Your website is a digital business card. It collects new leads, improves brand awareness and ultimately increases sales. But its success hinges on the effective integration of search engine optimization (SEO) and artificial intelligence (AI) search-focused content. However, with so many questionable business growth agencies selling “quick” and “guaranteed” search ranking results, the question becomes: what is the best strategy that provides actual results?
The Role of SEO in Website Success
Building a well-rounded SEO strategy requires a multi-faceted approach that covers everything from keyword research to technical optimizations. Each of the following steps enhances your website’s visibility and search engine ranking, making your site more competitive. Let’s break down the core elements of SEO.
Keyword Research
Integrating long-tail keywords (phrases of three or more words) into your content is a powerful way to align with specific user intent. These keywords reflect what users are actually searching. Don’t guess or assume you know what your audience wants; do the proper research with tools such as SEMrush or AnswerThePublic to truly understand what they’re searching for and how they’re phrasing it.
Expert Tip: Don’t just look at how many searches a keyword is getting each month; weigh the intent behind the search, because that’s equally important. Take, for example, the keywords below. On the left are three different keywords. Next, you’ll see the intent behind the search (I = searcher is looking for information; C = they’re investigating brands and services). The next column to the right is for monthly search volume, and the column after that is a number out of 100 to indicate the difficulty to rank for that keyword. You’ll notice that while “print management” is easier to rank for and has high search volume, it’s likely a top-of-the-funnel searcher based on intent. However, “print management software” is more likely to be someone closer to the purchasing phase. This means they have a higher conversion rate, though you’ll have to work a bit harder to rank for it.
On-Page SEO
This is the optimization of individual web pages to increase their search engine rankings, which can include adding keywords, engaging content, unique title tags and enticing meta descriptions. To clearly convey the purpose of each page, you need to use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content and naturally placed keywords to ensure your pages are relevant and easy for search engines to index.
Technical SEO
While great content is essential, technical SEO is fundamental in how search engines crawl and index your website. Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is crucial, especially after Google’s recent mobile-first indexing update. Fast loading is equally important; a slow website leads to high bounce rates and lost opportunities. In fact, as loading speed increases from one to three seconds, you increase bounce rates by 32%. Structured data—code that’s added to a webpage to help search engines understand and display content more efficiently—is also a great strategy to keep your website competitive. It encourages search engines to feature you as rich snippets (see example below) or AI Overviews (we’ll learn more about that in a moment), both of which are prime search result real estate.
Link Building
This key element of SEO focuses on acquiring hyperlinks from highly authoritative websites. These backlinks signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable, increasing your site’s authority. And don’t forget about internal linking between your pages to help clarify hierarchy and guide users to related content, leading to better time on site and reduced bounce rates.
The New SEO
The entire goal of SEO is to get your website at the top of the search engine result page (SERP). And while the topics we just covered are still incredibly important, there is a new consideration that you need to add to your website strategy—optimizing for Search AI. These are the zero-click search results on engines such as Google and Bing that are autogenerated with AI and featured at the top of many searches, also known as AI Overviews.
While Search AI is disrupting website traffic for businesses who optimize only for old-school SEO, there are adjustments you can make to your content that can help it be chosen for these top spots. Let’s dive in.
Content Creation with SEO and Search AI in Mind
To effectively leverage both traditional and AI-focused SEO, creating high-quality content that provides real value to your audience is key. This means you need to go beyond surface-level information and dive deep into topics that resonate with your audience.
Focus on In-Depth, Comprehensive Content
“What are managed print services?” While this blog title may have worked before, it’s definitely not going to get much love from search engines these days. You need to go beyond just answering a single, simple question. Crafting in-depth, comprehensive content that covers your topic thoroughly is the best strategy. Explore related subtopics to offer more value, and support your information with credible sources and expert opinions. This approach not only enriches user experience but also signals to search engines that your content is authoritative. And remember to naturally incorporate those long-tail keywords you so dutifully researched as part of your SEO strategy.
Engaging Meta Descriptions and Titles
Attracting clicks is the whole point of SEO, and engaging meta descriptions and titles play a big role. Your title should be concise, descriptive, relevant and include applicable keywords to signal to users and search engines what your content is about. It’s a tall order for only 50-60 characters, but it can mean the difference between getting a click and not. Similarly, meta descriptions should provide a compelling summary of your content, enticing users to click through. In the example here, the blue, underlined title is the title tag and the sentence under it is the meta description.
Structure On-Page Content with AI in Mind
As we discussed earlier, a clear structure for your content is key. Use headings and subheadings (H1, H2, H3) to break your content into sections that address specific questions or related points. This makes it easier for readers to navigate—a plus for user experience—and helps AI understand the context, boosting the likelihood of a Google AI Overview or Bing Generative Search spot.
Implement Schema Markup
Schema markup, also known as structured data, is crucial for helping Search AI comprehend your content. Use it for elements such as FAQs, how-tos and articles to help AI recognize and extract the most relevant information. Consider implementing video schema as well, especially with video content becoming increasingly popular in AI-generated results.
Include Multimedia Content
Search AI frequently pulls information from various formats, including videos and images. To maximize your chances of being featured, incorporate video tutorials and visual content, especially for complex or step-by-step topics. Be sure the videos and images are properly compressed to keep your website speed from tanking.
Refresh and Update Content Regularly
AI favors content that’s fresh and up to date. Keep your site relevant by regularly updating old content with the latest facts, statistics, news and multimedia. This practice not only keeps your content relevant but also demonstrates authority and trustworthiness.
Optimize for Mobile
With Google prioritizing mobile-friendly content for zero-click searches, optimizing for mobile needs to be a top priority. Increasing your mobile speed, simplifying navigation and enhancing your design (larger text, easy-to-click buttons, etc.) will ensure that your content remains accessible across all devices.
Leverage Local SEO
If your business relies on local traffic, leveraging local SEO is a must. Keep local listings accurate, including your business hours and contact information. Also be sure to optimize and frequently update your Google Business Profile, which often appears in zero-click search results.
The Path to Long-Term Success
The combined use of SEO and content is necessary for a competitive website. Ensuring your content is not only high-quality but also strategically optimized for AI Search can increase visibility, drive quality traffic and effectively engage your audience. Embracing this integrated approach will position your business for long-term success, fostering sustainable growth and ongoing engagement with your target audience.
