It’s been over a year since OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm and it’s safe to say that AI is here for the long haul. In fact, experts from Europol estimate that 90% of online content could be AI-generated by 2026.
Big tech companies are making fundamental changes to their processes and offerings accordingly. In the second half of 2023, Google released a series of updates to Search aimed at elevating high-quality media over the masses of AI-produced content. These updates include Search Generative Experience (SGE), Perspectives Filter, the Helpful Content Update, and the October 2023 Core Update.
Of course, when Google changes algorithms, our SEO strategies must follow suit. As these updates roll out, content marketers must reprioritize their programs to focus on domain authority and quality content. By creating a people-first SEO strategy now, your program will get ahead of AI’s impact and drive results for the long run.
I shared the full scoop on changes coming from Google and steps you can take to adjust your program in PR Daily. You can read the article here — Adjusting SEO for AI: Why 2024 Calls for a People-First Approach.
But for some of the biggest takeaways, keep scrolling:
For Domain Authority, Trade Backlinks for Quality Content
Domain authority measures how well a website will rank in search engine results. Historically, a website’s domain authority was heavily influenced by its number and quality of backlinks. With advances in machine learning and generative AI, Google and inventor of domain authority, Moz, are pivoting to deprioritize backlinks and instead favor high-quality content.
E-E-A-T Your Heart Out, Low Quality AI Content
Google has always valued quality content for SEO ranking, crawling, and indexing. But what does “quality” really mean, especially nowadays when AI can spit out content with the click of a button? Based on Google’s original E-E-A-T Framework, expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are the foundation of quality content.
Couple E-E-A-T with Google’s Content Self-Assessment, and a fuller definition of quality becomes clear. Google values content that is trustworthy, original, and written with the audience in mind. That means you need to know your stuff and know who you’re talking to if you want to boost authority.
Domain Authority and Quality Content, Meet Visibility and Credibility
Even though Google’s new features are slowly rolling out doesn’t mean you need to slow your roll on creating a people-first SEO strategy. When you strengthen the quality of your content, you strengthen your domain authority, creating a nice cycle for increasing visibility and credibility. By building up your thought leadership roster, quickly addressing emerging topics, and deepening your audience understanding — to name a few — you can get the cycle kicked off.
Go forth With People-First SEO
To stay on top of how AI is affecting SEO, the best thing you can do is keep updated on algorithm tweaks, understand what makes for authentic expertise and user-centric content, and explore how your communications program should respond. You can dive deep into people-first SEO and Google’s SEO updates in PR Daily: Adjusting SEO for AI: Why 2024 Calls for a People-First Approach.
