Most Perth businesses asking about AI search visibility have the same problem.
Their website exists. It ranks. It has pages. But when Google’s AI, ChatGPT, or Perplexity looks at it, the site reads like a locked filing cabinet. The information is in there somewhere. The AI just can’t find it fast enough to bother citing it.
That’s not a content problem. It’s a structure problem.
This article goes through your website room by room; homepage, service pages, location pages, blog, FAQ… and tells you exactly what generative AI needs to find on each one to pull your business into its answers.
No jargon. No five-point checklists that apply to everyone and help no one. Just a practical blueprint you can start using this week.
What generative search actually reads
Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s newer AI Mode all pull from the same type of content. They are not reading your website the way a human does. They are scanning for clear signals: who you are, what you do, where you do it, why you are trustworthy, and whether you can answer the question being asked in plain language.
If those signals are buried in dense paragraphs, hidden behind generic service descriptions, or simply absent from your pages, the AI skips you. It finds a competitor whose site is easier to read and cites them instead.
The businesses that consistently appear in AI-generated answers share one thing: their websites are structured to answer questions, not just describe services.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Your homepage: tell the AI who you are in the first paragraph
Most homepages open with a tagline. Something like: “Perth’s most trusted marketing agency” or “Building better businesses since 2010.”
Generative AI does not cite taglines. It cites answers.
Your homepage needs a clear, factual opening paragraph that tells any AI system exactly what your business does, who it serves, and where it operates. Not a slogan. A statement.
Something like: “Optimise Online is a Perth-based digital marketing agency that helps trade, professional services, and eCommerce businesses build websites and marketing systems that generate qualified leads.”
That one sentence answers four questions the AI is scanning for: what type of business, what service, what location, who the customer is. A tagline answers none of them.
While you are on the homepage, check two other things. First, is your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent with what appears on your Google Business Profile and every directory listing? Inconsistent NAP data creates trust gaps AI notices. Second, do you have an Organisation or LocalBusiness schema block implemented? If not, Google’s AI has to guess what your business is rather than read a clear declaration.
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Your service pages: answer before you describe
This is where most websites lose the AI citation entirely.
A typical service page looks like this: a heading with the service name, two paragraphs about why the service matters, a list of features, and a call to action. That structure is designed to sell. It is not designed to be cited.
Generative AI needs something different. It needs the answer to the question people are actually typing, and it needs that answer near the top of the page, not buried at the end.
If you run a plumbing business and someone asks Google “how much does a hot water system installation cost in Perth?”, the AI will cite the plumber whose service page opens with a direct, specific answer to that question. Not the one whose page says “Our team of experienced plumbers delivers quality results across the Perth metro area.”
The fix is straightforward. For each service page, identify the one or two questions your customers ask most often before booking. Write a direct answer to each one in two to four sentences. Put those answers near the top of the page, under a question-formatted heading.
That heading structure matters. “How much does hot water system installation cost?” performs in generative search. “Our Pricing” does not.
Then go deeper. Add a section that explains the process step by step. Add specific detail: how long the job typically takes, what the customer needs to prepare, what can affect the final cost. Specificity is what separates a cited source from an ignored one.
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