As we continue to learn more about the world of AI, a large focus for VA Partners this year was to obtain more qualified leads from AI Search. As we shared in part one of this blog series. Traditional SEO is no longer enough. AI search is changing how buyers discover B2B companies, and today, we will share what changes we have made to ensure we continue to get qualified leads from AI search.
Small B2B Businesses are a Disadvantage
Many startups struggle with outdated SEO strategies or generic marketing content that fails to align with the classification patterns of AI models. Since AI models prioritize structured, consistent, and niche-specific content, businesses lacking these elements risk becoming invisible in search results. Without proper positioning, even if a small business is the perfect match for a buyer’s search, AI tools are unlikely to recommend them.
VA Partners at a Turning Point
As a small business, we are constantly assessing and re-assessing our efforts, as well as setting quarterly goals to ensure that we are working towards growing the business, and a big portion of these goals is obtaining qualified leads. We started to see the quality of leads diminish, and be inconsistent. We have been using AI for awhile now, more so on the marketing side of the business, however we were ready to see what else it could do for us. With more users turning to AI solutions, especially for search, we knew it was time to align with AI models and how we can make changes to obtain more qualified leads from AI search.
Where We Started
First, we did some research as to what improvements we can make to our existing website and content to appear in AI generated search results. This research included asking Chat GPT what we needed to do in order to appear in AI search results to obtain more qualified leads from AI search. We needed to;
- Clearly explain what we do, who we help and what outcomes we deliver
After taking a closer look at some of the services that we offer, there were a couple that we removed since the business has changed over the years, and leaning our focus towards more specialized services like fractional sales support.
- Use consistent terminology across our platforms
We then went through and updated our website, blog and social media including LinkedIn, and Facebook to ensure that all information, and content were updated with AI related queries. These are questions that a user would ask ie) I am looking for part time sales support that would help push VA Partners out as a search result.
We also took a lot of time to assess our Google Business profile, and make necessary changes to the profile, including adding post updates which is something we had not done previously. We are also in the process of creating a Wikipedia page, to help drive more qualified leads from AI search. If successful, this is something we would implement for our clients as well.
- Included niche-specific language that signals expertise
We discussed internally which language and areas of the business we wanted to push forward to help drive qualified leads. We then updated our profiles to include these terms such as International sales, B2B sales coaching and Fractional Sales Rep to ensure that VA Partners would show up in AI search results.
- Provide content that reflects these services, and showcases credibility
Once we had our language set, we altered our content plan to showcase more of this credibility, while also pulling back on the frequency of posts to ensure that the strongest content, and the content that would drive AI search results was getting the attention it deserved. Now, we are having more active conversations about what content we are creating, and whether or not the content like blogs are answering AI-driven, intent based queries. We are focusing largely on content that is consistent about methodology, process and outcomes, while also ensuring our meta data
The Results: Strong, Qualified Leads
After optimizing our content for AI search, we began appearing far more often in AI-generated search results. The shift was immediate: inbound leads arriving through AI-driven discovery were noticeably more qualified, better aligned with our services, and often further along in the buying journey.
Prospects even started referencing information we had read directly from AI tools, showing that we were now being shown as a trusted answer source. As lead quality rose—bringing in serious opportunities- our inbound pipeline strengthened dramatically, proving that AI-focused content changes can materially transform demand generation.
If you are looking for more support with adopting AI and how it can help you generate more qualified leads or to find out more about our part time solutions, connect with us.
