Global websites are largely unprepared for artificial intelligence search engines, with only 9 percent currently optimized for such systems compared to 61 percent for traditional search engine optimization, according to a new analysis.
The significant disparity highlights a growing challenge for online visibility and e-commerce, as AI bots prioritize raw code and structured content differently from conventional search crawlers like Googlebot, which execute JavaScript and interpret complex page layouts.
The study by Fasterize, a web performance company, reported that nearly two-thirds of websites do not utilize FAQ markup, a structured data format easily leveraged by AI assistants. This deficiency resulted in an average ‘citability’ score of 17 out of 100 for these sites, hindering their ability to be referenced by AI.
Despite AI assistants currently representing a marginal source of web traffic, accounting for about two visits per 100 organic visits, they play an increasing role in pre-selection before a user clicks on a link, Fasterize said. Optimized experiences with AI assistants showed significantly higher conversion rates, at 24 percent compared to 8 percent for non-optimized interactions.
The analysis also found that 10 percent of websites actively block at least one AI bot, with the retail sector being the most restrictive at 13 percent. This occurs despite AI assistants often aiding consumers in product comparisons and purchasing decisions.
Furthermore, 24 percent of e-commerce sites lack essential structured data for elements such as price, currency, or availability. This absence impedes AI agents from effectively processing product offers, according to the study.
Shopify, an e-commerce platform, reported that AI searches utilizing structured product data convert twice as effectively as those relying solely on unstructured page content. This underscores the potential for businesses to enhance sales through proper AI optimization.
The findings, based on data from Similarweb, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, suggest a critical need for websites to adapt their strategies to AI-driven search to maintain and improve digital presence and conversion rates.
Source: Abondance
