Recap: How to Win in AI Search with Structured Local Pages

AI is transforming how customers discover brands. Instead of returning a list of links, tools like ChatGPT and Gemini now deliver direct answers. This webinar, hosted by Yext, explored what that shift means for marketers — and how to help your brand be part of AI answers. Top takeaways: rethink your website for machines, prioritize local pages, and scale structured content with speed.

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As AI tools transform how people search, discovery is moving from "clicking on a list of results" to receiving a single, AI-generated answer. That shift is changing how marketers think about brand visibility—and it's making structured, local content more important than ever.

In our recent webinar, leaders from Yext Product Marketing and Yext Research broke down what brands need to know to stay discoverable in this new landscape. From the technical details of machine-readable content to the growing impact of location-based signals, here's a recap of what was covered and why it matters.

AI search delivers answers—not options

Rather than returning a list of links, AI search engines like ChatGPT and Google Gemini deliver direct, conversational answers. That means brands are no longer competing to be listed; they're competing to be cited.

The impact? This shift removes the "traditional" top-of-funnel entirely. Instead of browsing options, users get a single answer—often without ever visiting a website. For brands, this means visibility hinges on whether AI sees your content as authoritative and structured enough to include in a response.

Brand-managed sources are key to AI search visibility

Recent Yext research shows that 86% of AI citations (used to generate direct answers) come from sources a brand can control or influence: websites, listings, and reviews. Contrary to popular belief, third-party platforms like Reddit or Wikipedia are not the biggest drivers of AI visibility. In fact, they account for a small percentage of citations (~2%) when real-world context—like location and industry—is factored in.

This puts the focus squarely on brand-managed content, and particularly on local pages. These pages serve as clear, structured sources of truth about a brand's services, availability, and regional relevance—attributes that are highly valuable to AI systems trying to deliver the "right" answer.

Structure matters more than style

Web design has traditionally focused on the user experience, but AI doesn't browse. Instead, it crawls, reads, and extracts meaning. Structured content (like schema, semantic HTML, and properly marked-up headings) is far more likely to be understood and cited by AI tools.

In this environment, performance and technical clarity matter more than aesthetics. Pages built with complex frameworks or hidden behind JavaScript often fail to render fully for AI crawlers, which makes them invisible to the systems that now drive discovery.

For marketers, the takeaway is clear: making content machine-readable is no longer optional. Structured data, semantic markup, and crawlable content need to be prioritized—both on the brand's main site and across all local pages.

Local pages drive unbranded, high-intent discovery

Location-based content plays an outsized role in how AI interprets and returns results. Brands with structured local pages are far more likely to appear for high-intent, unbranded queries—especially when those pages include detailed, region-specific information like available services, promotions, or product offerings.

This isn't just about NAP (name, address, phone number) data. It's about creating local pages that reflect what a customer might actually be searching for in a specific area. For example, a coffee chain that builds local pages for "energy drinks near me" could start appearing for those terms—even if the brand hasn't been traditionally associated with that product.

Scaling local content requires a new approach

So, it's clear that having optimized local pages is key to appearing in traditional and AI search. The challenge? Historically, creating hundreds or thousands of local pages required significant developer support and long build cycles. In the AI era, that model breaks down.

To scale effectively, brands need a faster, more flexible system—one that lets marketers launch AI-optimized, schema-rich pages without waiting on design or dev resources. That's exactly what Yext Pages enables: fast deployment of structured content at scale, powered by the Yext Knowledge Graph and no-code templates.

Top 3 takeaways for marketers

1. Structured content is essential. AI search prioritizes clarity, not creativity. Schema, semantic markup, and crawlable text are the foundation of visibility.

2. Local pages increase your chances of being cited. Intent-rich, region-specific content is more likely to match how users phrase AI queries—and more likely to be pulled into AI answers.

3. Speed and scale are competitive advantages. Building structured content quickly—without relying on dev cycles—lets marketers keep pace as AI search evolves rapidly.

Learn more

This session previewed findings from Yext's latest research on AI visibility, including analysis of over 6.8 million AI citations across major search platforms.

Click here to dive into the full research findings.

FAQs

1. How can I tell if my website is optimized for AI search? Start by checking if your site loads without JavaScript—many AI crawlers can't render it. Also look for structured data like schema markup and a clean content hierarchy using H1s and H2s. Tools like Lighthouse or Yext's Scout can help assess performance and visibility.

2. Do I need local pages if I only have one physical location? Yes. Even single-location brands can benefit from localized content. Focus on creating content that speaks to your geography, region, or service area—especially for unbranded or long-tail queries.

3. Can AI tools find content hidden in location finders or search bars? Usually not. AI crawlers don't interact with pages like users do. If your content isn't in a standalone, crawlable page (not hidden behind a search interface), it's likely invisible to AI.

4. What's the fastest way to create local pages at scale? Use a no-code template system tied to structured data—like Yext Pages. It lets marketers (not developers) spin up thousands of AI-optimized, schema-rich pages quickly and efficiently.