SEO in the Age of AI - What has the Doctor ordered?! 8 ways to optimise your ranking
Want to keep the Doctor away? Eat a rock a day. Obviously.
Need to find a way to stick cheese to a pizza? Use glue...
What’s the best temperature to sleep? Try a balmy 600-670 degrees Fahrenheit. Mmm, calming.
Leo Varadkar (an Irish politician) is (in case you didn’t know) over 2716 feet tall, and more than 160 stories….You know, I thought he was.
The results of Google’s latest AI search summaries tests are... concerning…AI is taking over the world, right? Maybe not just yet.
Not only is AI found guilty of terrible advice, but there are also growing concerns regarding the frequency of ‘hallucinating’; AI fake news.
Is it likely to feature with these issues when finally released? I hope not, but it won’t take long for significant improvements to be made.
In principle, this has the potential to radically change how the world uses Google’s search function, which considering the extent of its usage, is fairly significant.
What does this mean for you as a business?
Essentially, your SEO visibility is going to decrease. The battle for higher ranking will become harder as blue links fall further down the page.
The cognitive load for users to scroll down below these summaries (provided the quality improves) will increase, while their need to crawl through the results will decrease.
To stand out, now is the time to optimise your online visibility so you can best compete for the hardest real estate to secure; your buyers' minds.
Here are 8 key ways to improve your SEO ranking, today:
Dive Deep into the Audience
Discover what your audience is looking for with a website like SEMrush, ideal for finding high-volume keywords aligned with user intent.
Use a keywords explorer such as Ahrefs, to get insights into the questions your audience is asking so you can tailor your content to answer these queries effectively.
Enhance Visibility with Data Tools
Validate your site’s structured data to ensure it’s correctly formatted and optimised for rich elements in search results. Google's Structured Data Testing Tool can be a helpful resource.
Build High-Quality Backlinks
Guest blogging on other reputable websites in your industry to build high-quality backlinks and drive traffic to your website.
Collaborate with influencers in your niche to create content to share with their audience, creating strong backlinks.
Focus on Creating Quality Content
Regularly update your website. Keep it clean, up-to-date, fresh and relevant. Go through your older posts to update them with current content, keywords and more.
Consistently produce quality content that provides value to address your audience’s needs whilst helping them reach their desires.
Grow Your Social Media Presence
Engage with your audience and key accounts. Regularly post. A greater reach will improve your SEO ranking indirectly.
Optimise for Mobile Search
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool is to check if your website is optimised for mobile search.
Make your Website ‘Sticky’
Provide interactive elements to your website such as quizzes, surveys and infographics to keep visitors engaged and on your site for longer.
Capitalise on Voice Search Optimization
Find out what conversational questions people ask to better optimise voice search utilising AnswerThePublic.
ChatGPT: Surprised? You shouldn’t be. There are plenty of positives that AI can provide. Leverage AI, but use a discerning eye, like Gemini, Copilot and ChatGPT 4 and 4o to generate SEO-friendly content that answers complex questions in a conversational tone, perfect for voice search queries.
These are just some of the ways you can optimise your SEO to ensure your presence remains robust, adaptive and current in the rapidly changing environment that is our digital ecosystem.
AI summaries in Google Search may be just around the corner, but with a greater emphasis on the key elements to make your business stand out, you don’t need to feel threatened. Instead, you can be more confident in your ability to compete for a higher position.
Let's just hope you're not the one who gets blamed for suggesting a rock-based diet!
Thank you for reading!
The Art of Wearing a Mini-Skirt on Your Head(line)
Why your head(line) needs more attention than any other part of your body(copy)
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as they read the body copy...” - David Ogilvy, Father of Advertising
It also takes 8 positive impressions to undo one negative first impression.
In copywriting, like in life, the first impression matters. Your first words will colour the relationship the reader has with you. This will last for quite some time. You don’t want to mess it up.
When you’re writing your headline to sell your business, it’s not your only job to grab attention.
You want to maintain interest throughout, from start to finish.
To do that you need to apply a simple copywriting technique.
It all starts with what you are wearing on top.
Enter the mini skirt (principle)
The idea is straightforward, the difficulty lies in getting it right. Like a mini-skirt, you want to make sure your headline is short enough to be attention-grabbing, yet long enough to cover the essentials. You need to be able to tease but not deliver.
Writing a headline then needs to be concise. It must be to the point, whilst conveying the necessary information. The reader must have an urge to continue.
Give away too much and you won’t be remembered for anything but the first sentence. Too little, you may come across as a linguistic prude, so there won’t be much interest in seeing the rest of the body (copy).
To be clear, I’m not talking from experience. I don’t wear miniskirts often - just on Friday nights.
You see examples of these principles in action everywhere.
What are others wearing?
Some examples where this principle is utilised to its full effect:
Emotional levers can be laid bare. AirBnB’s ‘Belong Anywhere’ is a great headline that speaks to the core of the brand’s philosophy. It compels those looking for their next adventure to dive into their website and offer. There is a clear trigger of the primal drive to be a part of a tribe.
Evernote’s ‘Remember Everything’ speaks to the specific use case. The headline highlights the key benefit whilst alleviating a common market pain point. It’s concise, memorable, and clear. It leaves it open to interpretation without giving too much away.
Addressing the contextual issues of their market, Dollar Shave Club’s ‘Shave Time, Shave Money’ is another example. They make the value proposition clear. The headline connects with the market’s desire for cost efficiency. Again, it doesn’t give too much away, it’s intriguing so you want to understand more. How can they save you money? How can their product save me more time?
These companies will have a significant advertising budget, of course. Yet the methods used to get there remain the same. In-depth market research and avatar building that isn’t confined to basic demographic information. It explores the primal, environmental, psychological, and financial situations inherent in their minds. These aren't the only methods they use, of course.
Yet, once you have such contextual data, you need to craft the line itself.
Wearing it with pride
We can use elements of the above examples to increase the potency of your headlines:
Throw a powerful punch right at the start. Commanding and attention-grabbing words will hook the reader from the start. Use emotional, visual, auditory, and olfactory language. Use contrasts, mystery, humour, movement, and the myriad of copywriting techniques available. Unleash the weight of your arsenal through the narrowest of barrels.
Focus on clarity and brevity. Avoid unnecessary words or jargon. Strive for simplicity. Maximize word economy.
Know your reader. You have to be clear on who you are speaking to, where they are now, and where they want to go. As explored previously.
Where do you want to take them? How do you want them to feel when they read your headline? The headline must contain a promise linked to their biggest pain and their largest desire.
Match the reader’s language. If you’ve conducted your research well enough, you’ll know the sort of words the market uses. It builds a connection, it helps them understand you, and you understand them. It shows you are on the same level, that you care, and want it to work out between you.
Rank emotion over logic. Humans make decisions based on emotions and then justify them with logic. How can you amplify the emotional resonance in the message?
Highlight the benefit. Help the reader identify the benefit of reading without giving away the prize. As above, you want to hint but don’t reveal.
Curiosity is king. Ask a thought-provoking question, tease a surprising revelation, or use a bold statement. Suggest there is valuable information, a secret or the answer to a market mystery.
Seek Inspiration from successful headlines. Analyze a top player in your niche. Deconstruct what makes them so successful. What are the ingredients they are putting together to form theirs? Can you create a similar recipe?
We’ve explored a small handful of companies that have exercised this principle well. You could add in the more common examples of ‘Just Do It’, and ‘Think Different’. Or as I’ve seen most recently, ‘Perfecting the Art of Below-the-Belt Grooming’ and ‘Don’t Let Your Sleep Take You Hostage’. Not sure what the last say about the market, but that’s a different matter.
You can see why companies spend millions on advertising.
To continue to quote from Ogilvy at the beginning - “...when you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents of your dollar”. It will take time, but it's worth it. Done right, your headline will stick in the mind of the consumer, making it more likely your products will sell.
Wearing a mini-skirt on your head(line) doesn’t need to be complex. Yet, you need to ensure you prioritise how it's crafted. It all comes down to the way you weave the words together.
The fabric can't be too thick, not too thin. Not too long, not too short.
It needs to be just the right length.
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Very best,