Naturally, businesses have always designed websites around one primary visitor – the human.
We think about how easy the site is to navigate. We wonder whether the content answers questions or whether the design looks professional. We make sure visitors can quickly find what they need.
But a new type of visitor, one that we’ve touched on before, is becoming increasingly important – AI agents.
AI agents are moving beyond simply answering questions. They can research businesses, compare products and services, gather information and, increasingly, take actions on a user’s behalf.
This all creates an important question for businesses looking to run successful websites…
If an AI agent was researching your business today, would it find everything that it needed to recommend you?
Your Website Has a New Audience
Imagine that someone asks an AI assistant:
“Find me three local companies that provide this service and give me an idea of how much each one costs.”
The agent needs to gather information from somewhere, and businesses want it to be from their website.
If your website clearly explains what you offer, who it’s for, how much it costs, where you operate and how someone can get started, the agent has useful information to work with.
If your website simply says:
“Contact us for more information.”
Where a human visitor might send an enquiry, an AI agent is likely to simply move on to a competitor whose website provides the information it needs.
This means that it is more vital than ever for the information on your website to be clear and accurate, making it as easy for machines to understand as it is for people.
Giving AI Agents the Information They Need
One of the biggest opportunities is one of the simplest: making sure your website actually contains the information someone would need to make a decision.
Depending on your business, that includes things like:
• Clear descriptions of your products or services
• Pricing or pricing ranges where appropriate
• Product specifications
• Availability and locations
• Opening hours
• Delivery information
• Frequently asked questions
• Reviews and testimonials
• Case studies and examples of previous work
• Clear contact and booking information
A good way to make sure that you don’t miss anything is to think about the questions your customers ask before they buy from you.
Is the answer on your website?
If it isn’t, you’re potentially making both the customer’s and the AI agent’s job harder.
This is particularly important when AI is being used to compare several businesses. If an agent is putting together a shortlist or comparing quotes, businesses with clearer, more accessible information are likely to have an advantage simply because the agent has more useful information to work with.
Make Your Website Easy for Machines to Understand
As well as the words on the page, the underlying structure of your website also matters.
Structured data, clear page structures, consistent information and well-organised content can all help search engines and AI systems understand what your business does and what you’re offering.
For example, if you sell products online, your website should make it clear what each product is, its price, the availability, specifications and other relevant information.
For a service business, it might be more important to clearly explain the different services you offer, the areas you cover, who each service is designed for and what customers can expect.
Put simply, don’t make AI guess. If important information is hidden or ambiguous, then you’re creating unnecessary difficulties.
Could an Agentic Chatbot Help?
There’s another way to make your website easier for customers and clients to interact with (and something that we have been developing for several clients recently) – an AI-powered chatbot or virtual assistant.
Traditional chatbots were often little more than glorified FAQ pages. You clicked through a series of predefined options and hoped one of them answered your question. But an AI-powered agent can do considerably more.
It can understand natural language, ask follow-up questions, interpret what a visitor is trying to achieve and potentially connect with other business systems to help complete the next step.
For example, imagine a visitor arrives on a professional services website and asks:
“I’m a small business with ten employees and I need help with X. Which service would be right for me?”
Rather than forcing the visitor to navigate several pages, an AI assistant could ask a couple of relevant questions, identify the most suitable service and direct them towards the appropriate next step.
This Is Where AI & Automation Come In
Making your website AI-friendly is the beginning. More opportunities arise when AI can connect with the systems and processes behind your website.
For example, an AI agent could:
• Qualify an enquiry before it reaches your team
• Check information held in your CRM
• Answer questions using your own business data
• Book appointments
• Pass customer information into another system
• Trigger follow-up communications
• Help customers find the right product or service
• Gather information and complete repetitive administrative tasks
So, instead of AI simply telling someone something, it is becoming a part of the process of actually getting something done, and this is where AI and automation start to overlap.
Picture this…
You ask an AI assistant to gather quotes for a wedding.
The AI starts researching suppliers, comparing options and pulling together the information it needs.
It lands on your website, interacts with your AI chatbot and requests a quote.
Your chatbot then uses connected tools and systems to prepare the quote and send it back to the AI assistant.
That is where things start to get really interesting. Your website is no longer simply providing information; it is actively helping move the customer journey forward.
For more information about anything covered in this blog, or to enquire about your own AI chatbot, please contact the team!
