Adapting SEO Strategies for the AI-Driven Shift in Organic Search
Understanding the Impact of AI on Search Traffic
AI-powered search answers reduce the need for users to click through to websites, causing a significant shift in how ecommerce performance is measured. Traditional metrics like traffic are less relevant, as many shoppers make purchase decisions directly from AI responses without visiting a site.
Focusing on Brand-Name Search and Brand Knowledge Content
Since AI answers rarely link to brand sites, optimizing for brand-name searches is increasingly crucial. Creating detailed brand knowledge content helps generative AI platforms understand and recommend your products by highlighting:
- The brand’s unique value proposition
- Differences from competitors (price, quality, service)
- Target audience and geographic focus
Leveraging Brand Mentions and Backlinks
Both brand mentions and backlinks remain vital. AI platforms rely on brand co-occurrence in relevant contexts, while traditional search engines still factor in backlinks for rankings. Effective tactics include:
- Co-citation link building (e.g., appearing alongside competitors in listicles)
- Media outreach to generate reputable links and mentions
- Engaging on Reddit to boost visibility among communities, journalists, and AI algorithms
Solving User Problems Beyond Keywords
Generative AI search uses a query fan-out approach, addressing related and follow-up user questions to provide comprehensive answers. SEO should move beyond simple keyword placement by:
- Understanding the problems behind search queries
- Providing additional relevant information and context on pages
- Using tools like GPT-based query analyzers to uncover follow-up questions and content opportunities
Source: SEO – Practical Ecommerce by Ann Smarty. Read original.
