Getting started with AI search visibility: How UAE brands are getting mentioned on ChatGPT

Ask ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Google AI Mode to summarise and analyse this (long-ish…) post.

TL;DR: Everyone wants a piece of the AI pie, and the UAE is wasting no time in getting it! With significant investment from both private and government institutions, AI integration is moving fast. That means UAE brands need to act fast so they don’t miss out on the opportunity for customers to find and choose them through AI tools like ChatGPT. AI visibility starts with including brand and authority-building sections on their website, answering specific AI prompts, adding personality and depth to their content, using schemas and clear structures, and backing up their Arabic content with English content to avoid misinterpretation. 

Celebrity endorsements have been used to propel brands back into relevancy and make both the celebrity and the brand a lot of money. One example of this is so infamous that it’s been turned into a film - the collaboration between Michael Jordan and Nike, which developed into the renowned Air Jordan brand.

That’s great and all, but not very accessible to SMEs who don’t have millions to pay celebrities to become the face of their brands. 

Fear not, there’s a type of endorsement that is much more accessible while still having a powerful sway on customers. 

ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI tools are mentioning brands in their answers, either as a source they quoted from or a recommendation to buy from, essentially giving brand endorsements for free. 

And there’s a way we can encourage AI tools to endorse us, building brand awareness through AI search.

AI promises a unique opportunity in the UAE. So, whether you’re already a fan or still figuring this AI thing out, it’s time for UAE brands to jump on the AI search optimisation train!

SEO vs AIO: Do you need to write content differently for AI visibility?

Before you go any further, it’s important to emphasise that you can’t optimise your content like you would for Google SEO and expect to get found through AI search. 

While both Google and AI tools are places customers go to ask questions and find products, comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. Trying to get found in AI search with SEO tactics is as effective as trying to play basketball in heels, instead of Air Jordans… It’s not how the game is won!

Google answers questions by suggesting a list of relevant webpages. AI answers questions by writing full sentences with information it’s gleaned from relevant webpages. 

The process is quite different, so what it needs from our content is different too. 

AI wants well-trusted sources with well-structured content answering well-used prompts. If you tick these boxes, you’re well on your way to AI visibility. 

Is AI optimisation worth it for UAE brands?

I know, I know, it feels like yet another thing to add to your ever-growing list. But AI search optimisation is definitely worth your time, particularly as a UAE brand, and here’s why. 

AI has a very high adoption rate in the UAE. It’s thought that its AI market will grow from $3.47 billion in 2023-2024 all the way to $46.33 billion by 2030. That means a lot of your customer base will be using AI. If your customers are spending time on AI tools, you need to be visible there too. 

This skyrocketing growth in AI adoption is due to both private and government investment. The UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 makes it clear that the government wants the UAE to lead the way in AI and become one of the biggest AI destinations in the world. It’s not just part of economic growth in the UAE. It’s central to the economic future of the UAE. We can’t avoid it. 

This future is closer than you think. The Abu Dhabi Government Digital Strategy 2025-2027 intends to create the world’s first fully AI-powered government, believing this level of digitalisation will streamline processes, efficiency and outcomes. 

But what does this mean for your business? As AI becomes ingrained in our way of living, it’s what customers will automatically turn to when making decisions about travel, finance, online shopping and more. Be there or lose visibility. 

How to get AI tools to notice and mention you

Even if you have a long-standing and active online presence, AI could be skipping over you. See where you stand by checking your AI Brand Visibility Score. These are the things that make LLMs think twice about including brands in their answers. Remove these blocks and you’ll get ahead in the AI visibility game. 

Build brand authority

If AI doesn’t know who you are, it’s not going to want to reference you because how does it know you’re worth recommending? You could be spewing utter nonsense. There’s plenty of that on the internet!

Use specific content blocks to clearly communicate your brand story and build your authority through credentials - qualifications, awards, experience, and results. From your about page to author bios on your blogs, constantly back up your brand. 

Answer the right questions

It’s AI’s mission to answer the questions its users are asking. Are those the questions you’re answering in your content? If not, your content could be very well thought out and presented, but still not much use to AI tools. 

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers and think about what they would ask an AI search tool. Use that language in your headings and throughout your content, answering the questions clearly and in a way that’s easy to quote and summarise. 

Give it some pizazz

It’s not just what you say but how you say it. AI tools know that generic content is only going to make it sound more robotic. If it wants to sound like a human, it needs to take quotes from personality-filled content. So establish and let loose with a brand voice. 

Be direct with your opinions. No need to mince your words! Tell stories from personal experience. This adds richness and depth. Make it yours through metaphors, examples and puns that are so you. Provide the realness AI tools want to replicate.

Add structure

Structure is important to any piece of writing. It’s particularly important for AI. It looks for context about what it’s looking at and where it can find the information it’s searching for. Subheadings, bullet points, and even comparative tables can help with laying out the information in a logical way. 

There’s stuff we can do on the backend, too. Make the most of metadata so when AI is analysing your website, it can tell what’s going on and where to look. Schemas like FAQs, author bios and product descriptions are like cues for AI because they signpost them in the right direction. You’re basically saying, “Here’s about me, here’s about our products and here’s the answer to the question you’re researching.”

Note: The limitations of the Arabic AI UX

There’s another factor that we need to talk about when it comes to UAE brands. Most of us like to search in our native language. So it’s fair to say that your customers will be conversing with AI in Arabic. That’s proving to be a bit of a problem…

AI doesn’t seem to have a handle on Arabic like it does with English. The answers to questions are getting a bit lost in translation. This is probably due to the learning material AI is trained on being mostly in English (that’s the majority of online content) and the nuances across the different dialects of Arabic. 

This isn’t just a problem for the companies behind AI tools, that are providing a poor user experience for a significant subsection of their audience. It’s also a problem for UAE brands. 

This lack of understanding could prevent relevant brands from being recommended and lead to them being misquoted. It could quite easily undermine brand perception and trust because the AI-generated answer doesn’t clearly get the point across. 

What can you do to help AI understand your brand?

• Use bilingual content on your website so AI can read the important details in the language it’s most proficient in.

• Give cultural context in English as a way to provide the nuance AI might otherwise miss. 

• Include Arabic metadata and prompts in your content because that’s what your customers, and therefore AI, are searching for. 

There is work being done to fix this issue. Companies are developing AI tools that are made for Arabic speakers so that they have a better hold on the language. Keep an eye on Falcon, Jais, and Noor. At the moment, we are still learning about this gap and how to overcome it. 

How to get started with AI optimisation 

There’s so much potential in AI. With the government’s focus on AI, we’re likely going to see a lot of it come to fruition in the UAE. Keeping up with AI means keeping up with your customers. Here’s a summary of what you can do to win at AI search and use this opportunity for business growth.

• Sort out your structure - Review your metadata and schemas to map out what AI can find where on your website. 

• Tell your story - Share information about your brand in English and Arabic to prove to AI why you can be trusted. 

• Do the translation for them - Answer Arabic language AI prompts in both English and Arabic so nothing gets lost in translation. 

• Be quotable - AI wants to summarise your content. Make it easy for them by getting rid of the fluff and making your point super clear. Use these templates as a guide for writing AI-optimised content. 

Finally, speak to us at decipher. We write content that is findable and usable by AI and engaging and loved by humans, with a specialism in UAE-focused brand visibility consulting.