How My Business Is Being Found Through ChatGPT and AI Search
ChatGPT is sending me website enquiries, and my content is appearing in AI-generated summaries. Here’s what I think is helping.
Over the past six months or so, something rather interesting has been happening in my inbox. More and more people are telling me they found me through ChatGPT and other AI search platforms.
It appears regularly in the “How did you hear about me?” section of my enquiry form, and several potential clients have specifically said that ChatGPT recommended me when they asked it to find a Squarespace designer.
My website has also started appearing as a cited source within AI-generated summaries, which means my content is being found and used in another way too.
These haven’t been vague or poorly matched enquiries, either. They have often come from exactly the kinds of businesses I most enjoy working with: photographers, interior designers, therapists, wellness professionals and other creative, service-based businesses.
Some have needed a completely new website. Others have already had a Squarespace website but wanted an experienced designer to help them refine it through one of my VIP Days.
In other words, ChatGPT hasn’t just been sending more people in my direction. It seems to be sending the right people.
Naturally, this made me curious.
Why was my name appearing? And had I accidentally been helping my website appear in AI search without consciously setting out to do so?
The honest answer is that nobody outside these platforms can tell you precisely why a particular business is recommended or cited in a particular response. Results can change depending on the question being asked, the platform being used and the information available online.
But having experimented with different searches and looked closely at the way my own online presence has developed, there are several things I think may be helping.
In this article, I talk about:
First, what do we actually mean by AI search?
Instead of typing a short phrase into Google and working through a page of links, people can now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude or another AI platform a much more detailed question.
They might ask:
“Can you recommend a UK Squarespace designer who works with photographers and understands SEO?”
Or:
“I’m a therapist with a DIY Squarespace website. I want someone to make it look more professional without rebuilding the whole thing. Who would you recommend?”
Because the question contains so much more context, the recommendations can be remarkably specific.
AI search isn’t only about direct recommendations, either. Search engines are also using AI to create summaries that draw information from different websites and cite those sources within the answer.
For a small business, I think this creates a really interesting opportunity. You don’t necessarily need to be the biggest or most famous name in your industry. But you do need to make it easy for search engines and AI platforms to understand what you do, who you help and why someone might choose you.
Here’s what I think has made a difference for me.
1. My website clearly explains what I do
This sounds obvious, but beautiful websites aren’t always clear websites.
It should be immediately apparent that I’m a UK Squarespace designer and that I create thoughtful, strategic websites for creatives, wellness professionals, consultants and personal brands.
I also explain the different ways people can work with me, whether they need a complete five-page website, a beautifully considered one-page site or focused help improving an existing Squarespace website through a VIP Day.
That clarity matters.
If your website only talks broadly about bringing visions to life or helping businesses flourish, it may sound lovely, but it doesn’t give people - or search tools - much concrete information to work with.
Being clear doesn’t have to mean sounding corporate or stripping all the personality from your copy. You can still write with warmth and character while making it wonderfully easy for someone to understand exactly what you offer.
2. I already had strong SEO foundations
AI search hasn’t made traditional SEO irrelevant.
The work that helps Google understand a website - clear headings, useful copy, a sensible page structure, internal links, descriptive page titles and genuinely helpful content - also makes that information easier for other search tools to interpret.
I have spent years learning about SEO through both my own business and the websites I create for clients. I’m also an SEO Space Accredited Expert.
I didn’t suddenly replace all of that with a shiny new “AI strategy”. I continued doing the fundamental work of making my website clear, accessible and useful.
Good AI visibility seems to grow from those foundations rather than replacing them.
3. I answer the questions my clients are already asking
Many of my blog posts begin with a real question I’ve been asked by a client.
How much does a Squarespace website cost in the UK? Is a one-page website enough for your business? What actually goes into building a professional Squarespace website?
These are the things potential clients genuinely want to know while they are trying to decide what kind of website - and what kind of help - they need.
Writing about them gives me useful, relevant content based on real conversations and real experience. It also allows me to demonstrate what I know rather than simply telling people I’m an expert.
For me, that distinction matters enormously.
And yes, a post about whether a VIP Day is enough for your website is now firmly on my own list of things to write.
4. My services are easy to understand
My main five-page website service is called Made by Friday™.
It has a clear process, timeframe, price and outcome, so clients can quickly understand what is included and whether it feels right for them.
Although my other services don’t all have distinctive names, I still explain them clearly. Someone visiting my website can understand the difference between commissioning a complete five-page website, choosing a one-page website or booking a Squarespace VIP Day to improve something they already have.
I suspect that kind of clarity also makes a business easier for AI tools to describe and recommend accurately.
If someone asks ChatGPT for a designer who can professionally improve an existing Squarespace website without undertaking a complete redesign, for example, the information on my website gives it a specific and relevant service to connect with that request.
5. My portfolio provides real evidence
My Squarespace website portfolio isn’t simply a collection of attractive images. It shows that I have created real websites for photographers, therapists, designers, coaches and other creative and wellness businesses.
That body of work helps support what I say elsewhere on my website.
I’m gradually developing more of these projects into detailed case studies that explain who the client was, what they needed, the decisions I made and what we achieved together.
I think that kind of first-hand evidence is particularly valuable. It shows not only that I can design a website, but that I understand the particular needs and challenges of the businesses I work with.
It also helps a potential client picture what might be possible for their own website - which, ultimately, is what a good portfolio should do.
6. I have a detailed About page
When someone hires an independent website designer, they aren’t only buying a website. They are choosing the person they will collaborate with throughout the project.
My About page explains my background, including my previous career as a luxury wedding photographer and the experience that led me into website design.
It also talks about how I work and the things that matter to me.
That history is relevant. It helps explain why I understand image-led businesses, why I care so much about the relationship between photography and design, and why I have a particular understanding of creative, service-based businesses.
Your About page doesn’t need to tell your entire life story, but it shouldn’t be treated as decorative filler either. It gives people a feeling for who you are and provides valuable context about the experience behind your business.
7. I show trust signals prominently
My website includes specific credentials rather than asking people to take broad claims at face value.
I’m a Squarespace Marketplace Expert, a Circle Platinum Partner and an SEO Space Accredited Expert. I also share genuine client reviews and testimonials throughout the site.
These things help potential clients feel reassured that they’re in experienced hands. They also provide additional context about my work and the experience I bring to a project.
Qualifications and badges aren’t the whole story, of course. But alongside strong work, useful content and lovely feedback from real clients, they help to build a much fuller and more reassuring picture.
8. My business exists in more than one corner of the internet
Over time, Clare Butler has begun appearing in more places beyond my own website.
That includes professional profiles, carefully chosen directories, articles, expert features and other genuine mentions of my work.
This isn’t about submitting a business to hundreds of random directories or trying to manufacture authority. It’s about creating a natural, consistent presence in places where it genuinely makes sense for your business to be found.
My way of describing this is lighting up the internet with your name.
Your own website might be the centre of your online presence, but every worthwhile profile, feature, interview, case study or recommendation creates another little point of connection.
Together, those points help people - and potentially AI search tools - build a clearer picture of who you are, what you do and what you are known for.
9. I use consistent language across my online presence
I describe my work in broadly the same way across my website, professional profiles and other online listings.
The wording isn’t identical everywhere, nor should it be. But the essential information remains consistent: my name, my location, my Squarespace expertise, the services I offer and the types of clients I help.
Consistency makes it easier to understand what your business is really about.
If one platform describes you as a brand designer, another as a business coach and another as a marketing consultant, it becomes much harder to establish where your central expertise lies.
You can have a layered, interesting business without presenting a completely different identity everywhere you appear.
10. I’m keeping my website up to date
I’m now factoring blogging back into my weekly marketing activities. That doesn’t mean publishing something new for the sake of it, but regularly sharing useful articles based on current questions, experiences and changes within my industry.
I’m also revisiting older posts when the information needs updating.
Freshness is likely to be particularly relevant when writing about a fast-moving subject such as AI search. But for me, keeping a website current isn’t only about publishing dates. It’s about continuing to add useful, relevant information that reflects the work I’m doing and the conversations I’m having with clients now.
An active, up-to-date website gives both people and search tools more opportunities to understand what your business does and where your expertise lies.
11. Everything is written for people first
This may be the most important point of all.
I don’t want to fill my website with repetitive phrases or churn out dozens of thin articles purely because I hope an AI platform will notice them.
My website still has to sound like me.
It needs to help a real person understand whether I might be the right designer for them, feel comfortable about getting in touch and have a sense of what it might be like to work together.
The best content draws on genuine experience, answers a useful question and has a clear reason to exist.
If it also helps a search engine or AI platform understand and recommend your business, that is a wonderful additional benefit - but it shouldn’t be the only reason you create it.
What should you focus on if you want to appear in AI search?
I would begin with the foundations:
Clearly explain what you do, who you help and where you work.
Give each important service its own detailed page.
Answer the real questions your clients ask.
Show examples of your work and explain the thinking behind them.
Include testimonials, qualifications and genuine experience.
Write a meaningful About page.
Keep the essential information about your business consistent.
Build a natural presence beyond your own website.
Make sure search engines and AI crawlers can access your content.
Continue creating useful, original content based on what you really know.
None of this is a quick trick.
It’s the gradual work of creating a clear, credible online presence - a collection of useful information and real evidence that helps both people and technology understand why your business might be worth recommending.
I’m always learning and observing
AI search is changing the way people find businesses, and I’m continuing to watch how it develops.
I don’t claim to have reverse-engineered ChatGPT, and I would be wary of anyone promising a guaranteed position in an AI-generated answer. These systems are developing quickly, and their recommendations aren’t fixed rankings.
What I do know is that people are finding my website through ChatGPT, liking what they see and getting in touch. My content is also being found and cited within AI-generated summaries.
For me, that is a strong indication that thoughtful website design, clear positioning, sound SEO and genuine online authority are working together.
And reassuringly, those aren’t tactics created solely for machines.
They are the same things that make a website clearer, more trustworthy and more useful for the people you ultimately want it to reach.
If your current website doesn’t clearly communicate the quality of your business - or you would simply love some expert help getting the design, structure and SEO foundations right - you can explore Made by Friday™, my five-page Squarespace website service.
