SEO In the Age of AI

Everyone is rightfully concerned about how AI (artificial intelligence) is encroaching on search results, including people who have been doing SEO for decades. The reason for the concern is that more and more people are stopping their research after being satisfied with the “answer” given by the AI explanation at the top of most search engines.

 

To put it more simply, clicks are vanishing for a lot of people. AI is reducing the number of visits and clicks on the actual websites that are responsible for the content that AI is regurgitating.

 

You see, Google AI has the ability to scrape and “read” all content across the entire internet, and it makes algorithmic assumptions about what the words it “reads” actually mean, and how important these words are to searchers based on LLMs. (Yep. Just when you got used to the acronym SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, bam, there is a new one to remember. LLMs stands for Large Language Models. Good times.)

 

Word of thumb, unconfirmed—just as all SEO rules have always been unconfirmed—is that if you currently appear in the top 10 of the SERPs (search engine results page) for a search query, you have a 25% chance of appearing in the Google AI overview.

 

Unfortunately, AI also “hallucinates,” delivering false answers. (Some might call it “lying” or at the very least, “misunderstanding.”) It doesn’t understand jokes or puns, and often takes them literally, incorporating ridiculous things into what should be serious answers. Just something to be aware of.

 

The Olden Days of SEO

 

Back in the olden, olden days of keyword stuffing and other “black hat” techniques of the OG mid-1990s, you could submit your sitemap manually to different search engines for indexing multiple times a day. Things changed over the years.

 

On-page or onsite SEO came next (still important according to Google executives), and from there SEO firms focused on building backlinks to help increase domain and page authority, using anchor text links when possible. Next came featured snippets and structured data, which are still important.

 

Now there’s geotargeting, “geo” referring to geographic location. This is great if you are local with a commercial street address, or you have multiple commercial locations with street addresses so you can tie in your website tightly with Google maps and Google local business results. There’s also geofencing, allowing software to trigger sending an ad if a mobile user enters your selected geographic area.

 

If you work with people all over the U.S. via Zoom, “geo” might not be right for you. But in a confusing turn, GEO is important for everyone. Another important acronym in the age of AI, GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. GEO prioritizes structured data, natural language optimization, and direct answer formatting.

 

While traditional SEO focuses on keywords and backlinks, GEO targets featured snippets and voice search results. SEO primarily targets human users, while GEO targets AI algorithms. Traditional SEO relies heavily on keywords and backlinks. GEO emphasizes content quality, clarity, and the ability to be easily interpreted by AI.

 

What Business Owners Say They Want

 

Business owners often say they want increased “visibility” on ChatGPT and other AI platforms. This despite the fact that it generally won’t get them increases in traffic or generate new clicks or website conversions or leads. Again, right now, AI is not driving traffic to websites for the most part.

 

Remember, AI “reads” content and words that are already out there, it “scrapes” all words that are published on the internet. Do you have a blog post that answers why you are the “best financial advisor” so that ChatGPT can refer to your firm as the answer to that question? Probably not, for a couple of reasons. It’s not compliant, for one. And it is difficult to work conversational dialogue around that query, and quantify “best” with authoritative, relevant sources, since best is both promissory and subjective. Add “near me” to the keyword phrase and there’s a whole new level of difficulty.

 

You see the problem. Nevertheless, it’s always best to remember that lots of great authoritative, clear, and explanatory content is still very important in terms of what AI “thinks” about you, who you are, and what you do. Have you explained this thoroughly on your website?

 

Quantum has purchased a beta version of an SEO platform that has begun to track brands’ presence on AI search, track queries, and measure brand sentiment. We will let you know how this actually works as we test it. In the meantime, what we can help you with right now in terms of SEO is multifold.

 

How We Can Help – The Words Have to Be There

 

1) We will structure your website so that you have the best possible chance of ranking for your name and your firm’s name when your clients and prospects go searching for you, which they do. They expect you to be there.

 

2) We will continue to post new content on your website once a month, building internal links to core and evergreen pages, and adding keywords and long-tail queries to your site. And remember, if you like to write, original content is a best practice! We can help you edit, select a graphic or photo, and post and share your article.

 

3) We will continue to share links back to your website on your social media channels, helping Google and other search engines and AI “see” additional, traditional ranking and authority signals.

 

4) We will start to embrace more conversational queries and answers focused on topics and questions people are asking. We will continue to use reputable sources and references to validate data and improve authority on content.

 

5) We will help optimize multimedia metadata for LLMs, including image alt tags and video transcripts.

 

 

The future is here, and we will help you embrace it. Call your Quantum consultant at 800.440.1088 to learn more.

 

 

Additional reading:

https://searchengineland.com/geo-replace-seo-460397

https://searchengineland.com/seo-geo-generative-ai-future-search-engine-land-live-460481