AI is reshaping the digital world, and with it, the way businesses show up online. We’re living one of those adapt-or-die moments, and local businesses—whether you’re a professional or running a brick-and-mortar shop—are no exception.
People now ask AI questions like “dentist near me with great reviews” or “which café is open right now in [area]?” If you want AI to answer those questions with your business, having a pretty website is necessary… but not enough.
It feels unfair, like the bar just keeps rising. But here’s the good news: AI can help—if we think strategically.
From Blogs to Knowledge Bases
Years ago, every time I built a website, I’d recommend adding a blog—if the client was willing to post regularly. Fresh content was catnip for Google and the other search engines, and it helped rank for new keywords without the ugly practice of keyword stuffing.
But today? It’s not enough.
My “Aha!” Moment
About four months ago, I noticed a competing website of one I manage had added a chatbot. So I called Jeffrey—my n8n guy—and said, “Let’s build an AI agent for a chatbot.”
He frowned. Then he smiled.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it. But chatbots are notorious for being dumb and giving out wrong info. If we’re going to do this, we need a lot of context.”
Then he started listing what we’d need: highly organized base docs, layered context storage, a Supabase database, a spreadsheet for structured info… It sounded like a massive job, but it made sense.
My task? Create a highly organized master doc. I did. And the chatbot worked beautifully. In the initial run with randomized 101 questions based on the master doc, we had 90% success, and after tweaking, we got them all right.
The Big Lesson
This opened the door for going deep into chatbots and after some roaming, I found one that I liked: HelpScout. Looking into what they were doing I realized that they asked their clients to create–you guessed it?–no other than a knowledgebase inside their system. So to have the chatbot working, people would have to double the effort, like I did, and create a private knowledge base.
This felt like a waste of resources. And what about the AI search? After going to the sources (ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini) and ask questions, it hit me: a knowledge base isn’t just nice to have anymore—it’s mandatory if you want to be relevant in the era of AI Search. And, as a plus, it will also prepare your site for your local AI agent to actually work.
A knowledge base isn’t the same as a blog or a page. It gives almost raw info—readable, yes, but stripped of fluff. If you want storytelling or long-form content for people to read over coffee, that’s what blog posts are for. But if you want clear, structured information that both people and AI can process easily, that’s what a good knowledge base delivers.
What I Did Next
So, when updating the site (WordPress), the very first thing I did was look for a knowledge base plugin. I tested a couple and ended up with Echo Knowledge Base.
Why?
✅ It works.
✅ The free version has everything you need to get started.
✅ The paid version has the extra design features we love—plus new AI capabilities that I haven’t yet tested.
✅ And maybe most importantly: Dave, the developer, is doing all the right things to make it succeed.
Why This Matters for Every Website
This isn’t about “being fancy.” It’s about future-proofing your online presence.
We’re heading toward a time when every website will have a chatbot or AI assistant—and without a solid knowledge base, that assistant will be dumb.
Google is already shifting to entity-based, context-driven search. AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity are doing the same. The businesses that build structured, interconnected knowledge bases are the ones that AI finds, trusts, and recommends.
If your website doesn’t have a knowledge base, you’re training AI to recommend your competitors instead.