If I'm Not on Google, I Don't Exist
The Illusion of Objectivity in Online Reviews. How platforms like TripAdvisor shape visibility, reputation and consumer behaviour.
Why Our SEO Approach?
We apply SEO indexing best practices without relying on external tools that collect data for GAFAM companies. Through internal and open source platforms, we maximise natural indexing and help SMEs gain organic visibility at no additional cost.
- SEO built in from the start
SEO enters the creation process at day one. Hierarchical and semantic coding built into every website from the outset, for maximum visibility. - Less dependence on GAFAM external tools
We favour independent and open source solutions, as they offer greater transparency and better control. - Maximising natural indexing
Search engines crawl and rank your website efficiently, without paid advertising or third-party dependencies. - Ideal for small businesses and individuals
We offer affordable and effective solutions to help local websites increase their visibility. - SEO for e-commerce requires ongoing management
Small SME websites benefit from structured indexing. E-commerce platforms demand regular optimisation, due to dynamic content and competitive pressure.
Indexed Content Types
- Text and Articles: Blogs, web pages, product descriptions and metadata.
- Images: Indexed via alt text, file names and structured data.
- Videos: Recognised via titles, descriptions and transcriptions.
- PDFs and Documents: Can appear in search results when properly optimised.
- Structured Data: Schema markup enhances search visibility.
- Audio and Podcasts: Indexed when accompanied by transcriptions or metadata.
Any information published online, whether current, outdated or deleted, can be retrieved through search engines. Every action on the Internet leaves a digital footprint, a "digital DNA", which artificial intelligence now traces faster than ever.
Optimising for Search Engines
To maintain effective visibility and ranking, we recommend:
- Using SEO-optimised formatting such as headings, keywords and metadata.
- Ensuring fast loading speeds and full mobile responsiveness.
- Avoiding duplicate or low-quality content, as this can reduce ranking credibility.
- Using structured data to help search engines understand your content.
Search engines analyse and index all available content. The combination of relevance and quality is what determines ranking success.
Indexing: All Content Is Indexed
Search engines index far more than text. Every type of digital content can improve visibility when properly optimised.
AEO: the new frontier of search visibility
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) optimises your presence in responses generated directly by AI engines: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude with web access do not rank pages, they cite sources. More than half of web traffic is now automated: your site must become the ingredient in the response AI will deliver to your future clients.
Why 2026 changes everything
Close to 40 per cent of searches are now resolved without a single click to an external site. AI answer engines synthesise information directly, citing the sources they deem most reliable, best structured, most consistent across the web. What mattered yesterday: the SERP position. What matters today: being the source an AI chooses to cite.
Classic SEO vs AEO: the essentials
| SEO | AEO |
|---|---|
| Optimises for SERP rankings | Optimises for AI-generated responses |
| Targets the click and the visit | Targets the mention and citation in the response |
| Keywords and backlinks | Structured data and entity authority |
| For humans who click | For AI systems that synthesise |
The fundamental distinction
Structural AEO is the opposite of GAFAM dependency. No external scripts, no pixels, no third-party accounts required: the engines come to read what you publish, you send them nothing.
| Classic GAFAM dependency | Sovereign AEO |
|---|---|
| Google Analytics: you send your data to Google | Structured publishing: engines come to read your page |
| Facebook Pixel: third-party code runs on your site | Your code, your server: no external scripts involved |
| LinkedIn Insight Tag: LinkedIn tracks your visitors | A presentation file on your own domain |
| Google Search Console: you identify yourself to Google | You control who accesses your content, no dependency |
Structural AEO requires no external script, no GAFAM account, no pixel. AI engines come to read your structure: you send them nothing. That is the opposite of dependency.
AEO techniques applied by DIGITALABS
- Unified JSON-LD @graph (Organization, Person, ProfessionalService linked by @id): entity disambiguation with no ambiguity.
- SpeakableSpecification: signals to AI engines which CSS selectors contain the most citable passages, a priority signal for voice assistants (ChatGPT Voice, Gemini Voice).
- mentions[] with sameAs Wikidata/Wikipedia: anchors concepts to the global knowledge graph.
- llms.txt at the root (llmstxt.org format): an LLM-readable Markdown manifest presenting the entity concisely.
- Selective robots.txt: the site owner decides which sections or pages remain accessible to automated systems, including those already linked from the navigation menu. Training blocked (GPTBot, CCBot, ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai...), citation permitted (ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, Claude-Web, Google-Extended). AI & Bot Filtering
- Cross-platform consistency: unified NAP, LinkedIn, GitHub, Wikidata. AI triangulates sources; coherence builds trust.
- FAQPage Schema and enriched structured data for clients who require it.
AI engines targeted
Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search (text and voice), Gemini (text and voice), Claude with web access, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, You.com. Each engine applies its own trust signals: the DIGITALABS approach targets full coverage of the AI search ecosystem.
Voice Search: ChatGPT Voice and Gemini
Since July 2026, OpenAI has expanded ChatGPT’s voice capabilities and Google Gemini now responds vocally in everyday contexts. When a query is spoken, the engine answers directly, without listing links. Content structure must anticipate the spoken question, not just the typed keyword.
- Targeted SpeakableSpecification: marks the text blocks voice assistants prioritise for reading aloud.
- FAQPage Schema: question and answer pairs written to match conversational and spoken query patterns.
- Conversational phrasing: each service paragraph answers an implicit question ("What is...", "How does...", "Which..."), a format natural for voice synthesis.
- Strengthened local signals: voice searches are frequently geolocated. Swiss address, Swiss hosting, consistent citations: local authority directly influences citation.
DIGITALABS SEO + AEO service
Full audit of the existing setup, end-to-end implementation (JSON-LD, llms.txt, robots.txt, cross-platform consistency) and monthly citation monitoring in AI responses. A single engagement, lasting visibility across both registers: traditional search and AI answer engines. According to the client’s preferences, cross-platform consistency draws on open directories (Wikidata, Swiss registries) or chosen professional platforms: no dependency imposed.
Improve your SEO and AEO visibility
Audit, implementation and monthly monitoring: rank in search engines and be cited by AI.