AI Search Engines Vs. Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO is keyword-based, matching a search query with results that use the exact same words or phrases. It doesn't dig deep into the intent of users and the context of their query. On the other hand, AI search goes beyond words. It tries to understand your intent—what you truly need. It shows you results that don't necessarily match your keywords but have relevancy and similar context. To rank in AI search engine results, you should adopt a mainly conversational tone and optimize for AI Overviews (AIOs), which is undoubtedly one of the top marketing industry trends right now. With traditional SEO, marketers and content writers would usually repeat their high-traffic, high-competition keywords throughout the content, sometimes even when it didn't make sense. AI search engines are looking for far more than this. They are looking to create a logical connection between your text and the user's intent.
That's why AI search optimization is pivotal to add context to your texts. How? We will analyze this a bit later, but let's say that these smart LLMs try to understand the hidden intent behind the words someone uses. That's why you should use synonyms, answer questions directly, and keep your tone friendly.
In This Guide, You Will Find...
- 6 Ways To Rank On AI Search Engines
- How Do AI Overviews Work?
- 8 Tips To Help You Rank For AI Overviews
6 Ways To Rank On AI Search Engines
1. Keep Optimizing
Before you begin your AI optimization journey, you should have a clear understanding of how search engines work. For example, ChatGPT and Perplexity use Bing's indexed results, while AI Overviews, Gemini, and Apple Intelligence use Google's results. All AI tools use both training and internet data to stay informed and updated. Training data refers to third-party and internal data that developers use to train LLMs. Internet data is the information taken from search engines like Google and Bing.
AI search engines use past queries and historical data to derive their answers. That's why companies that have been investing in SEO strategies for years often find themselves on the results. In fact, there is a 73% similarity between Bing search results and ChatGPT responses and a 61% similarity between AI Overviews and Google Search's first page of results. So, how do you begin to invest in SEO AI optimization? Start by ensuring your website is crawlable by search engine crawlers. Page loading speed, well-written content, and backlinks are also pivotal in making sure the user experience is impeccable.
2. Target Conversational Phases
To rank in AI search engine results, you must write the way people talk. For example, someone searching for payroll software won't only use those two words. They will probably say, "the best payroll software for eLearning companies." The more specific and conversational your chosen keywords are, the more easily you'll get indexed and rank high. But we get it. It's not easy writing niche content from start to finish in a conversational tone. That's why the easiest way to target these specific queries is to add FAQ sections at the end of your articles. This is the AI-driven SEO you need to appear in AI Overviews and help search engines understand the intent and context of your content.
3. Create Amazing Content
We're hearing a lot about how AI-generated content in marketing is replacing content writers and costing people their jobs. While this is a sad reality, let's face it. Humans are still needed to create powerful, SEO-optimized content. While AI can provide ideas, it still can't adopt the brand voice and tone you need. Also, AI search engines value content with great readability,which AI tools struggle with. So, let your content magicians do thorough research to identify content gaps and competitive topics that you haven't tapped into yet. Their SEO content writing skills will help them analyze a subject, add semantically similar keywords, connect facts to studies, and proofread the final result.
Yet, keywords are not enough anymore. You need to leverage tools like Ahrefs to identify AIO-triggering keywords that highlight the content's intent. Additionally, you can use Google Autocomplete or People Also Ask to see which questions are common in your subject and incorporate answers into your content.
4. Produce Interactive Content
Besides amazing written content, you should try to create interactive visual material, too. AI search results often feature images, videos, infographics, checklists, and various tools. When it comes to videos, you might have noticed that YouTube is the top-shared platform. In fact, YouTube citations on AI Overviews have increased by 300%, highlighting the importance of creating videos. However, we all know that creating interactive content takes more time, effort, and money than written content.
Many companies don't even have in-house graphic designers and videographers. If you want to include interactive material in your B2B content marketing strategy and publish it on a regular basis, it may be better to hire in-house professionals. If, on the other hand, you want to occasionally create this sort of content, you may outsource specific projects to freelancers or agencies. Or you may ask existing team members if they want to expand their activities and start using easy tools like Canva and ChatGPT's Sora.
5. Get Listed On Third-Party Sites
To rank in AI search engine results, you can't rely solely on your domain's strength. AI-driven search focuses on third-party websites that usually offer reviews, ratings, and people's comments about businesses. Let's say someone is looking to find the best employee onboarding software. AI will most probably extract results from directory submission sites that gather a list of effective software, accompanied by ratings and reviews. Additionally, you may want to reach out to content syndication platforms and publish your content there, too. This way, you increase your SEO visibility. It's important you choose high-DA publications that have already established strong rankings.
If you want to submit your eLearning and HR businesses to a directory, eLearning Industry's PPC directory listings may be exactly what you need.
6. Invest Time In Online Review Management
If you want to improve search engine ranking, you should focus heavily on online reputation management. To do that, you must encourage customer reviews on various platforms, niche and generic. For example, websites like TrustPilot, Glassdoor, Google Business Profile, and Bing Places are often visited by buyers to ensure a company is trustworthy. Additionally, AI search engines crawl these domains to understand the value of a company and its products. They want to promote companies with high authority. That's why you should be active on all review sites you are present on and answer comments, whether positive or negative. It's important to control any bad situation before it gets out of hand and harms your reputation.
How Do AI Overviews Work?
Google has clearly shown a massive love for AI Overviews, with a great percentage of search queries featuring these snippets. This goes to say that search engines are no longer result pages. They answer questions directly and don't require you to click on links. So, to rank in AI search engine results, you shouldn't just tackle competitor keywords. You should try to answer in-demand questions concisely. This way, you can appear at the top of the search results even if your webpage isn't on the first page of organic SERPs.
But why is this so important? Yes, AI Overviews may suffice for some users, but others may need extra information. If so, they will click on your link to read your content in detail. So, even if a competitor of yours ranks first, they may not be featured on AI Overviews. On the contrary, if you invest in AI Search Engine Optimization, you can outpower them even if you are on the second results page.
8 Tips To Help You Rank For AI Overviews
1. Use Long-Tail Keywords
As already mentioned, AI Overviews and AI search engines prefer longer, conversational search phrases. That's why long-tail keywords are more effective in getting you featured—the longer a keyphrase is, the better it describes user intent and provides context regarding your content. You may conduct an SEO competitor analysis to understand what your key competitors do to get featured on AIOs. But don't try to copy their keyphrases. Instead, get inspired by their practices and choose less competitive, high-intent keyphrases that reflect your audience's needs.
2. Leverage Schema Markup
If you're wondering how to optimize search results on the technical side of things, schema markup is your answer. You need it to rank in AI search engine results, as it helps AI understand your content better. What is it, though? There are 6 types, including organization, product snippets, merchant listing, review, article, and local business. Basically, it's a type of code you add that appears on search results as extra information.
For example, if you add review schema markup, your business's reviews appear under your link, showing potential buyers your value. FAQs are also a type of schema, as they allow you to answer questions directly and appear on AIOs. Apart from boosting your AI rankings, schema markup offers better user experience, as people can see whether your content and offers meet their needs.
3. Make On-Page Improvements
AI search results are influenced by various on-page SEO factors. It's exactly like traditional SEO. Maintaining a powerful on-page SEO allows you to rank organically, and AIOs take 52% of their sources from the top 10 Google result spots. So, the first step is to include your main and secondary keywords throughout your text, headings, subheadings, and titles. Your meta description shouldn't only include your chosen keywords but also be engaging and captivating.
But that's not all. Your content should meet the E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines. To do this, create powerful content writer profiles that prove expertise and real-world experience in a niche. However, E-E-A-T isn't cultivated quickly. It takes time to publish top-quality content consistently, where you make in-depth analyses of various subjects.
4. Optimize For Mobile Devices
Around 60% of mobile traffic comes from mobile phones, and in some industries this percentage reaches 90%! That's why Google has officially switched to mobile-first indexing. As a result, an AI SEO strategy should focus on fixing certain mobile-related issues. You may use tools like Google Search Console, Google's Lighthouse, and Bing's testing tool to check how your website performs on mobile view. Or you can hire an online SEO company to do that for you and save you time. Regardless, what these tools do is check your website speed, if the text on your page is readable, if links are touch-friendly, and whether your content fits the page. Responsive design is your solution to ensure your content is showing perfectly on all devices. Also, if your page loads slowly, you may need to compress images.
5. Improve Formatting And Use Simple Language
Simple research shows that most of the websites that rank in AI search engine results and AI Overviews have clearly structured content. Formatting plays a pivotal role in showing AI search engines that your content is fit for snippets. If you need to optimize for this, you should try to include bullet points, numbered lists, and short paragraphs. Instead of presenting a 160-word paragraph, separate it into 2–3 shorter ones. Additionally, add clear headings and subheadings and incorporate charts and images.
6. Acquire Backlinks
Backlink building is a known factor for traditional SEO optimization. Why are they important for AIOs? We have already established that AI Overviews feature content that is credible. A strong backlink profile sends the message that you are a trustworthy source with likely high domain authority. Imagine having relevant backlinks on sources that appear on AI Overviews. You automatically increase your chances of getting referral traffic from these domains. You also boost your audience's trust when they see you featured on high-traffic websites. It's best you focus on quality over quantity and avoid bundle deals at a low price.
You can outsource backlink building and choose experienced niche agencies with proven results. You may also link up with journalists and digital marketing agencies to publish press releases on reputable websites. This way, you generate backlinks that count.
There are many link building services you can choose from, depending on your needs. eLearning Industry can help you create a personalized strategy.
7. Update Your Content
If you check website rankings, you'll see that the top-performing articles are either brand-new or updated older ones. AI search algorithms prefer fresh information that discusses current topics and trends. This doesn't mean that you should necessarily write brand-new articles. You can simply update older content that used to rank highly but has now significantly decreased in popularity. Update old dates, delete irrelevant data and replace it with new statistics, replace broken links, and freshen up the content. Updating old content improves your authority and credibility, showing search engines that you have deep knowledge of your niche.
How often should you update your content? It's best to do it every 9–12 months, though it isn't always the case. For example, in some industries, changes and trends appear all the time. This means that your content may become irrelevant more quickly.
8. Cite Credible Sources
Credibility is key when it comes to optimizing search engine results. It's not only about writing great content and having a solid link-building plan in place. It's also about associating yourself with trustworthy and authoritative sources. Whenever you include data, statistics, and studies, link to the original source to create a clear connection. Google, Bing, and AI search engines love government websites, academic institutions, scientific journals, and industry thought leaders. When you present the information taken from these sources, be specific by mentioning accurate data. AI prefers transparency over vague information.
In addition, the sources you use should be updated and feature recent data. Don't link to old websites, low-quality forums, and social media accounts that feature questionable and potentially outdated content.
Key Takeaway
Zero-click searches are undoubtedly one of the top AI use cases for B2B marketing. It is now evident that without AI SEO optimization, you can't rank in AI search engine results. And while zero-click searches terrify many marketers, they also present a new opportunity. Yes, maybe your CTR will never recover to the pre-AIO era, but you can still improve your numbers significantly. You just need to optimize your content to help AI search engines discover, trust, and promote it. You should start by focusing on the quality, including high-intent long-tail keywords, and capturing your audience's needs. Maintain a clear structure that is easily navigable by AI crawlers. Schema markup helps them read and comprehend your content.
Moreover, concentrate on a few traditional SEO practices like on-page factors, mobile optimization, and formatting. Effective link building strategies and citing trustworthy external sources strengthen your profile further. The result? AI and traditional search engines realize that you are a credible source they can promote to users. Directory and review sites are also pivotal in showcasing your brand's value and the fact that past customers have nice things to say about you.
