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Navigating through AI overviews while optimising your website

Explore how AI-driven insights can enhance your website's SEO strategy, improving performance and user experience. Discover best practices for leveraging AI in website navigation.

By Sakshi
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AI Overview
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The introduction of AI overviews has triggered immediate, significant changes in SEO and digital marketing. Some of the key effects include:

  • Decreased website traffic across many sites.
  • A surge in AI-generated content as content teams scrambled to respond quickly.
  • Google's crackdown on low-quality AI-generated material.
  • Accuracy issues leading to a temporary rollback of Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE).

These developments highlight the urgency to adapt our SEO strategies. Content teams need to rethink how they approach search engine visibility and optimize their content to remain competitive in this evolving AI-driven landscape.

1. Human-generated content is King

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In the AI-driven SEO world, "human-generated content" is more essential than ever. After Google’s March 2024 update, the focus has shifted from sheer volume to content that showcases authenticity, expertise, and the genuine voice of the creator basically following E-E-A-T principles.

Why Human-Generated Content Matters:

  • Authenticity & Engagement: Users and search engines alike prioritize content written by humans with expertise in the subject. The authenticity of the writer’s voice, the engagement factor, and the value provided by the content are key in building trust and authority.

  • Avoid Overreliance on AI: Google is actively delisting low-quality, AI-generated content. Thus, while AI can assist in researching and structuring ideas, final content must be human-crafted for maximum impact and credibility.

2. New Growth Model: From Funnels to Cylinders

The traditional marketing funnel, focused on driving traffic, is no longer enough. It's time to transition from a funnel approach to a Growth Cylinder—a model that emphasizes consistent lead quality and minimizes leakage throughout the reader journey.

Shifting from Traffic Metrics to Revenue-Driven KPIs:

  • Old Model: Marketers typically track website traffic as a leading indicator of success. However, this metric obscures quality from quantity.
  • New Model: Success is now defined by high-quality loyal readers and user retention. It’s crucial to track metrics like reader logins, time spent on your website, and customer engagement—metrics that have a direct impact on your analytics.

Visualizing the Growth Cylinder:

Imagine a system where ideal customers enter the cylinder and move smoothly toward conversion with minimal drop-offs. By focusing on reducing "leakage," content teams can ensure consistent quality throughout the reader's journey, making session time just as important as the initial first visit by a reader.

3. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): Building Content for AI Overviews

The rise of AI overviews has led to the emergence of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)—the practice of optimising content specifically for generative AI search engines. The key is understanding how these systems work and ensuring your content aligns with their signals and criteria.

Reverse Engineering AI Interpretations:

  • Testing with AI Tools: Upload your content to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Llama to simulate how AI parses and understands your content. Use this insight to refine your content so that it aligns with the themes and search queries your audience is likely to use.

  • Content optimisation: Focus on creating high-quality, user-focused content. Avoid relying on AI-generated material, as Google actively penalizes low-quality programmatic content. Instead, use AI tools for keyword research and competitor analysis to stay ahead.

Action Plan:

  • Track Content Quality Signals: AI now considers metrics like click-through rates (CTR), time on page, and content authority when ranking pages. These factors will shape your website’s visibility in AI-generated search results, so optimizing these areas is critical.

4. Attention to Detail: Finer optimisations for AI Overviews

As generative AI models like SGE evolve, attention to the technical aspects of your website is crucial. Sites that offer fast loading times, clean code, and high-quality content will rank better in AI-generated search results.

Key optimisations:

  • Site Speed: AI overviews penalize sites with slow load times or technical issues like 404 errors. Ensuring your site is optimized for speed will help it appear in AI-driven search indexes.

  • Structured Data & HTML Markup: Use HTML markup and structured data that is easily interpretable by AI to ensure your content is indexed and displayed accurately in search results.

5. Diversifying Content Distribution Channels: Be Present Where Your Audience Is

AI-driven search engines like Perplexity and Co-Pilot are starting to rival traditional search platforms like Google. Diversifying your marketing efforts across multiple channels increases the chances that your content will show up in AI-generated search results.

Alternative Search Platforms:

  • YouTube, Spotify, and Reddit have massive monthly active users (MAUs) and are increasingly becoming important platforms for search. Posting unique, authoritative content on these channels can help increase your visibility across multiple AI models.

  • Emerging Platforms: New AI engines like Perplexity and Co-Pilot are reducing Google’s search traffic and ad revenue. Creating content for these platforms will position you as a leader in their search ecosystems as they grow.

Action Steps:

  • Regularity & Authority: Frequently post across various platforms and make your presence known in niche spaces like Quora, Reddit, and Substack. Regular posting increases your authority on the topic, making it more likely for AI search models to cite your content in their results.

6. Seeding Content Where AI Scrapes Data

In the era of AI, it’s important to “seed” your content in places where AI engines like ChatGPT and OpenAI scrape for data. While this may feel like "content theft," it’s simply part of the AI ecosystem. Your goal should be to ensure your content is featured where these systems pull information from.

Key Places to Seed Your Content:

  • Reddit & Quora: As these platforms form partnerships with AI providers, ensure your content is present in these spaces so it can be used in AI-generated answers.

  • Industry-Specific Platforms: For niche content, consider platforms like Stack Overflow (tech-related) or TripAdvisor (travel). These platforms will likely be integrated into future AI training models.

7. Understanding Fragmented Search Across Platforms

Search has evolved beyond Google—it now happens across multiple platforms, including social media and content platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and Quora. Search folks must adapt to this fragmented landscape by creating content that appeals to audiences across these platforms.

Engaging LLMs in Diverse Channels:

  • Meta Properties & WhatsApp: Search queries are increasingly being made across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Ensure that your content is discoverable on these platforms through well-structured, engaging posts.

  • Influencing LLMs: The large language models (LLMs) powering AI search engines are heavily reliant on the vast content pools they scrape from. You can influence the results by contributing consistently across these platforms and providing high-quality, unique content.

In conclusion, the rapid rise of AI-driven search engines has transformed the digital marketing landscape, necessitating a shift in SEO strategies. Human-generated content is now essential, as Google places greater importance on authenticity and expertise over AI-generated material. The traditional funnel model has evolved into a "Growth Cylinder," focusing on high-quality users. Marketers must also adapt to new optimisation practices like Generative Engine optimisation (GEO) and use diverse platforms where AI collects data. Businesses can thrive in this AI-centric search ecosystem by distributing content across these emerging platforms and prioritising high-quality, user-focused content.