AI and AI overviews are changing search. Exactly HOW is still up for debate/being figured out, but the fact that it’s happening is widely accepted. There are also a couple new terms you might see pop up related to AI and SEO: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).
According to one study, AI crawlers now account for nearly 30% of Googlebot traffic, and Google’s new AI Mode suggests that this number is about to rise. Meanwhile, 15 million U.S. users now use generative AI tools for online searches, while nearly half of all U.S. marketers already use AI tools to enhance their SEO efforts.
But it’s not as simple as cranking up ChatGPT and asking it to write a blog post for you. In fact, taking that step might get you stuck in generic content purgatory (aka Google jail). Instead, you need SEO strategies that smartly leverage AI, accounting for the gradual shift from traditional search to generative AI. This guide can help you get started.
Understanding AI Search and Its Role in SEO
The ways in which AI search is “changing the SEO landscape” can actually be quite subtle:
- Traditional search relies heavily on straightforward keywords and phrases. AI search, on the other hand, tries to interpret each query based on natural language patterns to determine user intent
- Traditional search uses fixed rules like Google’s ranking signals to determine rankings. AI can adapt more dynamically, using signals like behavioral patterns and real-time user feedback
- Traditional search shows a list of links based on its search index. In AI mode, the results can include direct answers, AI overviews, and chat-style responses in natural language
- Traditional search requires periodically checking for updates in how a search engine like Google determines its rankings. AI features enable constant evaluation and adjustment of ranking factors
To get there, a search engine using generative AI uses advanced features like machine learning and semantic understanding. The details of that technology are beyond the scope of this guide; we’ll let Google explain how it works.
The key takeaway, though, is simple: when search engines change the way they perform a search index and determine results, traditional SEO strategies are no longer enough. For AI mode, new strategies are necessary to continue succeeding in the SEO game.
Strategy 1: Create AI-Optimized, Revenue-Focused Content
At a time when every search engine seems to have an AI mode, your content needs to be prepared. Content has always been at the heart of SEO; now, it’s about future-proofing that content.
What Does AI-Optimized Content Look Like?
Funnily enough, AI-optimized content does not look like it’s generated by AI. Sure, content creation is now a spectrum where at least some involvement from your favorite AI app can be helpful. But ultimately, content optimized for generative AI queries has to follow a few key parameters:
- It has to cover any topic with semantic depth, meaning it should naturally use related terms, synonyms, and contextual cues
- It needs to be written in a conventional and human-like tone that mirrors how users speak and search
- It must align with user intent, directly answering explicit or implicit questions or solving inferred and explicit problems
- It should be clearly structured, using headers, lists, and short paragraphs to make parsing easier for AI agents and bots (more on that later)
Of course, classic SEO principles still apply here, as well. Accurate and up-to-date, verifiable facts can help, as does avoiding any keyword stuffing or content fluff.
Integrating Revenue-Focused SEO Principles
Beyond the straightforward optimization, SEO strategies also need to keep broader goals in mind. The more you can connect your content strategy to your larger marketing goals, the better. Each piece of content should at least be a stepping stone toward lead generation or customer conversions.
This step is important for your own ROI, but it actually helps with generative AI optimization, as well. That’s because connecting your content directly to your marketing conversion goals helps to further align it with user intent. It forces you to think about each piece in terms of where it might fit in the funnel and user journey, enabling closer intent optimization.
How Verblio Plus Creates Content that Converts: With Verblio Plus, you can craft high-quality, AI-optimized content. The nuances of what that means are taken care of by your Verblio team and the writers, allowing you to focus on connecting the content to your marketing and revenue goals.
Strategy 2: Research AI-Specific Keywords
SEO strategies have always included keyword research. It’s no surprise, then, that those play a central role in optimizing your content for Google’s AI Mode and other AI features. But what those keywords are, and how you can research them, is changing.
How to Effectively Identify Keywords for AI Search
AI is superpowering a trend widely known as Zero Click. The amount of users leaving a search engine results page satisfied without having to click on any link is approaching 30%, in no small part due to a helpful response that simply doesn’t require extra effort. AI overviews are everywhere, and tools like Google AI mode will only drive it up.
In that environment, the way you identify effective keywords has to change, in many of the same ways that your content has to change. Conversational language and long-tail phrases are more important than ever. Semantic variants like synonyms and related terms can help AI models understand context. Intent-based keywords can also help align content with what the user is actually looking for.
Finally, pay special attention to AI overviews in your keyword research. When those boxes pop up in search results, the chances of Zero Click increases drastically. Your goal now becomes providing the most authoritative content possible to land in that top spot and become the de-facto authority on that query.
The Importance of Using AI Features in Keyword Research
The good news: tools are catching up. Rather than having to guess at data related to which keywords will help with AI, plenty of platforms can help you in this new environment. Options like SEMrush, and Ahrefs have begun to integrate AI-related features into their platforms, making them a natural part of your keyword research process.
Old reliable SEO methods still work, too. For example, you can use generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode to simulate relevant searches, and look at the top results. That’s your benchmark to beat.
Leveraging Verblio Plus’s Expertise in Advanced Keyword Strategies: With Verblio Plus, you don’t have to worry about the keyword complications introduced by AI. Instead, let your content partner take care finding the best and most relevant keywords, always using up-to-date information for AI apps and searches.
Strategy 3: Structure Content for AI Consumption
Even the best AI is, at its core, still a machine that ingests data and spits out other data. The easier to digest that data is, the more likely the AI search function will be to reward your content.
That means optimizing your website and content structure for AI search and agents. Search Engine Land suggests a few steps you can take to get started:
- Prioritize speed and simplicity. Some AI agents give up on a website if it takes even two seconds to load
- Avoid JavaScript, structuring your content in plain HTML or markdown instead
- Configure your robots.txt for AI crawlers, ensuring that they don’t automatically get blocked as bots
- Indicate the freshness of your content using both visible dates and meta information
- Keep content on a single page when possible, avoiding “read more” links
- Use a favicon and lead image to help AI search engines display your content visually
Search Engine Land recommends andisearch.com as a simple tool to check whether your content is visible by AI. If you paste the URL into the tool and options like Explain or Summarize appear, you’re in good shape.
Writing Content for Conversational and Semantic Search
With the structure in place, it’s about writing content that feels as natural as possible. Conversational language is key, as is providing clear and trustworthy content that feels original compared to generic, high-level overviews. The more you can blend your own expertise with the type of language your audience would expect when they talk to a human, the better. Being the Best Denver Plumber for Denver Plumbing Emergencies and Denver Plumbing Needs was bad form in the world of traditional SEO and it’s still bad form now.
Some of that effort might include revising your existing content. As an added bonus, this type of refresh can also help search engines look at your website and content with fresh eyes, providing an opportunity to improve your ranking in the process.
How Verblio Plus Ensures AI-Friendly Content Structures: Entire SEO strategies can succeed or fail based on their content. Verblio Plus helps your content creation effort enter the AI age by ensuring that both its structure and substance aligns with modern AI search engines.
Strategy 4: Invest in AI-Powered Content and SEO Tools
You can leverage a wide range of SEO apps and tools with integrated AI features to boost your search rankings. Some of the most common examples are the above-mentioned SEMrush and Ahrefs. Others include:
- Surfer SEO, which can analyze search engine results data to suggest optimizations for content structure, headings, and keyword placement
- Alli AI, which can analyze your website to suggest internal linking opportunities and metadata updates to appeal to AI search engines
- MarketMuse, which audits your existing content to identify topic gaps based on common keywords and generate content briefs to fill those gaps
- Frase, which looks closely at user intent to suggest topics that align with what your users are looking for and what AI search results currently don’t provide
Each of these tools uses AI to analyze data, but also helps you optimize your SEO for the new reality of AI. And that’s just a small sample; you’ll find hundreds of tools purporting to do the same. Finding the right option means taking a close look at their features and performing some research to ensure they hold up with their actual user and customer base.
How Verblio Plus Combines SEO Tools to Provide Data-Driven Results: Worried that the plethora of AI SEO tools available will lead to data overload? Partnering with an option like Verblio Plus ensures that the details are taken care of for you. It’s white-glove content creation, using the right tools on your behalf to make an impact.
Strategy 5: Balance Optimization for Traditional and AI Search
It’s true that AI search is the new reality. But it is also true that traditional search isn’t going away anytime soon. Even more importantly, many of the best practices for AI search don’t reinvent the game, but build on existing best practices.
In other words, your SEO strategies should not change from the ground up. As one expert suggests in a Forbes roundtable, focusing on the fundamentals remains essential:
“Create high-value content, optimize on-page and off-page elements, and consistently deliver value over time. AI can help organize information and refine writing, but lasting SEO success requires sustained, dedicated effort.”
Content still has to be high-quality. A well-structured, fast-loading page has always mattered, as has user experience. Think of the AI advancements in your SEO strategies as a natural extension of the strategies you were already implementing. That’s how you can ensure that your content is optimized for every query, AI or otherwise.
How Verblio Plus Delivers Consistency Across Search Platforms: One of our favorite parts about Verblio Plus is that it isn’t just customized for one search engine. The strategies we’ll implement for you are designed for every type of SEO, helping you stay relevant and competitive as times change.
Strategy 6: Prioritize User Intent in Content Creation
One of the most distinguishing factors of AI is that it analyzes every single query for user intent. Even when that intent isn’t obvious, it tries to understand why a user might be searching for specific results, and delivers results accordingly. Because it draws on behavioral patterns and implicit meaning, it’s often better at decoding that intent than traditional search engines might be.
That’s why optimizing your content for user intent is absolutely vital. Every piece should have a purpose, and every purpose should lead directly back to your user goals. It’s also another example why basic marketing best practices remain beneficial:
- Build buyer personas that use data to highlight the goals and motivations of your audience in your market niche
- Focus your keyword research on queries that specifically outline intent you might be able to address with your content, like “how to” or “tools that”
- Perform a content audit to gather data on which of your content already addresses specific types of intent, and where your gaps may be
- Don’t hide the answers to questions related to that intent. Instead, provide the answer right away, then focus the rest of the content on going deeper
- Build content clusters around specific topics that provide different nuances and increased depth compared to a single blog post or whitepaper
Always test your content with data, too. Your content goal should be directly related to the intent you’re trying to address. That makes it easier to define and track its success, or make adjustments if necessary.
How Verblio Plus Approaches User-Focused Content Marketing: Verblio was a content marketing partner before we ventured into the SEO strategy realm. Even as we’ve gotten more full-service and technical, we’ve kept the content basics in mind. That allows us to continue prioritizing great content that delivers what users are looking for, even if they’re not explicit about it.
Strategy 7: Continuously Monitor and Adapt for AI Innovations
The rapid rise of AI shows just how quickly the game can change. Meanwhile, one of the core functions of AI algorithms is machine learning, using data to continually learn and improve. What worked to respond to a query yesterday may not work anymore today.
The response for content marketers is simple: never treat SEO as a finished project. Instead, strive to evolve and improve, using an iterative approach to stay updated. Small, continuous changes will be much more effective than a single major SEO project with an end date.
Of course, it helps to follow the right sources for those updates. Industry resource websites like Search Engine Land can help, but look directly to Google and other search engines as well. Their blog posts, change logs, and system updates can tell you a lot about what’s coming next.
How Partnering with Verblio Plus Can Build Scalable, AI-Optimized Content: One of the biggest advantages of Verblio Plus is our end-to-end partnership. From goal discovery to performance monitoring, we’ll stick with you to make sure your content remains valuable and effective over time.
Putting It All Together: Smarter SEO for an AI-First Future
AI has gradually become a core part of search engine optimization. Instead of toppling the status quo, it has enhanced it in many ways. That means adjusting your SEO strategies to ensure success in landing at the top of the results for any relevant query.
The strategies outlined in this guide can help you get started. But we know the scope of the task may still feel overwhelming, or you might just lack the resources to implement them. That’s where Verblio comes in.
Most SEO tools will help you with a distinct part of the puzzle. SEO agencies, on the other hand, charge an arm and a leg. Verblio Plus is the perfect balance to both approaches, leveraging our internal expertise and network of writers to help you achieve impact from your SEO and content marketing efforts. Learn more on our website, then dive into the new reality of AI-driven SEO fully prepared.
Checklist for Optimizing Content for AI Search
- Write for user intent
- Use natural, human language
- Include semantic depth: synonyms, related topics, etc.
- Structure content clearly with simple HTML, not JavaScript
- Target long-tail, conversational keywords
- Analyze AI-generated results
- Format for readability and fast parsing
- Leverage AI-powered SEO tools
- Balance AI and traditional SEO
- Build topic clusters
- Monitor AI search trends
- Iterate with real-time data
- Sign up for Verblio Plus (optional but helpful)
BONUS: The Future of AI and Content Marketing
AI is changing how online users search for content, but it’s also shaping the type of content they expect to find. That, in turn, will likely inform the next generation of generative AI. In that future, lists of links would give way to rich, synthesized and summarized responses from multiple sources.
If that happens, becoming the authority on a given topic matters more than ever. Frequent updates and content clusters, along with strategic backlink building from credible sources, can all make an impact. Ironically, pushing further into AI-driven search means generic content built by AI tools will become less relevant or effective. AI content will need to be AI-friendly, but not AI-created.
Source link
