Navigating website presence in the age of AI

Your website remains relevant, but your traffic model may need adjustment. Here is what we are changing for our clients and what we are keeping the same.

Currently, a guest planning a holiday in Croatia might have previously searched for "luxury villa Split private pool" on Google, visiting several websites, possibly including ours. Today, she may ask ChatGPT and receive a concise summary listing a few agencies, with only a small chance of clicking any provided link.

This summary now serves as the entry point to the internet. Many business owners have asked us: if AI provides the answer, why is a website still necessary?

This is an important question. The answer is not what those promoting "AI visibility audits" suggest, nor is it simply to continue as before. After a decade of building and marketing websites, and recent experience integrating AI, here is our perspective.

What actually changed

Search has shifted from presenting a list of options to providing direct answers. Google's AI Overviews summarize information before users scroll, while ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude answer questions directly and cite a few sources. Across the Search Console properties we manage, impressions remain steady or increase, but clicks are declining, especially for informational queries. Articles such as "how to," "what is," and "best X for Y" are now often summarized and answered without generating website visits.

This loss is significant, but it is important to consider which clicks have disappeared. Visitors seeking quick answers and leaving immediately were unlikely to become customers. The remaining clicks are from users who have already researched and compared options through AI, and now visit your site to verify your credibility and complete a transaction.

There are fewer visits, but with higher intent. This doesn't signal the end of website relevance; it changes its value.

What didn't change

Three key points are often overlooked amid current industry hype.

Transactions continue to occur on websites. Customers do not pay significant deposits through chat interfaces. AI assistants may recommend, but websites must convince and convert visitors. Features such as booking engines, secure payments, clear cancellation policies, and accurate photos are essential, especially when visitors arrive already qualified.

AI-generated answers rely on published online information. Language models and answer engines gather data from web pages, reviews, and structured data. When an assistant recommends "a villa agency in Split with verified properties and direct booking," it is referencing published content. Clearly stating your business details, services, location, and pricing in both text and schema markup helps ensure your site appears in these recommendations. Sites with vague content or poor structure are often excluded from both search results and AI-generated answers.

Trust is now the most valuable asset. AI has made publishing easy, reducing the value of generic content. What remains irreplaceable is proof: real projects, authentic reviews, genuine photos, a physical address, and a history of completed work. In the AI era, tangible evidence is essential.

The new checklist

Here are the practical steps we now take for clients, without requiring subscriptions.

1. Ensure your site is easily citable. Answer engines favor sources with clear, factual statements at the top of each page, consistent business, location, and service naming, and structured data such as Organization, Product, Service, and FAQ schema. Treat schema markup as essential and complete it accurately.

2. Create content that retains value when summarized. If an AI can reduce your page to two sentences without losing information, the original content lacked substance. Publish details that cannot be compressed away, such as actual prices, availability, well-reasoned opinions, and specific examples from completed projects. First-hand information is now more valuable than simply ranking on the first page.

3. Maintain high technical standards. Fast loading times, clean HTML, server-side rendering, and functional sitemaps are essential for both SEO and AI crawlers. Choose which crawlers to allow, understanding that blocking them makes you invisible on those platforms. Discuss these requirements with your web developer to ensure compliance.

4. Control a channel that cannot be repriced by external platforms. Each major platform shift has shown that relying on third-party traffic can become costly without notice. Direct booking, maintaining an email list, and building a recognizable brand are now essential. We have focused on developing booking systems that eliminate intermediaries and prioritize brand search metrics.

5. Maintain a presence beyond your website. AI assistants verify information from multiple sources, including reviews, directory listings, an up-to-date Google Business Profile, and mentions in relevant publications. Consistency across these sources increases the likelihood of being recommended. Regularly updating these channels is a cost-effective way to maintain visibility.

6. Focus on meaningful metrics. Traditional traffic graphs may decline before business performance does. Monitor branded search volume, direct and referral visits from AI tools, inquiry quality, and conversion rates rather than total sessions. For example, one travel client experienced a significant drop in blog traffic but achieved their best booking season in a decade. Optimizing for the right metrics is crucial.

What we're deliberately not doing

We don't publish large volumes of AI-generated content, as it diminishes your domain's value for both search engines and customers. We also retain blogs that address genuine customer questions, since pre-purchase research remains important. Additionally, we avoid purchasing tools that claim to manipulate answer engines. Consistently providing clear, fast, structured, and high-quality content is the most effective long-term strategy.

We use AI daily for translation, content operations, and guest communications within our products. The distinction matters: AI is a valuable tool within your business, but it should not replace authentic, meaningful content.

Where this leaves you

Your website will serve two audiences: users ready to take action and machines that determine your visibility. To address both, communicate information clearly, use proper markup for machine readability, ensure fast performance, display proof of credibility, maintain direct channels, and measure success by inquiries and revenue.

The web remains expansive, but shortcuts are becoming less effective.

If you prefer expert support with technical standards, schema, high-quality content, and revenue-focused SEO, we are available to assist. Please let us know about your project.

About the author

Maroje Rogošić is the director of Epic Digital, a development and digital marketing studio in Split, Croatia. With over ten years of experience as a full-stack developer, he has delivered more than 60 websites, booking platforms, and web applications that remain in production. He now focuses on integrating AI into these solutions and ensuring their continued value.