Focus Your Content Strategy for the Generative AI Future

This article originally ran in Fast Company.

The top page of Google is no longer the Holy Grail of brand awareness. And because of this, if you’re setting a SEO budget solely focused on making it high up in Google’s search rankings, go ahead and throw that budget out the window. 

Why? Because that is not the future of product discovery. Gen Z isn’t asking a search engine what jacket or headphones to buy. They’re either going to social channels like TikTok or to AI programs. Which brings us back to search engines, but in a different way. 

The major search engines are evolving in their technological capabilities, and as such, your SEO, ad, and organic content strategy must be evolving to capitalize on these advancements, as well as on consumers’ similarly changing behaviors. 

Generative AI is going to have a major impact on the future of marketing. It’s time to make sure you show up. 

The Search Engines’ Assistants 

You didn’t expect Google and Microsoft to stay out of the game, did you? Apple and Amazon have been leveraging the personal assistant (Siri and Alexa) for years now, while OpenAI and others have been advancing what is possible with an AI chatbot. It was only a matter of time before the major search engines got involved and began leveraging the technology within the features that have made them so successful. And that’s what we’re seeing with Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. 

And while many of the functionality advantages touted by each company in the AI chatbot game revolve around the efficient (tasks like transcribing notes and writing email copy) and the visually thought-provoking (creating new images on the spot), there’s a bigger future here for brands. 

Gemini and Copilot have created an amalgamation of a ChatGPT-style AI chatbot and a personal assistant like Siri, while leveraging what is at their disposal, which is the web at large. And it’s why these generative AI tools are soon going to be sought after by consumers the way the traditional Google search engine is now for finding products, restaurants, and other recommendations. 

Ease of Recommendation 

A few weeks ago, I opened up Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and ChatGPT and asked a question: What are the best running shoes for men training outdoors? Each of the three stipulated that “best” can vary based on preferences and uses, but then proceeded to offer up five or six brand names (each giving me different options) and styles fitting my question.

What interested me most was not the specific shoes the algorithms spit out, but what accompanied them. While ChatGPT only provides text, Copilot and Gemini are able to take consumers a step further. Along with a quick overview and price, Gemini included a picture and direct embedded link to a site to learn more about the shoe. 

The links could have been the actual Asics website where you could buy the recommended Novablast, or in other cases it was the link to a running publication with a further breakdown of the specific Saucony shoes. I then asked if any were on sale and received several other links with either deals on specific sites or a message that no stores seemed to have the specific type on sale but they were still a great shoe. 

In Copilot, there were links (though some were the wrong, duplicated link from a previous shoe – a bug still being worked out), but also carousel ads at the bottom of the answer giving me links and prices for dozens of running shoes in a single click. Subsequent questions gave additional recommendations, but without links. 

I then asked for taco recommendations in my area and received seven options for local restaurants. At the bottom of the page was a map and links for the website and directions of all the restaurants included, taking the hassle out of acting on my decision. 

Determining How to Capitalize

The AI chatbots – and companies behind them – aren’t going to reveal the exact formula for how or where they’re collecting and using online information to populate these recommendations. Even if you ask the bots themselves, as I did, they’ll say that there are a variety of sources that they cannot disclose. 

This, along with the fact that these tools are brand new to us, means there is no clear path to positioning your brand well with our AI friends. That’s why one of the most important components your content strategy can possess is testing and experimentation. Whether it’s keywords, organic content, natural language inclusion, paid ads, third-party earned media (or likely a combination of all), you have to take a fluid approach to your online content moving forward to accommodate this new world. 

There is no well-worn path to success like there is in traditional SEO. That shouldn’t be a deterrent, but rather a motivator. It means that your messaging, keywords, and value are more important than ever, and constant testing is critical. It also means there’s an opportunity for you to be an early adopter. 

So many others already have the book written on traditional SEO, having figured out how to gain the system. Breaking through there is an immense challenge. But you have an ability to make a mark by building your strategy around the future of product discovery. 

This is how consumers are going to be interacting on the web moving forward. And the capabilities are only going to get more robust from here. It’s time to start optimizing your messaging now and continue to test and hone it as the technology adapts. Otherwise, the next Holy Grail of online brand awareness will be well out of reach.