10 Steps to Optimising Your Website For Generative Search (2025 Update)

You might already know about the regular SEO advice you get when you search online. This advice covers building high-authority backlinks, ensuring your website content is detailed and authoritative, sharing first-hand experience, and ensuring that visitors spend time on your website and load time is good.

However, this article is not about that; it is about ensuring that you are ranking for the generative AI features rolled out gradually around the world with the introduction of SearchGPT, Bing Copilot, and Google Generative Search.

For those who have read this article, we will cover just ten steps to cover basic SEO if you do it on your own. If you need further steps, try using ChatGPT. Drop in the point in our article and ask for it to be elaborated on step by step.

Key Takeaways

Website Speed Optimisation Tips for Improving Site Speed in 2025

Search Engines Dominate Traffic: Search engines like Google are the primary source of online traffic, significantly outpacing social media.

SEO’s Crucial Role: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is key to improving your website’s visibility in search results.

How SEO Works: Search engines rank websites based on content quality, structure, and backlinks.

The Power of Organic Traffic: Optimising your website for SEO can attract organic traffic and boost your online presence.

Social Media’s Limited Impact: While social media can benefit website traffic, its impact is generally less significant than that of search engines.

Generative Search Optimization for Beginners in the Generative AI Age

While social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have undeniably grown in popularity, search engines remain the primary source of online traffic, with the percentage varying from the industry.

According to data from Statista, in 2022, search engines accounted for approximately 58.7% of global website traffic, whereas social media platforms contributed just 15.4%.

This significant disparity highlights the importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) in driving organic traffic to websites and now Generative Search Optimization to ensure that you are featured in the top search results generated by AI.

Search engines like Google and Bing use complex algorithms to rank websites based on various factors, including the relevance and quality of content, website structure, and the number of backlinks.

By optimising your website for search engines AI Results, you can improve your visibility in SERPs, attract more organic traffic, and ultimately generate more leads and sales.

In contrast, social media platforms often have shorter lifespans for content, and engagement can fluctuate based on trends and algorithm changes.

A Generative Search Ranking Roadmap

Before diving into the specifics, it’s essential to grasp the fundamental concepts of generative AI and its impact on search engine ranking.

• Generative AI: This technology creates new content, such as text, images, or code, based on existing datasets.
• Search Engine Ranking: The process of determining the order in which search engine results appear.

Key Factors Influencing Generative Search Ranking

Keyword Research with AI Assistance

Use AI-powered tools to identify long-tail keywords and semantic variations.

• Focus on keywords that align with user intent and the capabilities of generative AI.

Create High-Quality, Informative Content

Produce detailed, well-structured content that provides value to users.

• Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your content.
• Use headings and subheadings to improve readability.
• Add a summary paragraph that tells the reader what this article is about and what it covers. The Generative Searches pick this up, and there is a chance you will rank in the generative answers.
• Optimise for semantic search using synonyms, related terms, and natural language.

Optimise Your Website Structure

Ensure your website is easy to navigate and user-friendly.

• Use clear and concise internal linking.
• Optimise your site’s XML sitemap.

Improve Website Speed

Compress images and minimise file sizes.

• Optimise your website’s code.
• Use a reliable hosting provider.
• Implement a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Build High-Quality Backlinks

Focus on building backlinks from reputable websites.

• Use outreach and guest posting to acquire backlinks.
• Monitor your backlink profile and disavow toxic backlinks.

Leverage AI-Powered Tools

Use AI tools to analyse your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement.

• Utilise AI-powered content generation tools to create high-quality content.

Optimise for Voice Search

Use natural language in your keywords and content.

• Optimise your website for voice search devices like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Mobile Optimisation

Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly on all devices.

• Use responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes.

Local SEO

Optimise your website for local search by claiming your Google My Business listing and using local keywords.

Track and Analyse Your Performance

• Use Google Analytics to track your website’s traffic, engagement, and conversions.
• Monitor your search engine rankings and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Social Signals

• Social Media Engagement: Encourage social media sharing and engagement to increase visibility.
• Brand Mentions: Monitor brand mentions and engage with your audience on social media.

User Experience (UX)

• Intuitive Navigation: Design a user-friendly website with straightforward navigation and easy-to-find information.
• Engaging Content: Create content that keeps users interested and encourages them to stay on your site.

The Critical Impact of Website Speed

Low website speed is one of the most frustrating experiences. It will turn potential visitors away, costing you money, reputation, and valuable opportunities.

Every millisecond counts today when attention spans are shorter than ever.

Reducing page load time will positively transform your marketing and sales processes, attract higher-quality traffic, and dramatically increase your conversion potential.

Why Website Speed Matters for Generative SEO in 2025

Web performance is more than just a technical metric; it’s a critical component of user experience that directly influences,

• Search engine rankings
• User Engagement
• Conversion rates
• Brand perception

With Generative AI giving people the answers they need, the number of people wanting to visit your website is decreasing unless you are featured as a source for the information provided by the generative AI.

To be optimised for this, you need to do fundamental SEO right to rank in the top 10, and website load speed is vital to achieving this.

Studies show that,

• 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load
• A 1-second delay can reduce conversions by up to 7%
• Google considers page speed a crucial ranking factor

Generative Search Optimization

15 Website Speed Optimisation Techniques

To rank in the top 10 or be featured in generative searches, high-quality original content with your personalised experience is essential, and a website that loads fast is necessary.

Here is what you will do to ensure that your website loads fast, at least within 3 seconds, across mobile and desktop devices.

Compress Your Images

Images often constitute the most significant downloadable assets on a webpage. Unoptimised photos can significantly slow down your site.

Pro Tip: Use modern image formats like WebP, which provide superior compression without sacrificing quality. Tools like TinyPNG and Squoosh can help you compress images efficiently.

Don’t Host Your Videos Locally

Hosting videos directly on your server consumes massive bandwidth. Instead, leverage platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, which offer efficient video streaming.

Use a Quality Hosting Plan

Your hosting provider plays a pivotal role in website speed. Some cheap shared servers pose a security threat and might use old processors. If you are growing fast as a business, getting a managed Virtual Private Server is better. If you are a startup or a Small Business, invest in,

• SSD-based hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting
• Cloud hosting solutions
• Providers with global data centres

Pro Tip: Since HypeX Digital Marketing Agency in Sri Lanka receives most visitors from the United States of America, we have moved our server location closer to the US. If you are a business in Sri Lanka, the server can be in India or Singapore.

Avoid Too Many Animations

We all like seeing movement and awe-inspiring websites, but when visiting your brand website, the key is ensuring the most critical information is visible at first glance and loads fast. So, if you are using animation, ensure its loading is delayed or deferred and try to keep the animations to a minimum.

Pro Tip: While animations can enhance user experience, excessive or complex animations can dramatically increase load times. Use CSS animations and limit JavaScript-based animations.

Optimise Your Code

Clean, efficient code is fundamental to speed optimisation. If you are a WordPress user on a Linux hosting environment, try using LiteSpeed Cache and do the following manually.

• Minify CSS and JavaScript
• Remove unnecessary code
• Use efficient coding practices
• Implement code splitting

Utilise Server-Side Caching

Implement server-side caching to store frequently accessed data, reducing database queries and improving response times.

Minimise External Resources

Every external script (analytics, social media widgets, etc.) adds load time. Audit and remove unnecessary external resources.

Use Lazy Loading

Implement lazy loading for images and videos, ensuring content loads only when users scroll to that section.

Minimise HTTP Requests

Be careful when you implement these steps because there is a chance the site can break. Reduce the number of elements that require separate server requests by,

• Combining CSS files
• Using CSS sprites
• Implementing inline critical CSS

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

If you are a fast-growing business or a large enterprise, try buying a good CDN. If you are a startup or a small business, try Cloudflare CDN for free.

Pro Tip: CDNs distribute your content across global servers, reducing latency and improving load times for international users.

Enable GZIP Compression

Data is transferred as packets through the Internet; the smaller the file size, the faster it travels. This feature might be available for CMS web builders using a caching plugin. The hardcode heroes can work their way around with the platform they use to build their websites.

Pro Tip: GZIP compression can reduce file sizes by up to 70%, significantly improving transfer speeds.

Enable Keep-Alive

Configure your server to maintain persistent connections, reducing overhead from repeatedly establishing new connections.

Utilise AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

Create lightweight, fast-loading mobile versions of your pages using Google’s AMP framework.

Leverage Browser Caching

Configure proper caching headers to store static resources in users’ browsers, reducing repeated downloads.

Reduce the Number of Redirects

Each redirect creates additional HTTP request-response cycles. Minimise redirects to improve speed.

Let’s use speed as a Competitive Advantage.

Website speed will no longer be a luxury but a necessity moving forward in 2025. Implementing these optimisation techniques will improve technical performance and create a superior user experience that will set you apart from competitors.

Generative Search Optimization FAQ

What Is Website Speed Optimisation?

A comprehensive approach to improving webpage loading times and overall performance through technical and design strategies.

Why Is Website Speed Important?

Faster websites provide better user experiences, improve search rankings, increase conversions, and reduce bounce rates.

What Affects Website Speed?

Image sizes, Hosting quality, Code efficiency, External resources, Server configuration, and Caching mechanisms