AI in SEO

AI within search refers to the use of artificial intelligence to enhance how search engines understand user search queries. This includes everything from better understanding language context to predicting intent, offering personalised results and even generating answers directly from the search results.

While the growth of AI models like GPT and Google’s own Gemini is relatively new, AI is not as new of a concept in search as you might think.

Here we explore what AI in SEO typically involves and how we can improve our understanding of it.

How does Google use AI in Search?

Natural language processing (NLP)

AI helps search engines understand the meaning behind words. Instead of just finding exact match keywords, NLP means Google can start to understand context, intent and similar words and phrases.

Semantic search

Semantic search means going beyond literal keyword matching. AI models like BERT or GPT understand how topics are linked and the context behind words, making search results more relevant rather than returning pages that feature exact match keywords.

Personalisation

AI uses data like your search history and current location to deliver results tailored for you. While this is nothing new for Google, it’s likely we might see even more enhanced personalisation rolled out.

AI generated search results

• Models like GPT or Gemini are now generating answers to queries instead of just listing links. Think of how ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews give you summaries.

How can AI enhance SEO services?

AI in SEO strategies

In the old days, it was common for SEO services to be based around keyword-stuffed blog articles, but that approach isn’t going to cut it when it comes to satisfying user intent. Thinking about what people search for and what they expect to find is more useful to your SEO strategy than worrying about keywords and rankings.

When it comes to content strategies, AI is never going to replace human writers just because AI can only use existing information on the internet and can’t generate thought-leading pieces that are important for most businesses. What it can do is help create briefs for content writers, generate ideas for specific customer markets and rewrite or tweak elements of text to match brand voice.

AI as a search engine

While we have seen some panic over losing traffic for question-based queries, the data on ChatGPT suggests Google doesn’t have anything to worry about just yet. Search has never been just about Google, but other search engines are likely to continue adapting their own AI offerings such as Bing Copilot.

In SEO, we learn to adapt to what’s going on in the search landscape. Just like featured snippets, map packs and people also asked, we also need to be testing and optimising for AI-generated results too.

Improved customer targeting

Many SEO tools such as SEMrush are incorporating AI into their products, allowing us to find new search insights. AI chat models like ChatGPT can also be useful for this. If you’re in an industry that serves different market segments, AI can help us understand what different segments might search for and what they care about.

For example, if your business serves both domestic and commercial customers, AI can be used to help tailor landing pages accordingly, providing insights on what each customer type will not only search for but also what they might want to see on your website such as do they care about reviews, accreditations, pricing etc.

This opens the opportunity for marketing agencies to not just deliver SEO campaigns but create custom user journeys to suit your audience types.

Data reporting and ROI

While opinions on the future of AI and using it in marketing may differ, most people would agree that AI can speed up some jobs, making campaigns more efficient.

AI can be used to spot trends or analyse data faster, leading to actionable outputs and, in some cases, faster results.

AI-powered insights on reports can also be used to inform other areas of a brand’s marketing strategy such as product development, branding and campaign targeting.

SEO is all about answering search queries and staying relevant and it seems unlikely that will change as long as people rely on search engines to find what they’re looking for. The narrative from marketing agencies might shift from rankings and traffic as a measure of results to thinking about where your customers are – and making sure your content is put in front of them. If AI helps us do that, it’s something to embrace.