Hi,
People have asked me about how the search landscape is shifting now that (whether we really want it or not) initial search results in many engines are presented to us in the form of AI overviews.
A lot of people are also turning to directly to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc to do their searches, and the reality is it can work really well, especially with citation-forward results like what Perplexity pioneered.
So, have things changed for search?
The answer is yes, but not as much as you might think.
AI is looking more for really well supported answers to specific questions, instead of emphasizing keywords in the same way we are used to thinking about with classic search engine optimization (SEO).
Yet, all the foundational SEO practices still apply:
Create high quality content: make sure it's well-written, organized, and helpful
Make sure your site is easily to crawl and navigate
Promote your content on platforms you genuinely engage with
Get great trust-based backlinks, reviews, referrals, etc
Write for humans first and foremost over the algorithm
Here's what you don't need:
LLMs.txt - this technical bit is used by some systems, but not Google
AI-specific content, structure, or markup - just make good content, period
All that to say, if you want to be found by AI search--and especially Google--keep creating excellent content that answers questions your audience is actually asking! Make sure your site is technically set up to serve that content and make it findable, and you're in a great position.
Not sure about DIYing your technical setup or content strategy? Let me know; I can help solve that problem :)
All the best,
Nathan
Founder, Hale Creative
P.S., please do stay in touch! Just reply to this email with your thoughts!
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