1. Cite Your Sources
AI can be very general at times, so it is important to make sure your sources are real and accurate. If you’re using AI for any part of your creation process, you need to make sure the citations it gives you are legit. There are lots of times when AI will provide a made-up fact from a fake source just to complete your request. So make sure that when you’re citing sources, they are correct.
Citing sources is obviously just a good practice in general but it’s becoming even more critical as people are using AI to generate content without specific sourcing. This will not play well on main search engines as they specifically crawl for these markers in content.
2. Incorporate Statistics
With sources comes including statistics. Adding stats has always been one of the most effective ways to support your claims in a blog post, video, infographic, or whatever it may be, but once again, it’s becoming so much more crucial with the changes to the way content is created and then perceived.
The reality is that many people are just pushing out generic AI-written blog posts. This is just noise that you have the opportunity to cut through. Take the extra time to find valuable statistics that prove what you’re talking about is legit, from reputable sources and you’re already on your way to being steps ahead of everyone else in your space.
3. Use Quotations
Quotations go hand in hand with statistics. They need to be legit and they need to be cited. Including all of these outbound links to sources is going to help in improving your GEO. These easy extra steps are going to make your content feel more human, therefore ranking it higher through GEO.
4. Make Your Content Simple and Fluent
Content fluency is the readability, coherence, and natural flow of written content and it is an essential part of creating content. AI has the tendency to either write too informally or too formally and to the point of not making sense. It’s just not going to be consistent with a brand’s tone, style, and voice with regularity yet.
You need to make sure your content is readable and actually resonates with your audience as well as your brand’s voice.
As an example: If you tell AI to write an essay about topic, it might spit out a generic piece of content about that idea, but it largely won’t be in line with what your audience is looking for and may be hard to read and understand in that raw form. So, if you’re using AI to write, which isn’t a bad thing at all, be sure you’re taking the time to do a complete and full edit of the piece, make sure it is in the right voice, easy to read, and extremely clear.
5. Avoid Overusing Keywords
Contrary to popular belief, using more keywords is not better. We mean this both in terms of using the same keyword over and over again as well as using every keyword you can think of that could apply to that piece of content or your brand. Instead, use keywords that apply to whatever specific blog or social post you’re creating and use them strategically. There aren’t any hard and fast rules on this since GEO is such a new concept, in fact, if you ask ChatGPT about it, it won’t recognize the concept. However, between SEO best practices and other info we currently have on GEO, we recommend no more than 4x per keyword.
Diversity is key as well. Using the same keywords for every single blog that you post is going to do more harm than good. The same applies to using every keyword you use for your brand at once. This is known as keyword stuffing, which is a now outdated SEO practice that consists of overloading a webpage’s content with the same target keywords. Don’t follow outdated practices, especially now with AI-driven search engines.
6. Tailor Your Approach to Your Industry
You need to look beyond general SEO and GEO. What we mean by that is, don’t just look at what the top search terms are, but look at them specific to your industry.
A good way to think about this is through search intent and how someone is going to land on your content. By understanding that process, you can better target your wording to your industry and target audience.
Consider why someone is searching for something and if the way you’re targeting them is actually going to get them to do what you intend. There is so much content being put out every day, so you need to tailor your content to the niche that your ideal customers are looking for.
Here’s an example:
There’s a storage building company that wants to attract customers who need portable storage units at their homes to increase storage. With this in mind, you prioritize the key phrase “increase storage” in your content.
But, when you Google this term and see how it’s used, you’ll find that most articles that pop up are about increasing phone or computer storage, not physical storage.
While it’s the same long-tail keyword, the search intention isn’t the same. This is critical to note or you’ll be getting lost in a space you never intended to target.
7. Explore Unique and Technical Terms
Find the right ways and the right keywords to get people to where you want them to go. Each business is different, so make sure you’re using their language, the technical terms of their industry, and the authentic way they communicate with customers.
Once again, the internet is overloaded with content, so the more specific you can get with, let’s say a blog post for example, the better.
8. Understand That Presentation Matters
Visuals are everything. The way you present information is so important, do not overlook it. This applies to more than just content like videos and graphics. This applies to blog posts as well. The way a blog is formatted, split up, and organized all plays into the presentation and how readers will understand it. Content needs to be digestible in a way that allows your audience to easily engage with it.
At the same time, you need to be conscious about how AI is going to interpret your content. If AI is responsible for what content is being pushed out to certain people, then you need to be aware of the way you’re presenting that content in terms of how AI is going to scrub through it. While it isn’t everything, the way AI judges your content for recommendations is still extremely important to consider.
9. Use AI Carefully and Strategically
A point to keep in mind is that AI is so easy for anyone to use and get something out of. That’s not to say that it’s going to be good or that it’s going to rank well. That’s also not saying it’s going to be engaging to their target audience or something a real person wants to read.
However, because it is that easy to get content out of AI, it is that much more important to make sure that you’re taking the necessary steps to add that real human element back in and to add exciting new ways to approach whatever you’re writing about.
As of now, AI can’t perfectly replicate the benefits that come with real human writing and creation. The humanity that comes with fully understanding the voice of your brand and how your audience wants to be communicated with is something that AI still cannot do. Strategically use AI to your advantage, but also don’t forget the power that you have as a real human being.
