SEO in the AI Era
Search Engine Optimization is continuously changing, but certainly not disappearing. The introduction of AI into everyday life is demanding a smarter, more holistic approach to SEO due to how both users and search engines are interpreting content. Use this as a reason to audit your existing content strategy!
Aligning your Content Strategy for AI Overviews + AI Assistants
AI overviews and other summary results on SERPs are increasingly becoming the source of “truth” when it comes to answering questions and finding what you are looking for. AI overviews are appearing in over 13% of search results - up 100% since January of this year! This makes getting your content in these AI overviews and summary results, such as “People Also Ask”, crucial to getting discovered. Beyond the SERPs, people are relying on AI chatbots to find answers without exerting too much effort.
Let’s dive into how to ensure your site is getting in front of the right people.
A long-time SEO basic - ensure your pages are crawlable and indexable and submit your sitemap to Google Search Console AND Bing Webmaster tools. Read more about foundational SEO here.
Familiarize yourself with how your audience is actually searching for your products, services, and expertise. From there, prioritize long-tail and conversational queries/search terms.
Create a content strategy that resonates with your audience and create comprehensive, authoritative content that gives concise answers/information.
Prioritize Long-Tail + Conversational Queries
Long-tail keywords have been important for some time to ensure that you are reaching the right audience, but they are becoming even more important when it comes to getting exposure to your site. Along the same lines as long-tail terms, AI-powered answer tools (that are now popping up everywhere) are drawn to specific, natural language queries (i.e. conversational prompts), so working relevant queries into your content strategy will be beneficial in discovery.
There are many tools available when it comes to generating a list of relevant keywords for your content strategy, but first and foremost, you need to think about how your target audience is actually searching for your products and services. Customer feedback and conversations with your sales team can be a great starting point, but beyond that, utilizing keyword-specific tools to help generate a keyword list is essential. Some tools that we use internally are SEMrush and the chrome plugin Keywords Everywhere. Long-tail keywords will naturally have less search volume tied to them, but if it places you in front of the right customer, that is much more important.
Once you have a working list, it is a good idea to run those searches on Google and/or Bing to see what other content is being populated for those results and whether it is relevant to your business. You can also assess if there is something missing from those results. Now you can categorize the intent behind those searches and plan your content accordingly.
Keyword intents are categorized in the following way:
Informational - The user is looking for answers to a specific question
Commercial - The user is in the comparison stage and looking for additional information to help make a decision
Navigational - The user knows what they are looking for but need help finding it
Transactional - The user is ready to complete a purchase or reach out for your services
With your keywords and keyword intent in hand you, can format your writing accordingly.
Structure Content for AI-Readability + Clarity
Whether you call it updated AI SEO, GEO, or AIO, there are some things to keep in mind when it comes to structuring your content. We always recommend writing your content for your target audience, so luckily structuring your content for AI-readability and clarity also aligns with how people interpret content! We never recommend losing your brand voice just to follow best-practices, but there are ways that you can ensure your message is clear and discoverable.
Some helpful tips that help AI and users easily digest your content:
Include a TL;DR or summary section at the beginning of the content. This helps users understand if they are in the right place and what they will be getting from this resource.
Make sure you have clear headlines (htags) that are utilizing proper hierarchy (i.e. start with h1 and move to h2 and beyond in an organized fashion).
Ensure you are writing at your audience’s reading level. This is not to insult anyone’s intelligence, but online reading levels are generally lower than IRL reading levels. Here is a free tool that can help you assess the reading level of your content.
Make sure your title tags, meta description, and URL are reflective of the content on the page, utilizing target keywords appropriately. And if you are including images, make sure you Alt Text is updated.
Ensure your content has schema markup applied correctly. Many website platforms do this automatically, but you can check your schema here.
Lean into your expertise and make the content comprehensive but be mindful of length. Only make the piece as long as it needs to be so you don’t lose your reader.
Be consistent with your publishing, content is an on-going strategy.
Experiment with different content formats that will deliver your message effectively and utilize structured data appropriately.
Would a video be better than a blog?
Would the message be easier to understand in a Q&A format?
Would a visual help explain the situation?
TL;DR
While AI is continuing to evolve and we are developing a better understanding of how it operates, one thing remains for certain - you should write your content for your target audience and not just deliver content for the sake of it. AI is rewarding websites that keep this in mind and that is certainly something we can get behind. As with any marketing tactic, it is important to measure your performance and assess how your efforts are performing for you. We strive to keep our clients updated on what they can be doing to stay ahead of the curve. If you would like support updating your SEO strategy, feel free to reach out.