Seen in AI Search: How people talk about the UAE’s culture scene with AI tools

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TL;DR: The events, conferences and festivals that are getting mentioned by AI tools, assistants and travel planners like Dubai PodFest, Festival of Cake and Dhai Dubai 2025 are the brands that are following the rulebook for AEO. That’s answer engine optimisation. When users ask about things to do and their event ticks the boxes, these brands are at the top of the list for a mention. The three golden rules are to create a topical page for each iteration of the event, structure the page using on-page and metadata strategies, and get features in other publications to boost discoverability and credibility. 

Will you make the cut when users ask their favourite AI tool, "What are some interesting cultural events, conferences, or festivals in Dubai this winter?"

How about when they narrow their search down to a niche like “Anything culture or food”?

How about when they ask about price points like “local + cheap” or “premium + exclusive”?

This is the new way your audience is searching for events like yours. You’ll notice it’s a lot more specific and conversational than Google search terms. Show up or lose out on potential ticket sales and footfall.

So, how exactly do AI tools decide what to highlight on the UAE’s cultural scene? Well, we’ll never know the exact algorithm. That secret will probably never see the light of day. But we do know some of the deciding factors in whether AI gives you a shout-out or the silent treatment. Fall in line with Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) best practices and you’ll have opened up a whole new path to visibility, discoverability and growth. 

What AEO tactics will get an event mentioned in AI search?

AI tools are like kids in a toy shop. There are an endless number of sources that they could reference to come up with their answers. The ones that are going to get chosen are the ones that are on the bottom shelf - the easiest to grab. Here’s how you can make your event the easy choice for AI. 

Specific pages

If users are searching for specific questions, we need to provide specific content. Don’t just rely on a website that talks about your festival or conference generally. Create a specific page that goes into the details of your event. So this year’s festival or the autumn edition of the conference. This allows you to hit the points AI algorithms are looking for. 

Clear structure

On your dedicated event page, don’t faff around. Get straight to the point. Include the wording from the kind of prompt your customers will use to search for an event like yours in the H1 title. This is making it loud and clear to AI bots that you’ve got the answer. Then follow up with the answer. The first paragraph after the prompt-based title should be an answer to the question in simple terms tailored to your brand’s tone of voice. Personality and conversational language catch AI’s attention because they help it mimic human answers. In the following headings, think about the additional information a customer might ask for. See the event page like a Q&A, mirroring AI search interactions. We’ve got templates you can follow to write AI-friendly content. 

Once you’ve got your on-page structure down, head into the backend. Update the metadata on that page so it clearly reflects the layout of information. An event schema is your best bet here because you can markup key elements of event information like time, location and price. Bots refer to metadata and schemas to help interpret what they’re reading. It really gives AI a leg up.

Digital PR

The first place AI tools are going to go when answering a query is trusted sources. Think about local travel or sector publications. They’ll have listings of upcoming events and features on standouts, giving AI tools a convenient overview of what they can include in their answers. Show up there and you’re more likely to get picked up. Being referenced by other sources supports your credibility too, giving AI tools more confidence in recommending you. Really, you want to get featured in as many publications, podcasts, blogs and even social media posts as possible. Present your event as one that is building hype and excitement. 

Examples of AI done right

To show how these AEO techniques work in practice, we did our own research. When asking AI about events, conferences and festivals in Dubai this autumn, these were some of the recommendations we received and why we think they got a mention. 

• Dubai PodFest - As well as a dedicated page on the organiser’s website, this event has features in Times of India, Emirates Times, HiDubaiFocus, Arabian Business and other location and sector-specific publications that AI will go to find out the latest in what’s happening.

• Festival of Cake - Despite using a third-party ticketing platform to manage ticket sales, the Festival of Cake still has a dedicated website where they go into more detail about the event. From what you can do at the festival to the chefs that will be in attendance, it feeds AI a lot of information, including the playful brand tone of voice which AI mimics when giving its recommendation. The features in Expo City Dubai and Visit Dubai help too.

• Dhai Dubai 2025 - This event, as of writing, has a coming soon holding page on its website. The fact that it’s still getting mentioned shows the power of digital PR. The first page of Google is filled with features - Time Out Dubai, ArtDayME and Go Kite Travel Dubai. That’s a great mix of location-based and niche-based publications. 

AI tools are already talking about the UAE’s cultural scene. The question is whether you are part of the conversation. Adding an AI search strategy to the marketing campaign for your next event will open the door to visibility through AI tools and access to the users who turn to AI to plan their weekends and trips. As you can see through these examples with a few tactical moves, you can get seen in AI search. 

Seen in Search is a series by decipher. the AI search optimisation agency helping UAE brands get seen, understood, and chosen by both AI tools and real people.