Is your Museum’s website balancing SEO + AI?

by | Jul 31, 2025 | Insights Digital Transformation

For this GLAM insight, we’ve summarized some tips for smaller museums to focus on for online discoverability, integrating AI and websites. At some point over the past six months, I became aware of a problem museums were experiencing when AI platforms posted incorrect hours of operation.
Context: For this GLAM insight, we’ve summarized some tips for smaller museums to focus on for online discoverability, integrating AI and websites.
At some point over the past six months, I became aware of a problem museums were experiencing when AI platforms posted incorrect hours of operation.

Reema Duggal, co-founder of Silicon Halton, advises her clients, “Your website should be the one source of truth about your business.”

While social media platforms and other aspects of online presence are important, it is important to remember that your website is the real estate that your organization owns online, whereas the other platforms are owned by others.

Learning Journey

When I discovered this problem, I began to attend webinars and talk to colleagues about possible solutions to integrate museum websites with AI. I wanted to build on our previous insights for Cultural Heritage Tourism Benchmarking, Strategic Planning and Digital Strategy Optimization.

We are interested in any solutions that are minimal cost from a labour or technology perspective, enabling smaller museums to implement the solutions.

A webinar I attended on July 8th and a follow-up meeting held on July 28th provided some clues that I would like to share with my GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) colleagues.

July 8 Webinar

Independent Museum Professionals (IMP) is a private LinkedIn group that provides a central hub of resources, knowledge, and connections. It supports independent museum professionals, strengthens the relationship between independent museum professionals and museums, and advances the museum field. Their listing on LinkedIn indicates that they are not affiliated with any other national organization.

Comments from panellists and attendees:

  • “Be aware of what you share with AI that they can collect and reuse”
  • AI could help smaller companies look bigger than they are.
  • Claude AI platform claims not to use your searches to share with others
  • It would be great if we could help our clients get further faster with AI in an ethical way.
  • AI can sometimes help you increase the resolution on a low-res image.

What I found out during my Content Clarity Call with Chiara

Chiara Brancato, one of the IMP panellists, expressed interest in meeting with me to continue the learning journey from the webinar. I’ve received her permission to share this content widely through this post.

Chiara’s 4 Tips

  • Mangools is an effective, user-friendly SEO tool that helps you optimize your website and blogs with integrated keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, and rank tracking.
  • There is a tool that you can use to test your brand on AI to see how AI is capturing your organization. Perplexity can also give you an idea if AI if your website is visible on AI.
    • To verify if and how AI is capturing your brand or organization, run this quick test: Go to Google’s AI Mode or Perplexity and ask AI, “What do you know about <insert your brand’s name>?” or “What can you tell me about <insert your brand’s name>?”
  • Customer-centred content wins because it’s not about chasing keywords or going viral – it’s about being genuinely useful – more info
  • How SEO is changing in the era of AI – more info
Chiara Brancato is a Certified content strategist, AI writer, and founder of The Museum Creative. Find out more at https://themuseumcreative.com/about

If you need custom marketing support for your brand, Chiara offers 30-minute Content Clarity calls for free. Clients can choose to focus on their priority areas below with each session:

  • Action Plan
  • Content creation
  • Blogs, enewsletters, make it engaging with AI prompts
  • Content repurposing and integration to expand your impact and voice
  • SEO best practices – ie. Instagram posts that are searchable online

Here are my results from testing Chiara’s AI Tips for Museums and Websites

Test of Mangools

Mangools
1. Mangools gives you the option to link your Google Search Console to see what keywords you are already ranking for.
2. After I started to add some keywords to rank for and tried to add more keywords, I got an error message telling me that I was doing too much and that I would have to leave the free version.
Mangools offers a 10-day free trial. I would be curious to know how far other GLAM colleagues progress during this period.
VS Analysis: When comparing the free versions of Mangools and SEMrush, I prefer the Dashboards that SEMrush provides.
Test of Perplexity
Perplexity
1. When I tested our brand’s online presence by comparing Perplexity to Google AI and Microsoft’s Co-Pilot, I discovered that Perplexity reflected the information on my website, client websites and professional resource networks.
2. How was Perplexity different from Google AI or Microsoft’s Co-Pilot at the free level? Here is the answer they gave me:

Distinctive free Perplexity features:
Always-cited answers (verifiable and transparent).
Unlimited regular questions and answers.
A small daily quota of higher-power searches (“Pro searches”)—for testing premium capabilities cost-free.
Basic multimodal search (image/video, with some advanced features restricted to Pro).
Deep Research mode for complex topics with a daily limit, allowing anyone to try full-context research synthesis.

In contrast:
Copilot and Gemini offer broader chat/AI assistance, but their free offerings either lack deep web source citation, restrict model flexibility, and heavily favor integration with their own office/productivity suites in paid plans.

Productivity integration:
Perplexity does not natively integrate with Office or Google Docs, and it’s designed as an “answer engine,” not a workplace productivity tool.
Copilot (free) offers chat and basic search features, but advanced integration (e.g., writing in Word, summarizing emails) requires paid Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
Gemini integrates with Google’s suite at higher tiers.”
3. When I asked Perplexity how I should use Perplexity, it provided the following use cases:

“Quick fact-checking
In-depth topic research
Learning or skill development
Content creation (article ideas, outlines, market research)
Travel planning (itineraries, destination comparisons)
Comparing sources and perspectives quickly and with citations.
While Perplexity is a powerful tool for information discovery, it’s best used as an efficient assistant—not as your sole research source. Always cross-check key findings and consult primary or expert materials for critical decisions.”

And in closing, Content is still Paramount

In her post on LinkedIn, Chiara talks about being surprised when her post was recognized.

When I took a look to see if this was still the case, I found that Chiara’s content was the first listed option beyond the sponsored options.

From Chiara’s Blog

For this insight, we’ve blended information gained from an Industry webinar, another subject matter expert, and tested the ideas by trying to implement them ourselves.

If you enjoyed this content, please consider taking a look at Insights for Creatives and Culture Workers, Digital Content Development and AI On A Social Mission.

If you would like to be featured in this space, please reach out to continue the discussion.