Traditional SEO is here to stay, but we must also optimize for AI. The sooner, the better.
If you’re building a website today without considering AI (or LLM) optimization, your content is already outdated, but the fix is easy.
Here are six crucial considerations needed to win with search engines and AI:
- Both Google and AI want quick-loading sites and efficient, well-structured content, i.e., clear headlines, bullet points, and concise takeaways.
- While both Google and AI love structured content, they consume and process it differently. Google searches for keywords. AI doesn’t focus as intently on keywords – it comprehends natural language and context. Be sure to use natural conversational tones and language. Fortunately, this also conforms with quality UX or user experience criteria, fostering increased engagement and conversions.
- Google uses your site’s good organization and web content to generate rankings and coveted featured snippets. AI won’t generate featured snippets for you, but it can put your business in its responses to queries. (Featured Snippet: a highlighted answer to a search query that appears at the top of Google search results.)
- Google depends on reputable backlinks to your site to determine your authority in your field. LLM SEO identifies your authority differently, using sources such as Wikipedia, Quora, and industry blogs to validate your expertise.
- Do you have a quality blog? If not, and you want your business to show up in AI’s response to queries, you should get started now. Just imagine being that restaurant with a blog that discusses and shows the freshness of the ingredients, the unique touches they make to their most popular dishes, the perfect wine pairing, or their award-winning chef’s lifestyle. Or the tutoring business with a blog discussing the journeys of a few students who successfully overcame adversity, such as poor reading preparedness, fear of public speaking, or test-taking anxiety. These examples could add to the enterprise’s authority for LLM optimization.
- Search engines use unique code known as schema markup to understand the content. In contrast, AI reads the content, not the code. Well-organized text with precise data, questions, and answers is needed. AI can otherwise jump to erroneous conclusions, negatively affecting its reply to a query.
The future of optimization is a dual endeavor. Content must speak both languages: traditional SEO for search engines and natural, contextual optimization for AI.
