Building WordPress websites for AI

🧠 1. Start with AI-first content strategy

Before diving into plugins and schema, start with your messaging.

• Craft content that answers the types of natural language questions users are asking AI tools.

• Write in a clear, concise, and factual tone, ideal for being quoted or summarised by LLMs.

• Include FAQs, listicles and how-to content, AI prefers well-structured, question-led formats.

👉 Example: Instead of “We provide maintenance services,” say “How does WPCTO maintain and protect your WordPress site?”

🧱 2. Use semantic HTML and clear structure

AI crawlers love semantic clarity. That means:

• Use proper heading hierarchy (<h1> to <h3>), no skipping or styling <div>s to look like headings.

• Use <section>, <article>, and <aside> tags where appropriate.

• Add descriptive alt text to images and videos.

• Organise content into clearly defined blocks.

The easier it is for an LLM to parse, the more likely it is to be used in an AI-generated response.

🧩 3. Add structured data and schema markup

If you want your site to appear in rich results or be understood by AI, structured data is critical.

Use Schema for:

• Organisation / LocalBusiness on the homepage

• WebPage for standard pages

• FAQPage for question-and-answer blocks

• Article / BlogPosting for content marketing

• Product / Service for offerings

• Review or Testimonial for credibility

🛠 Plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or Schema & Structured Data for WP can help implement this easily.

🗺️ 4. Optimise your sitemap and robots.txt

Submit your sitemap to:

• Google Search Console

• Bing Webmaster Tools

Include your sitemap URL in the site footer and make sure your robots.txt doesn’t block key folders like /wp-content/uploads/.

🧠 Pro Tip: Even though LLMs don’t crawl directly (yet), search engines feed them and clean sitemaps help your content get indexed for use.

🧬 5. Build authority through linkable content

LLMs use high-authority sources to train and generate responses. You increase the chance of your content being quoted by:

• Publishing original insights, how-tos, or top 10 lists

• Getting backlinks from trusted sources

• Being referenced by aggregators (Reddit, Quora, industry directories)

• Creating cornerstone content hubs around key services

🛡️ 6. Ensure your WordPress site is fast, secure and accessible

Google cares. AI tools care. And users definitely care.

• Optimise Core Web Vitals (caching, lazy loading, responsive layouts)

• Secure your site with SSL, firewalls and regular updates

• Ensure keyboard navigation, alt text, and good contrast for accessibility

Poor site quality = reduced credibility = reduced AI trust.

🔎 7. Use AI as a tool – not just an audience

Building for AI doesn’t mean guessing. Use AI tools like:

• ChatGPT or Gemini to ask: “What are the best WordPress support agencies?” – and see who comes up

• Perplexity to analyse which sources are getting cited

• Surfer SEO or Frase to structure content around topical authority

If AI doesn’t yet know you exist, it’s your job to change that.

✅ Final thoughts: The AI web is already here

Building WordPress websites for AI isn’t about jumping on a trend. It’s about adapting to a major shift in how people search, discover and decide.

By building your WordPress site with AI-first principles – structure, schema, semantic clarity, speed, and authoritative content – you don’t just impress Google. You make your brand visible, quotable and recommendable by the next generation of search tools.