We’re not going to lie; SEOs around the world have been nervous about the rise of Generative AI. Will the content we’ve been working so hard on be condensed into three sentences by a robot? Our Enterprise SEO Team attended MozCon 2024 in Seattle to hear directly from experts on what’s coming and how to future-proof our strategies. There were 20 talks over two days, and we’ve pulled together the best bits to help you work with your agency to create content that lasts.
Top Tips to Help Your Agency Create Lasting Content
- Share Your Perspective: When your agency suggests a content topic, give your perspective and provide a quote.
- Conduct Customer Surveys: Find out why your customers chose your brand, then share this information with your agency.
- Promote Content: Share the content your agency writes across your social channels and communities.
What Content Will AI & SERP Overviews Replace?
The first thing to consider is what content will be the first to go when AI Overviews roll out in Australia. We can predict which content AI will take over by looking at existing Search Engine Results Page (SERP) features.
Bernard Huang’s excellent talk focused on creating content that targets perspectives, not just keywords. The buzzword from this talk was “Consensus.” If there are two key takeaways, they are:
- Consensus = Bad
- Perspectives = Good
Consensus is when all results on the SERP say the same thing. For example, the answer to “How many legs does a dog have?” will always be 4. Google can easily condense this content into a single answer.
However, if there’s anything romcom robot movies have taught us, it’s that robots can’t feel. The same applies to AI—it can’t create its own perspectives; it can only scrape and relay content from the internet. Creating content that targets perspectives instead of just keywords can future-proof your content.
So what should you do about it? You tell us! You’re the expert in your industry. Share your thoughts on our content topics, give us your hot take (perspective), and maybe a little quote from you. Then let OMG do the rest.
Using Emotions to Target Decision-Making
We make decisions every day, but how often do you reflect on your purchase decisions? I recently reflected on a few of my purchases, and the decision-making journey went like this:
- Did I need to buy it? Yes.
- Did I need to buy the most expensive one? No.
- Why did I buy the most expensive one? “I really liked it.”
Often, we don’t evaluate all options before making a purchase. A lot of our decisions are based on emotions.
Talia Wolf’s talk gave tips on using emotions to target decision-making. There are two clusters of emotions that drive decision-making:
1. Self-Image: successful, valuable, happy, confident, important, lovable, smart.
- Example: “Age like a pro with these health products that will keep you young and healthy.”
2. Social Image: envied, looked up to, valued, passionate, appreciated, admired, the go-to.
- Example: “The only online parenting program that will have people asking ‘How does she do it all?’”
It’s one thing to add emotion to your copy; it’s another to determine which emotion best influences your target market’s decision-making. Let’s add to my decision-making journey:
- Why did I buy this product over a cheaper option? I want everyone to think I’m successful enough to afford luxury items.
Understanding the emotional triggers behind decisions will guide the type of language you use. Language that targets emotions like admiration and success could have been effective for my decision-making.
Conducting Customer Surveys
Conducting customer surveys is a great way to get these insights. Talia outlined the details you should uncover in these surveys:
- What pain does my customer feel before finding a solution?
- What are their hesitations and concerns?
- How do they want to feel after finding a solution?
- What are the emotional triggers that drive their decision-making?
So what should you do? Conduct customer surveys to find out why customers purchase from you. Provide this information to OMG, along with the general demographics of your target market. The more information we have about your company and target market, the better our content will be.
Share Content Across Your Communities
If you’ve followed the above suggestions—adding perspectives and emotions to your content—you’ve got high-quality, shareable content! Visibility is not just about ranking in position #1 on a SERP. Wil Reynolds’ talk highlighted the importance of integrating SEO into the wider marketing plan. Visibility can also be achieved by sharing your high-value blog content in your social communities.
Here are some examples:
- Local Businesses: Location-based Facebook groups.
- Example: A local business might post in a suburb-level Facebook group linking to their recent how-to guide.
- B2B: Personal LinkedIn accounts.
- Example: An influential founder could share the content to their personal LinkedIn pages, especially if they’ve shared a quote in the article.
- Ecommerce Brands: TikTok or Instagram.
- Example: Fashion brands might create a TikTok on the same topic as the new blog.
Google remains the #1 place for users to search, but social media usage is rising. We need to follow where the trends are leading us:
Find more statistics at Statista
Organic Search vs. Organic Social
A question arose: “Is a session from organic search the same value as a session from organic social?” Users from social media are already engaged enough to follow you, whereas SEO can be very top-of-funnel. An organic social user might be more likely to engage with your content than a user from organic search. However, you need strong SEO content to engage your social audience first – these two channels go hand in hand.
So what should you do? Once OMG creates a content calendar, share it with your marketing team to coordinate your content distribution. After your content is written, ensure it’s posted across your social channels and communities to maximise reach and engagement.
In Summary
Future-proofing your content against AI is all about adding unique perspectives and emotions. By engaging with your agency, sharing insights from customer surveys, and promoting content across social platforms, you can create high-quality content that stands the test of time. Remember, the key is to make your content irreplaceable by AI—focus on what makes your brand and perspective unique. Together, we can ensure your content remains relevant and engaging, no matter how advanced AI becomes.
