As with everything in digital marketing, SEO is evolving!
Long tail keywords versus short tail keywords, optimising for search engines or optimising for AI search – there is SO much to consider this year when creating content.
In this blog, we’ve done our research and we bring to you some important tips to consider when focusing on your SEO strategy for 2025. Read on to learn what to do and what not to do.
But First, What Is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and it refers to improving your website’s visibility on Google’s search engine. To elaborate, consider all the times you Googled something. Perhaps you were looking for information on how to clean leather boots, so you typed this into the search bar and clicked Enter.
Google, then, detects the search terms you have typed and will try its best to match them to relevant websites. So, whatever results appear on the first page are what Google has decided best match your search.
However, this is where digital marketing comes in. Because, while your website might be best suited to a specific query, that’s not enough to get it to appear on the first page of results.
Your website’s content needs to be optimised correctly, according to various specifications, before Google decides that it’s the most fitting choice for those specific keywords. What’s more is that the larger your industry’s market is, the more challenging it becomes to increase your website’s visibility. It’s quite literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack – suddenly our name makes sense, doesn’t it?
So, remember all those times you Googled specific symptoms, and only the worst responses came up on the first page of results? Well, you can let a deep breath out, because there’s a good chance that the results yielded for you were purely chosen based on how good that website’s SEO was!
Here’s How AI Has Changed Things
Since the emergence of various AI chatbots, you’ve probably noticed a new interface on Google, where, before you see any direct website links, a short AI box pops up, answering your search query quickly.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a love-hate relationship! On the one hand, we love the added convenience of no longer having to scroll through various pages just to look for our answer. On the other hand, this convenient little AI pop-up now eliminates the need to even visit certain websites anymore.
So, that means we digital marketers have had to roll up our sleeves and get even more clever with our strategies. Cue the emergence of something called AEO.
This stands for answer engine optimisation, and while the concept is similar to SEO, the approach and formatting differ slightly.
With AEO, delivering clear and concise information to AI chatbots and voice assistants is the priority. Therefore, the structure of your content will need to appeal to that direct, question-and-answer style formatting.
How Do We Create Content for AEO?
The content strategy for this is simple, really – you want to make your content clear for machines to read.
- Organised content: Google and voice assistants love all types of content that is well-organised, with clear answers to user questions. It favours clear language and concise answers.
- Research FAQs: This includes researching specific questions that your audience is likely to ask about your product/service, and including these in an FAQ format on your website.
- Key phrases: Pay attention to phrasing, because how you phrase something is important when factoring in voice assistants.
- Keyword placement: Where you place this information is also important. It needs to be easy to find and appear in major paragraphs or headings so that Google can easily pull this content and feature it in snippets.
- Mobile friendliness: This is something else to look out for. Most people quickly whip out their smartphones to look up or voice search something, and if your website does not adapt well – then that’s a MAJOR market you are missing out on.
- Credibility: Search engines favour well-researched and factual information, so make sure you are obtaining information from credible sites.
We know that what we described above sounds a lot like robotic, AI-generated content writing.
And that’s not necessarily where we are going with things. Sure, these tools favour a clear structure, but you still need to write for your audience. This is where strategy comes in. Getting clever with storytelling, yet still writing in a way that is clear enough for Google and voice assistants to favour your content.
Luckily for you, you don’t necessarily need to know how to do ALL of this alone.
That’s what we’re here for after all! We just thought we’d take the time to explain the ‘Why’s?’ so that when it’s time to make your website the shiniest needle in the haystack – you understand all the steps that need to be taken first!
We’re here to help make you discoverable – so reach out to us today, and let us do what we do best!