With AI tools and chatbots like ChatGPT now becoming the go-to source for quick answers, the traditional SEO game is changing. People are increasingly getting their questions answered directly in the chat or through supplemental results on the search results page. This shift means potential customers have less incentive to click through to your website. So, how do you build and maintain brand awareness (let alone drive revenue) in this new landscape? It all starts with leveraging what humans still deliver better than AI: original ideas.
Before diving into any tactics, it is important to note that you need a strong foundation of original, high-quality, expertise-driven content. ChatGPT is an amazing tool that is changing countless fields right now (especially marketing and sales), but everyone else is using it too, so you now need higher-quality content to stay competitive. AI tools simply won’t produce original content, so it is essential to consistently demonstrate expertise in your industry.
Writing the same stuff as everyone else is a great way to get lost in the noise. AI chatbots are increasingly sourcing information from recognized experts, so it is important to establish your blog as a source of expert content. As AI models move toward licensing content rather than scraping the web, the importance of having high-quality, authoritative blog content will grow. This makes your blog a long-term investment in your visibility in AI search results.
You should aim to maintain a consistent online presence through a well-maintained blog full of original and valuable content. By establishing your blog as a source of expert content, you increase the likelihood that AI chatbots will pull from your blog when answering questions related to your field.
A classic thought leadership tactic, authoring a book related to your field of expertise is a long-term strategy for establishing your brand and authority. Books are frequently cited by AI chatbots, providing another channel for your content to be discovered and establishing you as an expert. A book serves as a cornerstone for your expertise and can be a long-lasting asset that continually reinforces your authority in your field.
Creating a new concept or strategy that gains traction in your industry and owning the primary URL associated with that concept is an effective way to increase your visibility and authority. Unlike social media platforms, where the content you post is owned by the platform, a custom URL ensures that you own and control the content.
Despite AI advancements, search engines like Google will continue to be important, as people will want to make sure they’re getting correct information. AI platforms need to prove their reliability, and there will be a slow adoption because AI platforms will need to prove to users that they’re reliable sources of accurate information. AI tools may answer specific questions, but they probably won’t fully replace the process of searching and navigating to a page. As such, businesses have financial incentives to fact-check and may have different standards for what’s trustworthy online.
You might not feel the rush to start implementing a thought leadership strategy right away, but starting now will put you in a much better position than your competitors in these next few years. To keep tabs on the future of search, try using tools like Microsoft Edge and Bing Search with its ChatGPT-powered AI assistant, Google Bard, and apps like Perplexity.ai. Pay attention to patterns here: How do these platforms decide what content is authoritative? As you create your own expert content, these are the types of citations you’ll be looking to win a share of.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/how-to-stay-visible-as-ai-transforms-seo/
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