An exclusive interview with Brian Winum of MAXBURST Web Design
In an era where artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how users interact with digital content, businesses are scrambling to adapt their online presence for this new reality. I recently sat down with Brian Winum, Digital Marketing Director and partner at MAXBURST Web Design, to discuss his company’s innovative approach to creating AI-friendly websites and the launch of their new ebook, “Building Smarter Websites: The AI-Friendly Website Revolution.“
With over two decades of experience in digital marketing, Winum has developed proprietary frameworks that are helping businesses thrive in an increasingly AI-driven landscape. Our conversation explored the philosophy behind MAXBURST’s approach and offered insights into how forward-thinking organizations can future-proof their digital presence.
Francisco Soto: Brian, congratulations on the launch of your new ebook. What inspired you to create “Building Smarter Websites: The AI-Friendly Website Revolution” at this particular moment?
Brian Winum: Thank you, Francisco. The digital landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation right now, and many businesses are feeling the effects without fully understanding the causes. We’re witnessing a shift where traditional approaches to web design and SEO are no longer sufficient.
The ebook’s inspiration came from conversations with our clients, who noticed that despite having beautiful, well-designed websites, they weren’t achieving the visibility they expected. Their competitors appeared in featured snippets, knowledge panels, or AI-generated answers, while their own content remained buried in traditional results.
We realized there was a need for a strategic guide that helps business leaders understand this new AI-driven landscape without getting bogged down in technical jargon. The book isn’t a how-to manual—it’s a conceptual framework that helps organizations adapt to and capitalize on the AI revolution transforming web design.
Francisco: In the book, you mention that we’re witnessing an “AI-friendly website revolution.” Can you explain what makes a website “AI-friendly” and why it matters?
Brian: Great question. An AI-friendly website is designed to communicate effectively with both human visitors and AI systems. It’s built with a structure and organization that makes it easy for AI to understand, interpret, and appropriately categorize your content.
This matters tremendously because AI increasingly mediates how people find and interact with information online. Search engines like Google are employing sophisticated AI to interpret search intent and deliver answers, not just links. Virtual assistants summarize website content to answer user questions. These AI systems need to understand what your website is about, what expertise you offer, and how to contextualize your content.
If your website isn’t optimized for AI readability, you’re essentially invisible to these systems, regardless of how valuable your content might be to human readers. The stakes are especially high for medium to large businesses with significant resources invested in their digital presence.
Francisco: In your ebook, you introduce two frameworks: IXO and S.T.E.P. Can you walk us through what these are and how they work together?
Brian: Absolutely. IXO stands for Intelligent Experience Optimization, and it’s our holistic framework that integrates three critical pillars: user experience design, technical SEO, and AI optimization.
Traditional web design often treats these as separate considerations. You might have designers focused on aesthetics, developers concerned with functionality, and SEO specialists working on visibility—each operating somewhat independently. IXO brings these elements together, recognizing that they’re deeply interconnected in an AI-driven landscape.
The S.T.E.P. framework—Strategy, Technology, Execution, and Performance—provides the roadmap for implementing IXO principles. It’s a methodical process that ensures every aspect of your digital presence is optimized for both users and AI systems.
During the Strategy phase, we align business goals with user needs through audience intent mapping and competitive analysis. The Technology phase establishes the technical foundation with elements like structured data frameworks and mobile-first design. In the Execution phase, we develop clean code, intuitive designs, and AI-ready features. Finally, the Performance phase focuses on continuous monitoring and refinement as AI capabilities evolve.
These frameworks work together to create websites that look great and are built to perform exceptionally in today’s rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
Francisco: You mentioned structured data as part of your approach. Can you explain why this is so important for AI-friendly websites?
Brian: Structured data is like a translation layer between your website and AI systems. It provides explicit signals about what your content means, not just what it says.
Think about it this way: When a human reads a recipe on your website, they can easily identify the ingredients, cooking time, and nutritional information because they understand the context and can interpret visual cues. AI systems don’t have this inherent understanding—they need structured data to help them recognize that this is a recipe, these are the ingredients, this is the cooking time, and so on.
By implementing structured data, you’re essentially helping AI understand your content in a way that’s similar to human comprehension. This clarity enables AI systems to feature your content in rich snippets, knowledge panels, or direct answers to user queries.
Structured data is particularly powerful because of its role in what we call Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). As AI systems increasingly generate answers directly from website content, having clear, structured information dramatically increases your chances of being included in these AI-generated responses.
Francisco: Your ebook frequently discusses the concept of “future-proofing.” How can businesses ensure their websites remain effective as AI technology continues to evolve?
Brian: Future-proofing isn’t about predicting exactly how AI will evolve—that’s nearly impossible, given the pace of change. Instead, it’s about building flexible foundations that can adapt to emerging technologies.
First, focus on creating a clean, semantic code structure. This means organizing your website in a logical way that clearly communicates the relationships between different pieces of content. When your website has a strong underlying structure, it becomes much easier to adapt to new AI capabilities as they emerge.
Second, prioritize content that demonstrates E-E-A-T principles—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. AI systems are increasingly sophisticated in evaluating content quality, and these signals will only become more important over time.
Third, implement continuous monitoring and refinement. The S.T.E.P. framework emphasizes that optimization isn’t a one-time effort but an ongoing process. By regularly analyzing how AI systems interact with your website and making appropriate adjustments, you can stay ahead of changes in search algorithms and AI capabilities.
Finally, adopt a mindset that views AI not as a threat but as an opportunity to deliver more relevant, personalized experiences to your users. The businesses that will thrive are those that embrace AI as a partner in creating exceptional digital experiences.
Francisco: Let’s talk about real-world applications. Can you share how these principles have benefited a specific type of business?
Brian: Without naming specific clients, I can share a case type that illustrates the impact of our approach. We worked with a professional services firm that was struggling with digital visibility despite having extensive expertise in their industry.
Their original website checked all the traditional boxes—it looked professional, contained valuable information, and followed basic SEO practices. However, it wasn’t structured in a way that clearly signaled their expertise to AI systems.
By implementing our IXO framework, we reorganized their content into clear topic clusters, added structured data that highlighted their professional credentials and case studies, and created a technical foundation that made it easy for AI crawlers to understand their content hierarchy.
The results were dramatic. Within months, they began appearing in featured snippets for high-value industry terms. Their content was being cited in AI-generated answers to relevant queries. Perhaps most importantly, the quality of their leads improved significantly because they were being discovered by prospects with highly specific needs that matched their expertise.
What’s particularly notable is that we didn’t have to sacrifice anything in terms of human user experience. In fact, the improvements we made for AI readability also made the website more intuitive and valuable for human visitors.
Francisco: Your ebook seems primarily aimed at medium to larger businesses. Is AI-friendly web design relevant for smaller organizations as well?
Brian: While our ebook is indeed targeted at medium to larger organizations with established digital presences and significant marketing investments, the principles of AI-friendly web design are relevant for businesses of all sizes.
The difference is in the implementation scale and resources required. For larger organizations, implementing these principles might involve comprehensive redesigns, content restructuring, and sophisticated personalization systems. For smaller businesses, even implementing basic structured data and organizing content logically can yield significant benefits.
The reality is that AI doesn’t discriminate based on company size—it’s looking for the same signals of relevance, authority, and clarity, regardless of whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a local business. The stakes might be higher for larger organizations in terms of competitive pressure and investment levels, but the fundamental principles apply universally.
That said, smaller businesses often have an advantage in terms of agility. They can implement changes more quickly and adapt to new AI capabilities without navigating complex approval processes or legacy systems.
Francisco: What would you say to business leaders who are skeptical about the importance of AI-friendly web design or see it as just another digital marketing trend?
Brian: I understand the skepticism. Our industry certainly isn’t immune to trends that promise revolutionary results but deliver minimal impact. However, the AI transformation of search and digital interaction isn’t speculative—it’s happening right now and accelerating rapidly.
I’d ask skeptical business leaders to consider a few questions: Are you satisfied with your current digital visibility? Are competitors appearing in prominent positions for searches related to your business? Are you reaching the right audience at the right time with your digital content?
If there’s room for improvement in any of these areas, AI-friendly web design isn’t a trend—it’s a strategic necessity. The gap between organizations that embrace this approach and those that don’t will only widen as AI becomes more sophisticated and pervasive.
Remember, we’re not talking about superficial changes or chasing algorithms. We’re talking about fundamental principles of clear communication, structured information, and user-centric design that have always been important but are now essential in an AI-mediated world.
The most compelling evidence I can offer is the results our clients are seeing. When implemented properly, these principles deliver measurable improvements in visibility, engagement, and conversion rates—metrics that directly impact business outcomes.
Francisco: Looking ahead, what developments in AI and web design do you anticipate will have the biggest impact on businesses in the next few years?
Brian: We’re just beginning to see AI’s potential to transform digital experiences. Several developments stand out as particularly significant for businesses.
First, generative search will continue to evolve, with AI increasingly providing direct answers rather than simply linking to websites. This means businesses need to structure their content to be “answer-ready” and be positioned as authoritative sources that AI systems will cite.
Second, personalization will become both more sophisticated and more expected. AI will enable websites to adapt dynamically to individual user needs, preferences, and behaviors. Organizations that can deliver these tailored experiences while respecting privacy will have a significant advantage.
Third, voice and visual search will continue to grow, changing how people find information online. This will place even greater emphasis on structured data and content that’s organized for conversational queries.
Perhaps most importantly, I anticipate that the distinction between “traditional” and “AI-optimized” websites will eventually disappear as AI becomes fully integrated into the digital experience. The principles we discuss in our ebook will simply become standard practice for effective web design.
The organizations that will thrive are those that view AI not as a technical challenge to overcome but as a strategic opportunity to create more meaningful, relevant connections with their audiences.
Francisco: For business leaders inspired by these ideas, what would you recommend as their first steps toward creating more AI-friendly websites?
Brian: Start with understanding rather than implementation. Before making any changes to your website, take time to understand how AI is currently interpreting your digital presence.
Look at how your site appears in search results. Are you showing up in featured snippets or knowledge panels? Are competitors gaining visibility through these enhanced features? This analysis can highlight areas where AI might be struggling to understand your content.
Next, evaluate your content structure. Is information organized logically into clear topics? Is expertise clearly signaled through author credentials, citations, or case studies? Do you have a coherent internal linking structure that shows relationships between content pieces?
From a technical perspective, assess whether your website effectively uses structured data. Are you providing clear signals about what your content means and how it relates to user queries?
Finally, consider bringing in expertise—whether through partners like MAXBURST or by upskilling your internal team. The field is evolving rapidly, and staying current with best practices is essential.
The most important step is simply to start. The gap between AI-optimized and traditional websites is growing, and waiting to adapt only makes the transition more challenging.
Francisco: Thank you for sharing these insights, Brian. Where can our readers learn more about the concepts we’ve discussed today?
Brian: Thank you for the thoughtful questions, Francisco. Readers can learn more about these concepts in our ebook, “Building Smarter Websites: The AI-Friendly Website Revolution,” which provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and implementing AI-friendly web design.
For those interested in a deeper dive into how these principles might apply to their specific business context, our team at MAXBURST is always available for consultations. We’re passionate about helping organizations navigate this transition and create digital experiences that excel in an AI-driven world.
The most important thing is to recognize that this isn’t a distant future consideration—it’s a present reality that’s already shaping digital success. The organizations that adapt now will be best positioned to thrive as AI continues to transform how we find and interact with information online.
Francisco Soto is the Editor of ListrClone, covering the intersection of technology, business, and digital innovation. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
