Being found online has changed. Here's what it means for your business

The way people find you has shifted, and the old ways of measuring whether they can are starting to creak.

Below I’ll give you a brief look at what has changed, and then 5 actionable things a small tourism or hospitality business can actually do about it.

The old scorecard is misleading now

For years, "ranking on Google" was the goal. That still matters, but it tells you a lot less than it used to. AI answers and feature boxes now sit at the top of the page, so a result that ranks first can still load halfway down, unseen.

Plenty of searches now end with no click at all (as high as 68% of all searches according to some case studies), because the answer appears right there on the screen. On top of that, Google changed how it counts search impressions in late 2025, and privacy rules have made website analytics fuzzier, so comparing this year's numbers to last year's rarely gives you a straight answer and confident action is much harder to take.

The short version: being "number one" is no longer the same as being seen or chosen, so slightly different tactics apply..

How to make your content AI-friendly

The good news is that much of what works for AI search are things a small business can do without a big budget. Here are 8 actionable steps you can take now:

1. Answer real questions plainly. AI tools favour clear, direct content. Keep pages that answer what guests actually ask: where to park, whether you welcome dogs, how close you are to the coast path, the best time of year to come.

1. Get your basics consistent. Make sure your name, address, opening hours and contact details match everywhere they appear, on your website, your Google Business Profile, and any directories. Machines trust businesses they can verify.

1. Turn up where AI looks. AI answers lean heavily on other sources: reviews, local guides, directories, and yes, Visit Pembrokeshire's own listings. Being mentioned beyond your own website matters more than ever, so keep your listings current and encourage honest reviews.

1. Don't accidentally shut the door! Check your website isn't blocking search and AI crawlers, or hiding key details behind pop-ups. If you are not sure, ask whoever built your site.

1. Publish the local knowledge only you have. Which beach is sheltered in a westerly, where to park on a bank holiday, the sea view from table four. Generic "top ten things to do" copy adds nothing AI can't already write itself; first-hand detail is what gets quoted and recommended.

1. Add Local Business structured data. If you have a website, this is normally one small job for whoever built your site. It hands machines your name, location, type and hours in a format they read reliably and can retrieve easily. Reducing this friction is a big part of edging those closer battles and being retrieved.

1. Earn reviews that use words, not just stars. AI reads the language in reviews, so nudge happy guests to name the specifics: the sea view, the gluten-free breakfast, the easy coast path access. Those words then get tied to you.

1. Structure each page so it's easy to lift. Put the question as a heading and the answer directly beneath it, in short paragraphs and plain sentences. AI pulls cleanly from content laid out this way and skips over walls of text.

1. Keep the key facts in text, not trapped in images. Prices, opening hours, dog policy and distances should be typed on the page, not baked into a photo or a PDF a machine can't read.

1. Build a proper FAQ for the awkward questions. The specifics most places skip are the ones that win you the answer: motorhome parking, EV charging, step-free access to the beach, whether dogs are allowed in the restaurant or only the bar.

What's worth tracking now

Stop watching your ranking position on its own. Keep an eye instead on a few things that reflect reality:

• Whether you show up when people ask AI tools about your area. Try it yourself: ask ChatGPT for the best foodie stops or dog-friendly stays in Pembrokeshire and see if you are named.

• The enquiries you can count directly: phone calls, booking forms, and a simple "how did you hear about us?". These traditional methods are still very reliable for giving you a rough shape of things at the very least.

• Trends across the same season year to year, rather than raw month-on-month figures that the platforms keep redefining. The caveat here is that click data needs to be taken with a pinch of salt due to the vast shifts that have happened over the last 12 months, and impression data isn’t reliable as a YoY comparison until about September this year.

None of this replaces the fundamentals. Be useful, be clear about who you are, be willing to share your expertise online, and be easy to find and verify. AI just rewards that more directly now, and the evidence increasingly points to the fact that it rewards the businesses that get on with it sooner.

About the author

Harvey Johnson is a Senior SEO Specialist at StudioHawk, the specialist search agency that works with Visit Pembrokeshire. For the last 8 years he has helped businesses stay findable as search changes, from small independents to international brands.