Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most critical parts of running a successful website and/or business, and the search algorithms that they cater to keep changing. For the sake of user experience (UX), the majority of these changes have been put in place so that every query leads to the most relevant and accurate results.
Most search engines, such as Google and Bing, use AI-powered overviews that read and then summarize content they have pulled from the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The goal of these AI overviews is generally to give you a precise answer to whatever query you entered or to give a summary of the most relevant information related to the keywords or phrases you entered.
Read on to learn all about how these AI overviews are changing how we think about search optimization and how you can adapt your own SEO strategies to the current algorithms.
How Are Search Algorithms Affected by AI?
Zero Click Searches concept with businessmen using AI and virtual screens to optimize GEO, SEO, and AI Overviews. Represents the future of search engines, instant results, and knowledge panel technology, by chiew
SEO strategies used to be based on keywords, link building, and basic technical factors like site performance optimization because those were also the greatest factors linked to traditional search algorithms. However, AI-powered search engines now work a bit differently, and current SEO strategies must be tailored so that content can be easily digested and summarized by AI software.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the process of optimizing content specifically so that it can be read and summarized by AI-powered search engines. These search tools use Large Language Models (LLMs) to find specific information related to the search terms and turn that info into clear, succinct answers.
Another really unique feature of these AI overviews is that they result in zero-click searches. Rather than click on one of the highest-ranking articles to find a more thorough answer, users can look at the overview and see either their answer bolded there or get enough information that they don’t want to search any further. GEO is all about recognizing how artificial intelligence comes up with these summaries and building out or rewriting content that aligns with these emerging technologies.
Ways To Optimize Your Content for AI Overviews
Brand Authority
Brand authority is an essential part of GEO because AI-powered search engines are only looking for content that comes from reputable sources. Whenever you are writing or rewriting content, make sure that you include things like citations or backlinks to demonstrate your research. Partnering with respected companies within your specific market will also help increase your brand authority for both humans and AI-powered software.
Schema
Schema refers to how data is organized, and reworking how your content organization goes a long way with AI-generated overviews. All content that you have on your site could be so clean and well-structured that machines can break it down into explicit chunks. For example, a sentence that directly answers a question-based heading can be easily read by both humans and machines. FAQs, reviews, availability, and other kinds of structured data are also helpful to include when you want AI search tools to digest your content.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is still important for AI overviews, so it’s good to clean up title tags and metadata so that these systems can work cleaner. Your content layouts should load quickly and efficiently for the ease of your human visitors, but these pages also need to be very crawlable by machine readers. They should also be mobile-friendly, given how the massive usage of mobile devices to search. A faster loading speed, as well as other technical boosts, will signal to the artificial intelligence behind the search engine that your site and content are trustworthy.
Also, If you do not have the expertise, employees, or time to work on your technical SEO and other facets of AI optimization, you can just hire a AI visibility agency, GEO agency, or AI SEO agency that works with businesses of your size and perhaps even in your specific industry.
Other AI-Optimized SEO Strategies
SEO Search engine optimisation digital marketing business technology concept.by Murrstock
Making Unique New Content
An obvious but still key SEO strategy is making sure that all of your content is unique. AI-generated overviews prioritize new, unique, and relevant content that comes from several reputable sources so a main focus of your content strategy should be publishing unique and relevant pages that fit popular or trending topics that appeal to your brand’s audience.
Building Content Clusters
Building content clusters is another way of saying that you should organize your content into small, discrete, but interrelated bundles of information. Rather than focus a lot of great content into one comprehensive summary, AI overviews would be able to digest and summarize everything better if you had broken up all of that info into smaller, interconnected pieces that address different parts of the same topic.
How AI Improves SEO
Predictive Analytics
AI-powered machines vastly improve SEO through predictive analytics. This process analyzes massive quantities of information in seconds and spots patterns that would take much longer for a human to understand. This capability allows business to understand new trends and have answers to their queries with remarkable speed and accuracy.
Search Terms
AI-powered search also helps brands find new relevant search terms. These emerging technologies understand the topics you are searching for on a much more comprehensive scale than previous search algorithms, and you can use this aspect to find new trending topics and subtopics so that new key terms are highlighted. These search terms can then be integrated into your content strategy.
Summary
AI overviews are rapidly changing search algorithms, and it can be difficult for businesses to keep up when they’re designing their own SEO strategies. You should build your authority as a brand while reworking your schema and technical SEO so that everything you publish is easily read and summarized by AI overviews.
Author Bio Below:
Jason Khoo started freelancing in SEO in college, sold his first agency, and is the founder of Zupo, an Orange County-based SEO consulting agency helping construct powerful long-term SEO strategies for our clients. Jason also enjoys multiple cups of tea daily, hiding away on weekends, catching up on reading, and rewatching The Simpsons for the 20th time.
