(This post by friend of the agency Reggie Johnson was originally published on LinkedIn.)
I have a theory about getting AI tools to accurately reflect your brand in a not-so-hypothetical world where people get their search queries answered by AI chatbots and AI-infused search engines.
This is especially relevant for smaller businesses and organizations.
But first...
When you wanted to search the internet for information, you used to have one option: Search in a traditional search engine like Netscape, AltaVista, Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
But times are changing and more and more people are using AI chatbots or AI-infused search engines to answer their queries more quickly. Many people want answers. Not waves of websites to surf on!
SEO used to be the process of getting your web page to show as high as possible on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). If your title and meta description looked relevant and interesting, people would click.
Then came a whole host of features to the Google SERPs such as featured snippets, top stories, images and videos, FAQs, the Local Pack, events, and more. These rich results brought answers to users more quickly than traditional web-surfing. Some of them led to click-throughs. Others didn't.
Then came AI.
So-called "generative search" uses content from websites to answer the user's query right on the SERP without the user needing to click through to the source website. AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are even further removed from sending users through to your site.
A Google study showed that 26% of desktop and 17% of mobile queries on their search engine are "zero-click" searches, meaning there is no click through to a website. (1)
There goes your SEO, right?
Truthfully, it might not be as bad as it sounds. While zero-click SERPs are increasing, the absolute number of searches that result in a website click continues to rise year-over-year. Some suggest that what we're witnessing presently in zero-click searches is actually search refinement rather than click theft.
And Google isn't surrendering market share to AI chatbots yet. It's still holding steady at approximately 92% of the global market for search — the same as one year ago. (2)
Nonetheless, there's restlessness in the SEO industry. It's clear that AI is changing search behavior, and we can anticipate more changes as tools like Perplexity use AI to turn web search into a speedy game of Q&A rather than a surfing expedition.
Meanwhile optimizers are trying to figure out how to game the AI tools so that their brand will be recommended and accurately represented in response to relevant queries.
With a shift in perspective, you can future-proof your SEO without having to worry about every new search tool or core update.
I'm going to tell you why you don't need to try to game anything. With a shift in perspective, you can future-proof your brand's SEO without having an anxiety attack over every new search tool or core update.
I’m fond of pointing out that your website is the cornerstone of your digital presence, but the narrative of your brand is shaped by many different touch points across the digital landscape.
And all of these touch points are accessible to the latest LLMs and AI tools.
From a brand perspective, this comes down to ensuring you are building trust and reputation across your entire digital footprint.
From a brand perspective, this comes down to ensuring you are building trust and reputation across your entire digital footprint. That’s something you’re probably already doing for humans anyway.
At least you should be, right?
What are some ways you can improve the impact of your digital footprint in the current environment?
Note that these are mostly the same steps you would take in creating a consistent narrative about your brand for humans.
Yes, none of it is terribly new or innovative for AI.
That's the point.
AI tools look for the general consensus across their available data. It’s based on probability predictions. By being consistent and strategic about the content in your touch points, you can reinforce the most important details about your brand... just as you would for humans.
By being consistent and strategic about the content in your touch points, you can reinforce the most important details.
And remember that AI tools are trying to create the best experience for human users. When you focus on doing the same by building trust and managing your online reputation for humans, you are more likely to find success in the way your brand is represented in relevant queries made in AI tools and generative search.
Shelley Walsh, SEO Content Strategist at Search Engine Journal and ShellShock, says that we need to stick to the never-changing fundamentals during this time of upheaval:
“One of the foundations of good marketing is to put the user first.”
She adds, “Tools are tools and should be treated as such. They can never replace applied knowledge, experience and expertise. When everything is changing, hold on to what is timeless”. (7)
Tips and ideas from industry resources and SEO experts echo many of the same key points as this strategy. They emphasize focusing on providing value to the user instead of the engine, utilizing structured data, making use of multimedia, and thinking in terms of touch points across the online realm rather than simple, traceable buyer journeys. (8)
SEO guru Neil Patel did a study on SEO for AI (9), identifying six factors that can help with getting your brand recommended in AI chats:
What I find interesting is how similar these factors are to current best practices for standard SEO and optimizing your overall digital presence.
These six factors are all indicators of a brand that has built trust and reputation across the digital landscape. They're some of the same concepts emphasized in the list above.
Furthermore, Patel reassures us that AI is not going to kill search. While it's a new way of searching — just like voice search through Alexa and Siri was new a few years back — it's still just another tool and search engine optimizers will continue to be critical to brands' online success. (10)
"Tools are tools and should be treated as such. They can never replace applied knowledge, experience and expertise."
While it’s not all doom and gloom for SEOs, it’s not all roses either.
Many content marketers are seeing AI-infused search engines and chatbots effectively chopping off the top of their funnel and taking it for themselves. The AI's grab the content from your website and serve it to users on a zero-click SERP or in a chat tool without you being able to give the user an opportunity to move further down your funnel.
When a user clicks on your website to look at your top-of-funnel (TOFU) content, you have the chance to provide a call-to-action that leads them to take the next step. But if they get what they need from your content right on the SERP or in the chat without clicking on your page, you lose that opportunity, right?
So what do you do?
The answers to these and other questions about the impact of zero-click SERPs on content marketing are still in flux. And they're also a bit beyond the scope of this article.
But still, it’s important to acknowledge this "Chopped TOFU" Effect, be aware of how your content marketing may be impacted, and note that It’s probably going to require some rethinking of search intent and brand alignment of your content at some point.
I'd love to hear your plans and ideas in the comments!
The more you intentionally shape your overall digital footprint to communicate a consistent narrative about your brand while building trust and reputation across your online touch points, the more AI tools will accurately represent and emphasize your brand, your key differentiators and your value propositions.
Keep in mind that this is a long-term strategy to benefit your brand in search for years to come — no matter what the next search tools and interfaces may be.
Good luck!
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Reggie Johnson is digital media and content manager and website manager at Fort Worth Country Day.