What You Need to Know About AI and the Future of SEO
AI is the most popular new kid on the block and for good reason—there is an extreme potential for it to change the way we do a lot of things. And while (in the world of small business) the conversation has honed in on how AI can help you write copy and create content, there is another important conversation that needs to take up more space. And that is the conversation about AI and search.
Because search is one of the big marketing channels connecting your business to potential clients and customers, and it is the reason we all jump through the hoops to create content in the first place. But as much as AI is changing the content game, it will change the search game too. So today, I wanted to help this topic take up more space—read on to learn what you need to know about AI and the future of SEO.
How AI will impact search algorithms
Google’s goal has always been to connect people with answers to their questions, which is why it has long prioritized helpful content. But in their efforts to get people what they are looking for, you can expect Google (and other search engines) to use AI to make their algorithms deliver more accurate and personalized results. One of the ways they might accomplish this is by using AI to better understand a searcher’s intent (or motivation) for typing something into Google—so it’s a good time to really get to know why your couples and clients come to you.
AI means there will be higher expectations for content optimization
This probably isn’t what you want to hear, but AI is likely to make ranking for desirable keywords more competitive since it will enable people to do 2 things: create more content and better optimize it. And when it comes to the creating more content part, well, you’re already familiar with that. When it comes to the better optimizing it, AI might start suggesting related keywords and areas for improvement as well as help you write better SEO titles, descriptions, alt tags, etc.
AI will make it easier to predict trends in search
Sometimes the key to ranking for a keyword is timing—specifically, being one of the first people to create a critical mass of content around it. But SEO tools are probably going to get better at predicting what keywords and phrases are going to trend because of AI. This means you can be ahead of the curve—if you are paying attention. And, if you are paying attention, you’ll be able to adjust your SEO strategy accordingly: adjusting your foundational keywords as well as identifying related and relevant keyword clusters.
AI will help make voice search the norm
Voice search is already a thing—hello, Alexa and Siri! But AI is likely going to make voice search the norm because AI is now making it easier to basically have a conversation with your phone. That is because one of the domains of AI is language and these Large Language Models (LLMs) have become incredibly advanced. So, in order to optimize your content for voice search, you need to write in plain or common language and basically repeat the question in your answer to give AI models what they need to understand the context.
AI and image searches
Until recently, search engines couldn’t really “see” the content of an image, which is why meta information and alt descriptions are such an important item on the SEO checklist. But AI is going to enable search engines to “see” the major components of an image because of things like computer vision.
So, if SEO is one of your main marketing channels, it’s time to start thinking about what you need to do in order to maintain the results you’re having. And if it is something you’re wanting to start experimenting with, now is definitely the time to put together a strategy with all this in mind!
