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Throughout the past few years, AI has taken the world by storm. Tools such as OpenAI’s Chat GPT have reported hundreds of millions of active users, signaling the prevalence and use of AI tools in daily life.
With Google still accounting for about 97% of the market share, search engines remain the presence of online marketing. However, as more and more users look to AI tools to address queries, businesses must adjust their online marketing strategies to ensure they are visible in AI-based searches.
Does AI Make the Need for SEO Obsolete?
The short answer here is no, and especially not in the short term. For starters, ChatGPT reports approximately one billion daily queries, whereas Google is over eight times this number.
There are several reasons for this, but the main being due to accessibility. For example, search engines commonly come with a default web browser, such as Google or Bing, which allows users to perform search queries immediately upon opening a browser. On the other hand, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are not directly integrated into browsers (yet).
Expanding on this, a large subset of consumers are also likely still hesitant to use AI tools, as we’ve witnessed with countless technological enhancements over the years old habits tend to die hard for some folks. Specifically within the demographic of users over the age of 40, Search Engine rankings hold a lot more weight than AI.
Nonetheless, the shift to AI search queries will certainly continue to gain momentum. Since just one year ago, the average number of daily queries on ChatGPT has grown by 100x. As more businesses and consumers alike take their questions to AI tools, businesses that do not adapt will certainly get left behind.
Generative AI vs. Search Engines: What’s the Difference?
Before we get into how your business can show up at the top of the ChatGPT results, it is important to first understand the similarities and differences between generative AI tools and search engines when it comes to search queries.
To explain this, we’ll use metaphor. Imagine two librarians working in a school. Let’s say you ask “Librarian A” for help on a topic. This librarian knows exactly where every book, article, and resource is located. When you ask them a question, they quickly find a stack of relevant materials for you to explore, leaving the rest of the work to you. Librarian A, or a search engine in this case, uses its vast index of web pages to provide users with relevant resources based on their queries.
On the other hand, if you were to ask “Librarian B” for help on the same topic. This librarian, however, is much more hands-on in your research. They would take the time to listen to and understand the context of your question, providing a well-thought-out explanation or summary in addition to the resources provided by Librarian A.
Librarian B, or generative AI in our example, takes the information compiled from all across the internet to store and train itself on how to best address user queries, generating highly specific and well-thought-out responses as opposed to a search engine which is simply providing the resources.
How Do I Get My Business to Show in ChatGPT Results?
Generally applied, the principles of “ranking” well in an AI-driven query as opposed to a search engine query remain similar. Considering ChatGPT trains itself on a combination of publicly available information from the internet, open-access datasets, and curated datasets, it only makes sense that a strong SEO presence would translate to strong performance in AI tools.
However, AI tools not only search indexes & databases like search engines but also interpret and understand them. This is why your digital marketing and SEO plan must be fully comprehensive, accounting for not only the technical components that trigger your information to show but also positioning yourself at the forefront of your industry.
Though there are likely thousands of components that ChatGPT takes into account when generating its results, we’ve highlighted a few of the most important ones early into the AI revolution.
Schema Optimization & Structured Data
Very arguably the most important component in optimizing your website for AI tools like ChatGPT is ensuring that your structured data & schema markup are present, thorough, and optimized. Schema markup refers to a structured data format(s) that provides information about the content of your website in a way that search engines and other AI tools can easily and quickly understand.
When optimizing towards an AI platform like ChatGPT, you’ll want to make sure that you have plenty of schema markup present on the backend of your website. These should be present on various pages such as service offerings, FAQs, testimonials, blogs, and press, in addition to a general schema known as an organizational schema. Work with an SEO specialist and/or web developer to ensure that your structured data is present, well organized, and provides AI tools with sufficient information to find and digest the information on your site.
Presence of Thought Leadership Materials
As discussed previously, the difference between AI-based search queries and search engine-based queries from a high level is largely found in the interpretation of data rather than simply the retrieval. With this in mind, simply “tricking” an algorithm into showing your business purely via technical optimizations is not possible when using tools like ChatGPT.
To address this, it is strongly encouraged that businesses produce high-quality content on their website that helps show users, search engines, and AI tools alike that they are great at what they do. This may include a combination of blogs, case studies, webinars, events, or other educational materials that promote your business and position you at the forefront of your industry.
Strong Public Relations/Media Presence
Continuing off of the previous component, a strong public relations plan can help businesses show immense credibility in their markets. ChatGPT and other AI tools reference credible sources when providing results to users. There is immense value in third-party praise of goods and services that your business offers, often pushing these companies ahead of their competitors in the ChatGPT results.
Businesses should look to collaborate with relevant media outlets and organizations that will help shine you in a positive light. These may include industry organizations, news outlets, blogs, industry awards, events, and countless others.
Presence of Conversational Website Copy
In terms of content optimization, the tone of search engine-optimized language as opposed to AI ones is completely different. Considering that ChatGPT is a conversational AI tool, your choice of keywords, language, and tone should mimic that of an AI search query as opposed to a search engine one.
While this is a fine line between maintaining optimized content for more straightforward search engine terms, your website copy should contain some conversational language in order to rank well in ChatGPT results.
Work with an AI-Driven Digital Marketing & SEO Agency
The easiest way to rank your company at the top of ChatGPT results is by working with an AI-driven digital marketing agency. Here at Simple SEO Group, we’ve helped countless businesses in a wide range of industries drive online revenue through the changing digital landscape.
To learn more about how your business or organization can benefit from ChatGPT-specific optimization, give us a call or fill out the form online to schedule a free consultation with our SEO & AI experts. Get ahead of the curve today!