ges in your content strategy: people, process, and technology

Since the beginning of 2023, there has been a significant change in the landscape for search and content.

A new content warground has emerged as the use of AI-generated applications increases and search engines incorporate AI into SERP results.

Content optimization evolves as a result of the dynamic interaction between people, technology, and processes. This process is becoming more fluid and less linear.

Let’s first examine what is driving these changes.

Search and content environments are changing in response to user preferences

The online consumer has evolved and now expects instantaneous, accurate, and relevant answers to all their questions.

We are also seeing an increasing preference for visual content, not only text, when they are searching for information on multiple platforms such as video and social platforms.

Consumers are fond of short-form video. Brands now prefer social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.

The key consumer preferences are driving innovations in search marketing and content marketing. They aim to give consumers new experiences, and new ways to find and consume information.

The way content is presented online, and the importance of optimization, has changed.

Content and optimization shifts

Search engines and users alike can understand content that is optimized.

In the past, marketers optimized content without regard to its quality.

The optimization would be geared towards search engines only, with a focus on keywords and intents that have low search volumes.

Search engines still found it useful, despite the fact that there was no structure and no detail, just generic content.

The generative artificial intelligence now provides content production and optimization suggestions to improve visibility on search engines and in social media.

Search experiences are changing, so new areas of optimization become available, and some areas become more crucial than others.

Search engine innovation and AI: A new battleground for content

Content marketers are facing a new battleground. Not only have brands and individuals become publishers and authors, but also machines.

Combining humans and machines, millions of new pieces of content are now being created every day.

Content marketing professionals are now facing a level and type of competition never seen before.

The consumer’s preferences have driven this change, as has the rise of AI in the mainstream.

1. ChatGPT applications and generative AI are on the rise

Content marketers are revolutionized by tools such as chatGPT, Google Bard and Microsoft Bing AI. These tools help them generate new ideas and identify patterns and trends. They also automate repetitive tasks.

These tasks include:

• Keyword research for market and content campaigns.
• Content clustering is a method of grouping content similar to each other based on context and language in order to identify gaps in content, areas of overlap and cross-linking opportunities.
• Social media monitoring and analysis to identify trends and topics relevant for content creation.
• Automated A/B Testing of Content in Ads, Landing Pages, and Other Campaigns.
• Creating detailed buyer personas.
• Personalization through analysis of customer behavior and other analytics data.
• Create and optimize images and videos tailored to the content. Later, I will elaborate on the campaign’s goals.

The standalone tool market has exploded with thousands of new players using APIs in combination with their own technologies to produce diverse outputs for multiple content uses cases.

They are not just limited to creating content, but also include personal and leisure use, voice, music production, audio productions, image and video creation, podcasting, and coding.

2. Search engines that integrate AI

It has never been more important to produce quality, relevant and trustworthy content, particularly as the fine line between SEO and content is diminishing.

Google is focused on improving the user experience by releasing and refining Helpful Content Update , and reiterating its E-A.T guidelines in E.E.A.T .

Google’s Search Labs, which is currently only available in the U.S., will soon allow users to access its Search Generative Experiences and AI-led innovation. We can see how the AI has been integrated into the SERPs and how the content of the SERPs are changing.

It’s important that you know this is an experimental project and it changes daily.

There are, however, enough signals, including updates from Google’s Blog, to make informed decisions about what content marketers should prepare for, optimize and execute in future.

Google’s LLM, PaLM 2 and MUM (Multitask Unified Model), which are part of its generative AI Snapshot, help it to identify different types of media and content.

Google is also prioritizing content that is authoritative, experience-driven and based on authority.

Google’s E.E.A.T. aims to show results that highlight real experiences with topics, products and services.

Perspectives, a multimedia platform that showcases diverse perspectives through boards, QandA channels and social media, is devoted to user-generated content.

Dan Taylor has written a fantastic piece about optimising content specifically for the Perspectives.

Content optimization and conversion rates will improve with the change.

Generative AI is triggered by conversational intent.

Both Generative AI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) and search engine result pages (SERPs), which are still evolving, have not yet reached a state of stability. Understanding the conversational intent is therefore crucial.

Your content’s visibility is likely to decrease if it fails to offer valuable insights or does not accurately answer a conversational question.

Make sure you stay up-to-date with all algorithmic updates and reliable sources of information.

• Understanding conversational intent is the key to generating AI results.
• Concentrate on the value of the reader – the need to deeply understand your audience.
• You can also include informational or transactional content.
• Prioritize Natural Language– Anticipate “How” questions and respond with “to.”
• Create and optimize new content. Content formats should be varied, including long, short, and snackable. Evergreen content is no longer enough.

Content that is truly successful in the future will have a clear purpose.

Discoverability and engagement are dependent on your content standing out. Consumers who don’t engage are less likely convert.

It is time for:

• Re-evaluateevergreen material and create new content. Create content that is conversational and in a variety helpful formats.
• Optimize your website so that it can cater to conversational searches and Core Web Vitals. This includes aspects such as page speed, structural design and compliance with Core Web Vitals.
• Implementing schema is a must. It’s not optional. This will ensure that the search engines understand your content. Align yourself with the SEO team.
• Focus on optimization for images (thumbnails), social media, and reviews.
• Focus on conversion rate Optimization (CRO).

Google’s Helpful Content Updates and E-E-A guidelines are essential for Google to continue to offer a wide variety of content, from a variety of sources and users.

Pay attention to the following.

• Allocating resources for developing authoritative profiles.
• Investigating the possibility of including more content generated by users on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok to provide trust signals.

optimization for engagement and conversion is going to be essential in the future.

Google’s new Search Engine Results Page (SERP) may reduce top-level website traffic, even though traffic is still important.

The traffic that reaches a website will be likely more targeted and could increase the conversion rate.

Future and the interplay between people, technology and process

The emerging alliance between AI and humans is a great opportunity to develop content strategies.

People perform specific tasks focused on organizations, using processes that are often streamlined and enhanced by technology.

People: Always put people at the forefront of the process and at the end

Let’s get this out of the way.

AI won’t replace you if you know how to use it. Simple, right?

• We are able to understand and respond to others’ emotions and sentiments because we have an emotional understanding. Human interaction is a complex process that requires empathy and common sense. This is especially true in content marketing.
• AI is able to recognize emotion in written text and can construct responses that are appropriate for the situation, but it cannot authentically experience feelings or form genuine, empathetic relationships.

Process: Generative AI inject means that content processes must be refined

This is an area of great importance to me because it connects people with technology.

Content strategists can use AI resources to do everything that I’ve mentioned in this article.

• You and your team should ensure that you incorporate AI into your workflows.
• Focus on alignment around practical use cases, experiments and examples.
• Consider the interaction of content, PR, SEO and Social as new content and search landscapes emerge. Consider trust signals as an output.

When utilizing AI to optimize content, you should ensure that humans are the primary contributors. You should also choose the right application and edit from a human perspective.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) can inform and assist in front, middle and end processes

AI can be a powerful ally for your workflows and process.

This is done by increasing productivity, analyzing massive data sets and improving the quality of content.

• SEO AI-led insight, in particular can inform and guide your company to the best content formats and types that engage audiences.

Eli Schwartz shared on LinkedIn that the AI evolution would be great for SEO. It will also be great for omnichannel and content marketers.

• Automating repetitive and mundane tasks frees you up to be creative and work closely with the other teams mentioned above.
• Remember that AI’s content role should be to inspire, inform, and assist.
• Don’t forget about conversion rate technology

The evolution of AI and SERPs opens up new opportunities for SEO and content marketers.

The first post Search Engine Land : How to improve your content strategy: People, Process and Technology.