Creating Content for Humans and Signals for AI

Search is undergoing a significant shift. AI-powered tools and features, like Google's AI Overviews, are changing how we search and how search engines deliver results. 

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably noticed your website clicks going down. You might be thinking that your audience isn't searching for your business anymore, but the truth is, they're just not looking exclusively on page one of Google anymore. Instead of clicking on a link to your site, they're getting the information they need from an AI-generated summary. This is why visibility is the new traffic, and omnichannel marketing helps get you there.

In this new reality, your content has to serve two masters: it must be compelling and engaging for humans, and it must be highly structured and trustworthy for AI models.

This dual purpose is at the heart of what we call GEO, or generative engine optimization. With GEO, the goal is to make you the cited source in AI search summaries, like Google’s AI Overviews. GEO aims to have AI cite your content directly within its summarized conversational response to a user’s query. 

SEO content marketing has always been about creating great content that search engines and people love, but with AI models, the game has changed.

Content needs to tell a compelling story, capture attention, and build trust with your human audience. But it also needs to be a structured dataset for AI models to understand its relevance, context, and credibility. 

Think of it like a movie. The movie itself is for the audience, but the script, the transcript, and the metadata are for the AI. For a search engine's AI to fully grasp the nuances of a video, for example, it needs a transcript. Without it, the AI can only infer meaning from the title, description, and other limited signals. This is why SEO has become so complex.

Understanding SEO Content Marketing and its Role in the Age of AI

You may have a good understanding of SEO, but in the world of GEO and LLMO, it's a good idea to go back to the basics and understand how we've arrived where we are.

What is SEO Content Marketing?

SEO content marketing is the strategic creation and optimization of content designed to attract organic (non-paid) traffic from search engines like Google. It blends the principles of content marketing (creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience) with SEO best practices (optimizing that content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs)).

The goal is to reach your target audience organically through channels they already use, at various stages of their customer journey. This involves keyword research, on-page optimization (title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, etc.), and off-page optimization (link building). Simply put, it's about creating great content that search engines and people love.

Key Differences & Relationships:

While often used interchangeably, SEO and content marketing are distinct yet interconnected: content marketing focuses on creating high-quality content, while SEO focuses on optimizing that content for search engines. SEO is the compass guiding content marketing toward value creation and discoverability. SEO content writing is a subset that specifically focuses on crafting content optimized for search.

Getting Started:

Understanding basic SEO is crucial. Resources like Google's SEO Starter Guide offer a foundational understanding of search engine optimization essentials. Effective SEO content marketing also involves keyword research to identify relevant search terms your target audience is using. Understanding the different types of SEO content (blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.) and tailoring your content strategy accordingly is essential.

If you're ready to get started, apply for a FREE visibility audit from Moonello and we can help! Link to apply is at the bottom of this article.

Examples & Strategies:

Successful SEO content marketing requires a well-defined strategy that considers various content formats. Creating high-quality, relevant content addressing user needs is paramount. Examples of good SEO content include blog posts answering frequently asked questions, detailed guides addressing specific pain points, and engaging videos that provide valuable information. A robust content marketing and SEO strategy is crucial for organic online growth.

SEO vs. GEO: A Shifting Landscape

Traditional SEO and GEO are not mutually exclusive; they're two sides of the same coin. GEO builds on the fundamentals of SEO by specifically addressing the needs of AI. While SEO content marketing focused on getting a click, GEO is about getting a citation. An AI-powered search result will cite your website, acting as a powerful signal of your authority and expertise, even if the user never clicks on your link. This is how you stay visible when AI overviews take center stage.

In this context, the difference between GEO vs SEO becomes clear. SEO is a broad strategy for search, while GEO is a specialized approach for generative AI. Your content must be compelling for humans but also highly structured for AI models. This is where your SEO team's expertise is put to the test.

Crafting Content for the Age of AI and Omnichannel Visibility

So, how do you create content that speaks to both humans and AI? You need a content strategy that’s laser-focused on omnichannel visibility; your content needs to be everywhere your audience is, from traditional search results to social media, from video platforms to email inboxes.

Answering Key Questions in a Natural Way

To create content that resonates with both human and AI audiences, you need to provide clear, concise answers to the questions your audience is asking. 

For example, if you were writing an article on SEO content marketing, here are some common questions and topics that your content should address:

• What is SEO in content marketing? SEO in content marketing is the process of creating content that's designed to rank in search engines and provide value to your audience. This involves researching keywords, structuring your content with headings, and building a network of internal and external links.

• What are the 4 types of SEO? The four main types of SEO are technical, on-page, off-page, and local SEO. Technical SEO ensures your site is crawlable and indexable. On-page SEO optimizes the content on your pages. Off-page SEO focuses on building authority through backlinks, and local SEO helps you rank for local search queries.

• What is an example of good SEO content? An example of good SEO content is a detailed guide that answers a specific user question thoroughly and accurately. It should be well-written, easy to read, and optimized with relevant keywords and headings. This kind of content not only provides value but also serves as a strong signal to search engines.

• What are the 3 C's of SEO? While not a universal rule, the 3 C's of SEO often refer to Content, Credibility, and Clarity. High-quality content is a must, credibility is built through backlinks and expertise, and clarity ensures both users and search engines can easily understand your message.

Moonello's Expertise in Crafting Dual-Purpose Content

At Moonello, we have a deep understanding of the intricacies of modern search engines. So much so that we've also built a SERP analysis tool, SERPrecon, that uses the same methods as search engines to understand content. While other tools only use lexical models (words on a page, keyword density, etc.), SERPrecon uses semantic metrics (vectors) to understand context and meaning. This expertise, combined with the use of SERPrecon, allows us to craft content that ranks for traditional keywords and gets cited in AI overviews.

Here's how we help you dominate the search landscape:

• We extract competitor keywords: We use a BERT-based natural language processing algorithm and entities to uncover key topics you might be missing. This helps us ensure your content is as comprehensive as possible.

• We provide instant feedback: We can edit your copy and show you how lexical and semantic relevance scores change. This allows us to optimize your content before it ever goes live.

• We compare search results over time: We automatically archive and compare search results to see who moved up or down and what metrics correlated to those changes. This gives us a deep understanding of what's working in your industry.

• We understand how users search: We move beyond simple keywords and look at entities, related searches, and questions people ask. This allows us to create content that addresses the full scope of a user's query, which is crucial for being cited by AI.

Moonello's expertise lies in bridging the gap between compelling storytelling and technical optimization. We believe that your content should serve both of these purposes, and we have the tools and the experience to make it happen. We help you use AI for SEO to your advantage.

The world of SEO is changing, and traditional metrics like website clicks are becoming less reliable, but the fundamentals of good content remain the same. You need to create valuable, high-quality content that addresses user needs based on the intent behind their search. The only difference is that now, you also need to make sure that content is structured in a way that AI models can understand.

Ready to Master Omnichannel Visibility?

Your success hinges on being visible everywhere your audience is, and that means going beyond the traditional page-one ranking. It's about getting cited by AI, showing up in videos, and engaging with your audience on social media. 

Your clicks have gone down due to AI overviews, but the number of people searching for your business hasn't changed. We just have more channels we need to reach them on. 

Moonello can help you navigate this complex landscape. We'll work with you to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that ensures your content is not only seen by humans but also understood and cited by AI.

To learn more about how we can help you with your SEO content marketing and omnichannel visibility, contact us today.