We know you’ve heard it before, but these days it constantly bears repeating – the world of search engines has been turned on its head. It seems like every day there is a new Search Engine algorithm, an update on how to rank, or a new blog on what to do and how to do it. Along with SEO, other search engine optimization methods are popping up too, like AEO, GEO, AIO, LLMO, AISO and even more beyond that!
It’s frustrating. We get it.
But through all the noise, new terms, algorithms and acronyms, the fact is simple: To organically rank on almost any search or answer engine, your business’s website needs to have helpful content.
What Is Helpful Content?
Helpful content is a phrase Google has been using the past few years to explain what they’re looking for when their bots crawl a site and decide where it should be ranked. This is exactly what it sounds like – content that will help any visitor going to your site find the answer they’re looking for. And the clearer this content is, the easier both human beings and robotic language models can pick up that content and use it to help decipher an answer as quickly as possible.
No-Click World
Another new term you may be hearing in the marketing world is ‘no-click search.’ This is often due to the AI answers and large language models technology, and means that when a search prompt is given, the search engine itself gives you the answer instead of giving you a list of websites they think will help you find that answer yourself.
For example, say you ask Google ‘Is Pluto a planet?’ Instead of sending you to NASA’s website, or a .PDF link of a scientific research paper, it will just tell you, ‘No.’
Now, just giving an answer with no explanation or sources got Google in a little bit of trouble when they were rolling this feature out, and other AI models have followed suit in experiencing this snafu. So now, many of them, when giving you that answer of if Pluto is a planet, also give you the source of that information, so you can verify it for yourself.
And this is where optimization work on your website is vital, because now, along with wanting to rank towards the top of the search results in general, you also want to be the website cited in AI Overviews and large language model answers. Being cited in the overview shows that you are an authority in that topic or industry, and make searchers more inclined to remember you down the line in their research journey.
But don’t be fooled – search engine optimization is not a dying tactic. It is just as important as it has ever been, and maybe even more so, especially when the work is coupled with the need for answer engine optimization work as well.
It can be a lot, adapting your SEO plan to include AEO elements and updates, but that’s where we come in. Our expert SEO team is here to answer any of your search engine or answer engine questions, and help you make sure your site has everything it needs to rank in search engines across the internet. Call us today to get started!
