation has focused on a fairly predictable journey. Someone has a need. They open Google, type a query, and choose one of the results near the top of the page that appears to meet their need.  If your website ranks reasonably well, earns the click and makes a convincing case for solving the issue at hand, you have a fair chance of winning that customer.

AI, however, has modified this journey.

People generally don’t use an AI assistant in the same way they use a traditional search engine. They do not simply enter one query, review a selection of links and leave. They start a conversation and filter down the results to their specific use-case before they even see any products.

You ask an initial question. The AI gives you an answer. Then you add context:

That sounds useful, but what about my particular situation?

That refines the answer, and the shortlist of “recommended” brands.

Then you push again:

Which option is best if I have this budget, need that feature and cannot use the usual solution?

Now the conversation is no longer broad. It is specific, commercially relevant and much closer to a decision. But it raises an important question for anyone optimising a website for AI:

Are you optimising for the right prompt?

The first prompt is rarely the whole journey

The first question a person asks an AI tool is often exploratory.

You might ask for the best software for a task, the right product for a problem or an explanation of a service. At this stage, you’re learning the landscape; getting the lay of the land. You may not yet understand the available options, the correct industry terminology or the criteria that should influence your choice.

A conventional SEO strategy might focus heavily on that opening query. It is usually part of the largest, broadest and most recognisable topic cluster. It will likely also have the most of the reported search volume. Yes there may be secondary keywords within that topic, but the hero term leads the way.

But an AI conversation does not necessarily end the same way.

The user can, and often does, challenge the answer, introduce constraints, ask for a comparison or explain their circumstances. Each follow-up prompt gives the AI more information about what they actually need.

The journey might look something like this:

1.     What is the best solution for my problem?

2.     Which of those options works for my situation?

3.     What if I need it to integrate with my existing platform?

4.     Which one offers the best value at my budget?

5.     Where can I buy it or speak to someone?

 The first prompt creates awareness but it’s the later prompts that really reveal intent, and intent is where the commercial value sits.

Being visible is not the same as being considered

The conversion may happen several questions deep, and this is the part many discussions about AI optimisation miss.

Visibility in the first answer matters. If your brand, product or expertise is introduced early, you have become part of the conversation. But appearing in an initial list is not the same as remaining relevant throughout the decision-making process.

As the user adds more detailed context, some of the original options will disappear. A brand may be suitable in general but unsuitable for a particular budget, location, audience, technical requirement or use case.

The real opportunity is not simply to be named when the AI answers a broad question. It is to remain a credible recommendation when the user says:

Yes, but what about me?

That is often the point at which a general enquiry becomes a buying decision.

If your website only explains what you do at a high level, an AI system has limited material with which to judge whether you fit the user's more specific requirements. If your content clearly explains who a product is for, when it works, when it does not, how it compares and what evidence supports its claims, the system has far more useful information to draw from.

AI optimisation therefore needs to account for the conversation, not only the opening prompt.

Stop thinking only in keywords. Start thinking in decision paths

SEO isn’t dead though, despite what you read on LinkedIn. Keywords do still matter. Keywords reveal demand, language and the topics your audience cares about. But a single keyword cannot fully represent a conversation that becomes more detailed with every exchange.

Instead, think about the sequence of questions someone needs answered before they can act.

For each important product, service or topic, consider:

·        What broad question starts the journey?

·        What would a user need to clarify next?

·        Which personal or business constraints could change the answer?

·        What objections might they raise?

·        What alternatives will they compare?

·        What proof will they need before making a decision?

·        What question indicates they are ready to enquire, register or buy?

This gives you something more useful than a list of isolated target phrases. It gives you a map of the decision process.

What should your website contain?

Optimising for deeper prompts does not mean creating hundreds of thin content pages for every imaginable question; in fact, that would be a terrible idea. It actually means developing content that answers real variations of need with enough clarity and evidence to be genuinely useful.

That could include:

Clear use cases

Explain how your product or service works for different audiences, situations and objectives. Do not make the reader work out whether your product or service applies to them.

Honest limitations

Content becomes more useful when it explains where a solution may not be the right fit. This helps both people and AI systems distinguish between superficially similar choices.

Meaningful comparisons

Show how options differ by price, capability, audience, implementation, geography or another factor that genuinely affects the decision. But avoid comparison content that exists only to declare your own product or service is the best.

Specific evidence

Support claims with case studies, original data, expert input, product details, customer outcomes and transparent methodology. Generic statements are easy to reproduce and difficult to trust.

Connected answers

Your content should work as a joined-up body of knowledge. Link broad guides to detailed use cases, comparisons, supporting evidence and relevant commercial pages. The aim is to help a user move naturally from discovery to decision.

A clear next step

When someone reaches the point of action, make it obvious what they should do. The strongest informational content can still lose the conversion if the route to enquire, book, register or buy is unclear.

Optimise for the pushback

A useful way to review your content is to imagine the first answer an AI assistant might give, then challenge it.

 If the answer includes your brand, ask:

·        Why should the user choose it?

·        For whom is it the best option?

·        Under which circumstances would another option be better?

·        What happens when the user adds a budget, location or technical constraint?

·        Is there enough evidence on the site, and externally, to support the recommendation?

Keep pushing until you reach the questions that expose genuine purchase or conversion criteria.

Those questions are likely to be more specific and may attract less visible search demand than the broad headline term. That does not make them less valuable. In many cases, they are closer to the point at which a person makes a commercial decision.

The right prompt generally isn’t the first one

AI is changing search from a sequence of queries into something closer to a conversation. Users can refine, challenge and personalise an answer without starting afresh.

That means visibility cannot be judged only by whether a brand appears for one carefully selected prompt. A better question is whether the brand continues to be recommended as the conversation develops.

Optimising for AI Search is not about predicting every sentence somebody might type. It is about understanding the decisions they are trying to make, the follow-up questions that shape those decisions and the evidence needed to answer them properly.

So, before asking whether your website is optimised for AI, ask something more important:

Are you optimising for the first prompt, or for the question that actually leads to the conversion?

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