How I Grew ePresence’s AI Overview & AI Mode Impressions by 49% in One Month
In one month, I increased impressions from Google AI Overview and AI Mode by 49% for ePresence in Ireland, while Google organic clicks only dropped by 5%. I did this by improving four areas of the site: technical SEO, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), content architecture, and off-site citations. Below, I explain exactly what I changed and why.
The Results
I don’t just tell clients how to improve their AI search visibility. I test it on our own website first. Here’s what happened in Ireland over one month:
49% increase in impressions from Google AI Overview and AI Mode.
Only a 5% drop in Google organic clicks, which is a small trade-off compared to the AI visibility gained.
Those two numbers matter together. A lot of businesses worry that AI Overviews will eat their organic traffic. My results show that if you optimise properly, you can gain strong AI visibility while barely losing any of your organic clicks.
Here is exactly how I did it.
1. Technical SEO
AI platforms need to be able to crawl, load and understand a page quickly and cleanly. If a site is slow or messy, AI engines are less likely to reference it. I focused on:
- Effective caching, CDN and GZip compression to speed up load times.
- Image compression, converting images to WebP and AVIF (the latest image formats), and lazy loading images so pages load faster.
- Structured data (schema markup) across the site, including Organisation, LocalBusiness, Person, FAQ, Service and How-To schema, so AI platforms can understand exactly what each page is about.
- An LLMS.txt file and a schema aggregation endpoint, giving AI systems a clear, curated summary of the site.
- Minifying HTML, CSS and JavaScript to reduce page weight.
- A clean site structure with logical navigation.
- HTTPS across the entire site.
All of this is designed to help the site respond quickly and let AI platforms understand the content with minimal effort.
What I also noticed reviewing ePresence directly: our pages carry clean canonical tags, HTTPS throughout, and meta-robots settings that allow full snippet and image previews (no restrictions on max-snippet or max-image-preview). Our AI SEO service page also carries an estimated 2-minute reading time, which reflects short, focused content that’s easier for AI systems to process in one pass. Each page also includes a last-modified timestamp in the metadata, which I use as a freshness signal AI platforms can pick up on.
2. E-E-A-T Improvements
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. AI platforms are far more likely to cite content when they can verify who wrote it and why that person is credible. I worked on:
- Upgrading personal bios on the website to clearly show qualifications, experience and achievements.
- Linking out to LinkedIn profiles and keeping these up to date.
- Attributing articles to the qualified specialist who actually wrote them.
- Publishing original, unique content based on our own research, including visuals.
- Publishing proof, like this case study, that shows real results rather than just claims.
What I also noticed: our website carries named, attributed client testimonials across multiple pages, each tied to a real person and business. This is a trust signal AI platforms weigh heavily, since it shows evidence of real outcomes rather than generic marketing claims.
3. Content Architecture
This is about how content is structured and connected, not just what it says. I built out:
- A semantic network based on an Entity–Seed–Node page layout, with internal links running up and down the network to reinforce the connection between related pages. I made sure there were enough node articles to answer the kind of follow-up questions AI platforms generate through fan-out search.
- No orphaned pages anywhere on the site.
- Content optimised for the first bite, or “chunking.” Each page leads with the main question and answer, then follows a simple structure: short paragraphs that answer the question clearly, plus bullet points, numbered lists, tables and comparisons where useful. Every paragraph is written to stand on its own, so an AI platform can lift it out of context and still have it make sense.
What I also noticed: our AI SEO service page sits at the centre of exactly this kind of network. It links directly to four dedicated sub-service pages (GEO, AEO, Semantic Content Architecture, and Brand Citation & Digital PR for AI), and each of those links back to the main page. The page also answers common questions directly under clear headings, such as “What is GEO,” “What is AEO,” and “How long does AI SEO take to work,” which mirrors the way AI platforms retrieve short, direct answers.
4. Off-Site Citations and Backlinks
The final piece is what happens beyond our own site. Producing unique content for the Irish market naturally attracts mentions and backlinks from other websites and platforms, which strengthens our overall online presence and gives AI platforms more independent signals that we’re a trustworthy source.
Why This Matters
Most businesses assume AI Overviews and AI Mode are working against their traffic. My own site’s results show otherwise. A 49% increase in AI impressions against just a 5% dip in organic clicks means the two channels can grow together when the underlying SEO fundamentals, technical performance, E-E-A-T, content structure and off-site trust are all handled properly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did improving AI visibility hurt Google organic traffic?
Only slightly. Google organic clicks dropped by 5%, while AI Overview and AI Mode impressions rose by 49% in the same month.
What are the main levers for improving AI search visibility?
Four areas: technical SEO (speed, schema, structure), E-E-A-T (credible authorship and proof), content architecture (semantic linking and chunking for easy retrieval), and off-site citations (backlinks and mentions from other trusted sites).
What is an LLMS.txt file?
It’s a file that gives AI platforms a curated summary of a website’s content and structure, similar in purpose to a sitemap but written specifically for AI systems to read.
Where can I read more about this?
Read our full guide on Engine Optimisation for Irish businesses, or get in touch with our AI SEO team at epresence.ie.
We offer comprehensive services to improve your AI Online presence, including:
GEO – Generative Engine Optimisation.
AEO – Answer Engine Optimisation
Brand Citation and Digital PR for AI
