Part Two in our AI Search series | How to turn operational expertise into content that customers and AI can find, understand and trust
In Part One of our AI Search series, we looked at how AI is changing the way customers find information online.
Instead of visiting several websites to research a question, customers can increasingly ask Google, ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity and receive a consolidated answer.
That changes the job your content needs to do.
A useful article can still bring potential customers to your website. But increasingly, it also needs to help AI understand what your business knows, where your expertise lies and why you are a credible source.
Your expertise needs to be visible
Imagine a food importer asking AI:
“What should I consider when choosing a freight forwarder for temperature-sensitive imports from Asia?”
AI might explain temperature control, transit times, customs, documentation, contingency planning and the importance of specialist experience.
Your business may have spent 20 years solving exactly those problems.
But if that expertise isn’t visible online, how will AI know?
Meanwhile, a competitor publishing useful information about those subjects is providing evidence of its expertise every time it adds a case study, market update or specialist article.
Your operational knowledge may be stronger. Theirs may simply be easier to find.
Start with the questions customers ask
Creating the right content doesn’t require complicated technology.
Start by listening.
What questions are sales teams repeatedly answering? What concerns are customers raising? Which regulatory changes are creating confusion? What problems does your operations team regularly solve?
A fashion importer might want to understand seasonal capacity.
An automotive manufacturer may be concerned about production-critical shipments.
A food exporter may need guidance on documentation and temperature control.
A retailer might be considering whether to hold more inventory closer to European customers.
These are real customer questions and potentially valuable content topics.
Answer them clearly and you’re creating information that works for two audiences: the customer looking for help and the AI helping them find it.
Demonstrate expertise rather than claiming it
There is a big difference between saying:
“We are experts in automotive logistics.”
and showing how you prevented a customer’s production line from stopping.
Case studies are particularly powerful because they replace claims with evidence. They explain the challenge, demonstrate what you did and show the outcome.
Thought leadership can do something similar.
Don’t simply repeat a carrier announcement or regulatory update. Explain what it means for customers.
Who will be affected?
What could change?
What are the risks?
What should customers consider doing next?
That demonstrates knowledge, judgement and experience. Qualities that build confidence in your business.
Create information nobody else has
Customer surveys can reveal changing sourcing strategies, peak-season expectations or emerging supply chain concerns.
Anonymised operational trends can provide insight into changing demand, transit times or customer behaviour.
Your teams can identify recurring problems before they become widely discussed elsewhere.
This creates original content.
Instead of commenting on somebody else’s research, your business becomes the source.
Google itself encourages content containing original information, research and analysis.
And as the internet fills with increasingly easy-to-produce AI content, having something genuinely original to contribute becomes even more valuable.
Don’t use AI to make your content more generic
There is an obvious irony.
AI is changing search while simultaneously making it easier than ever to produce content.
Anyone can generate an article explaining air freight, customs clearance or supply chain resilience in seconds.
The result is likely to be an explosion of perfectly readable but remarkably similar content.
Forwarders should absolutely use AI where it helps with research, ideas, structure and productivity.
But it shouldn’t replace the thing that makes your content valuable: Your knowledge.
AI wasn’t in the room when your team solved a customer’s supply chain problem.
It doesn’t know what your customers told you in last month’s survey.
It hasn’t spent 20 years handling fashion, automotive, food or pharmaceutical shipments.
That experience belongs to your business.
Make it visible.
Build authority where you want to grow
Focus on the markets where you have genuine expertise, or where you want to grow.
Over time, your sector pages, market commentary, customer stories, research and thought leadership begin reinforcing each other.
Together they tell customers (and increasingly AI) what your business knows and what it should be recognised for.
Be useful. Be specific. Demonstrate expertise. Provide evidence. Add something original.
AI search makes those fundamentals more important, not less.
Freight forwarders already possess enormous amounts of specialist knowledge.
The opportunity is to turn more of it into content that customers can use and AI can understand.
Because the future isn’t about writing for customers, Google or AI.
It’s about creating content good enough to work for all three.
Next: making your expertise easier for AI to find
In Part Three, we’ll get practical.
We’ll look at Google Search Console, structured data, content accessibility and some straightforward website improvements that can help AI find, understand and reference your content.
Because having valuable expertise is one thing.
Making sure AI can recognise it is another.
