How to Use AI in SEO

Everyone has a 30-step SEO checklist. But what about ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini? In the age of AI-generated answers, your brand’s visibility depends on 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗟𝗟𝗠𝘀 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂. Here's how to translate your SEO workflow into a... 𝟯𝟬-𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗟𝗟𝗠 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁: Phase 1: 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 → LLM Citation Forensics → What prompts are ChatGPT users typing that you show up for? → What sources is the AI citing instead of you? → Are you even in the training data? → Run a BOFU visibility audit 🔍 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮-𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 Phase 2: 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗽𝘀 → Address FUQs (Frequently Unasked Questions) → What’s 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 in your content that LLMs need to complete the answer? → What unique insights, internal data, or comparisons can you supply? → Are your competitors getting cited because they filled a gap you didn’t? 💡 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴 — 𝘈𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵. Phase 3: 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 → Statistical Weight Building → Are you being mentioned in 3rd-party sources? → Have you rewritten your content with semantic clarity? → Are your entity definitions consistent across the web? 🧠 𝘈𝘥𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘢, 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. Phase 4: 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 → Build for AI Retrieval → Use conversational headers and natural-language FAQs. → Focus on being the 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 → Don’t bold terms. Create paragraphs LLMs can copy/paste. 🎯 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭. Phase 5: 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝗘𝗢 → LLM SEO & AEO (AI Optimization) → Are you showing up in Google’s AI Overview? → Can Perplexity summarize your brand correctly? → Are you in the Knowledge Graph, and is your brand tied to trusted descriptions? 📈 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴. 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 = 𝘈𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. I’ve rewritten my SEO playbook to win in the LLM era. Want to stop chasing algorithms and start getting cited? Save this post. 📌 — Hey - I'm Jason. I write about: 🔍 LLM marketing strategies that actually drive revenue 💼 Transitioning from SEO to organic growth leadership 🚀 Building visibility in the AI-first future DM or just follow along! #SEO #Search #LLMs

AI Agents Are Booking Hotels. Is Your Direct Channel Ready to Compete? OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Mode has transformed hotel bookings. AI is no longer just suggesting options. It now books directly on behalf of travelers. Instead of comparing hotels across websites, guests simply ask ChatGPT for what they want, and the AI searches, selects, and completes the reservation, often through OTAs. If your hotel content isn’t structured in a way AI systems can read and trust, your brand is effectively invisible. Traditional SEO tactics focused on human search behavior are no longer enough. Hotels must shift to Answer Engine Optimization, using structured data and clear content that AI agents can easily process. Most hotel teams are not ready for this shift and may already be missing bookings without realizing it. 📢 THE PIVOT FOR HOTEL COMMERCIAL TEAMS: Hotel commercial teams need to rethink their entire approach. This is not about improving your Google rank. It is about making your hotel visible to AI agents that now complete bookings for your guests. ⚠️ The rules of the direct channel have changed. Your content needs to be structured for AI discoverability. Your team needs to understand how AI agents make decisions. Without that, you will be bypassed without even knowing it. The direct channel is at risk unless your teams become AI-literate and start building content for machines as well as humans. FIVE ACTION STEPS FOR HOTEL TEAMS: 1️⃣ Audit and Optimize Structured Data Review your website and booking platform to ensure correct schema markup is in place. AI agents rely on machine-readable data to process your rates, amenities, and availability. 2️⃣ Implement Answer Engine Optimization Move beyond traditional SEO. Focus your content on clear, factual, structured property details across all platforms where AI agents can find them. 3️⃣ Upskill Your Team on AI Literacy Train your marketing, revenue, and sales teams on how AI agents function. AI is now a participant in the booking process. Your teams need to understand how to influence its choices. 4️⃣ Track AI Visibility and Recommendations Start measuring how often your hotel is seen or selected by AI systems like ChatGPT. Visibility is now invisible. Without tracking, you won’t know what you are losing. 5️⃣ Strengthen Direct Channel AI Readiness Ensure your website, booking engine, and voice assistants are optimized to serve both human guests and AI agents. Using AI Voice Agents can help capture direct bookings that might otherwise be lost. If your team needs help optimizing your direct channel, developing AI skills, or driving immediate revenue, reach out. Whether it’s training your team, creating structured content, or helping you track AI-driven visibility, I can support you. Consider me a gig member of your team, ready to help you drive results.

Most AI SEO advice is fluff. You should try my "surgical" approach: CONTEXT: I was a Product Manager on Google Search focusing on data inquisition and ingestion from third party providers before I left to start AthenaHQ to help marketers win on AI search. Here's what I learned analyzing citation patterns at Google and now at Athena. AI models pull from 20 to 40 sources per query. VS Humans only check the top 3 Google results, maybe more of page 1 if you're lucky. This creates a massive opportunity for your brand. Why? When someone asks ChatGPT about cybersecurity software, it might cite a security forum that ranks # 34 on Google but has deep technical discussions. That forum carries more weight in the model than a generic tech news site at position # 5. My surgical approach works like this: Take your top 20 customer questions. Run them through multiple AI models. Map every single citation. You'll discover industry specific publications that consistently get referenced but rank between positions 20 to 40 on Google. (You can do this first step in Athena btw) THESE sites are the new arbitrage opportunity. A Forbes placement will cost you $$$ and three months of Digital PR / relationship building. Compare that to these industry sites which cost between $500 to 2,000 per sponsored placement or guest post. Plus? They're way more likely to respond to your emails within 48 hours. They're hungry for expert content. Still not convinced? Forrester data shows that 90% of B2B SaaS procurement now uses AI somewhere in the evaluation process. Whether it's generating RFPs, evaluating vendor responses, or validating tools. Your prospects ARE asking AI models questions about your category before they ever hit your website. If you're not cited in those responses, you don't exist in their research phase. -- P.S. I'm Andrew Yan (ex Google search), Co-founder of AthenaHQ (YC 2025), a GEO monitoring solution and action center empowering brands like Ollie, Checkr, Motion, and OneSignal to lead the conversation in AI search results. Do you want to run this playbook? Shoot me a DM. 

For years, the SEO playbook was simple: 🔍 Find the keywords. 📝 Write a blog for each one. 📈 Watch the traffic roll in. But then AI showed up. And now, Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT answer: - "What is X?" - "How does Y work?" ...right in the search results. No clicks. No traffic. If your strategy is still “publish a blog for every keyword”, you’re playing a losing game. So, what’s now? 1️⃣ Prioritize buyer intent, not browser intent. Some searches are just curiosity. Other searches mean “I’m ready to buy.” Example: ❌ "What is a tenant screening service?" (low intent) ✅ "Best tenant screening service for small landlords" (high intent) Look for: - "X vs Y" searches (they’re choosing). - "Best X for Y" searches (they’re evaluating). - "X near me" searches (they’re ready to buy). Your blog doesn’t need to explain "what is a tenant screening service" anymore. AI can do that. Your job is to show up where buyers are already in motion. 2️⃣ Stop "ranking" — start leading. If your blog is just another summary of what’s already been said, AI can replace you. Here’s what AI can’t do: - Original research 🔍 - Data-backed insights 📊 - Unique points of view 🤔 Information gain = the new SEO advantage. When we worked with financial services firm RWA Wealth, we didn’t just summarize "What is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?" Instead, we asked, "What does this mean for your taxes in 2025?" We created new insight, not just a summary. That’s what gets people thinking. If you’re writing content that could have been written by AI, why would Google rank it at all? They can write it themselves. 3️⃣ Bring them in — and give them a next step. If your blog gets traffic but people leave, that’s on you. Here’s how to fix it: - Put a CTA in the middle of the page (not just at the bottom). - Give them a reason to act now (limited spots, exclusive offer, etc.). - Make the next step clear, immediate, and relevant. Every visitor is a potential lead. Don’t let them leave without a next step. If you take away one thing, it’s this: Google doesn’t need more "content.” They need new perspectives, original insight, and real information gain. If you’re still chasing "rankings," you’re already behind.

AI Overviews are now appearing in 47% of Google searches, and up to 65% of travel searches, yet most travel marketers are completely unprepared for this shift. Here's what our data shows about winning in the AI-first search landscape: The most shocking finding from our recent study: Position in organic search DIRECTLY correlates with AI Overview inclusion. When our clients rank #1 organically, they appear in the AI Overview 100% of the time. At position #2, this drops to 69%, and position #3 only gets mentioned 42% of the time. Translation: SEO still matters, but with a new end goal - MENTIONS, not just clicks. Here's what's actually working for travel brands right now: 1. QUESTION-BASED HEADINGS Structure your content with H2/H3 headers phrased as actual questions: "What are the best seasons to visit Tuscany?" This gives AI models a natural hook to pull your content. 2. ANSWER FIRST, DETAILS LATER Provide the direct answer immediately after the question heading, then elaborate. If AI only grabs one sentence, make sure it's complete and valuable on its own. 3. STRUCTURED DATA SUPREMACY AI models love structure. Use schema markup, bullet points, and numbered lists. We've seen mention rates increase 3X when comparing structured vs. unstructured content with identical information. 4. THIRD-PARTY VALIDATION AI heavily weights external mentions. Getting your brand included in "Best of" lists and industry roundups dramatically increases the likelihood of being mentioned for relevant queries. 5. DON'T BLOCK AI CRAWLERS Check your robots.txt file. If you're blocking crawlers like GoogleBot-News or OAI-SearchBot, you're essentially invisible to AI. The metrics that matter have changed. Traffic is no longer the primary KPI - it's brand VISIBILITY and SENTIMENT across AI results. Is your marketing team still optimizing for yesterday's search landscape? #AImarketing #travelSEO #AIOverviews #searchmarketing #travelmarketing

Holy moly. ChatGPT's Operator will be HUGE for automating SEO processes. Here's their AI agent analyzing competitors to create a content outline: Last week, OpenAI announced that they were adding Operator. This is their AI agent that can autonomously perform tasks. Operator can do things such as performing multi-step tasks. This includes interacting with web-based features such as performing searches and extracting data from them. This opens up a lot of new possibilities for SEO. For instance, instead of having to perform SEO research manually, you could specify exactly what you're looking to analyze and have an AI agent do it on your behalf. In this example, I had operator perform a competitive analysis for the query "how to ski moguls". After a pretty simple prompt, Operator did the following: 1. Performed a Google search for the query 2. Correctly clicked to just the Organic text results 3. Scrolled through and copied the text of every page 4. Analyzed the extracted text 5. Gave me insights on the most common sections competitors used and which competitors used them 6. Created a content outline based on that data So without having to even perform a search - OpenAI's Operator was able to perform a complete analysis of a target query and provide me with an outline that I could start with. However, you could use it for much more. You could have Operator do things like give feedback on your own content, automatically analyze search intent, extract the top entities and much more. All through the use of an AI-agent. Now that are a few drawbacks to Operator in it's current form: 1. It requires the $200/month OpenAI subscription. Many people won't have access to that. 2. It's slow. Some tasks took it 10+ minutes to complete. 3. The output wasn't as detailed as I would have liked. However, it was a way to get real SERP data instead of just what's in ChatGPT's knowledge base. However, this is it's earliest form and it will only get better from here. From those that are looking to automate the manual work done in SEO, it might very well be worth the costs if it saves you a lot of time.

Your AI-generated content is killing your SEO. Here's how to fix it without sacrificing scale. 3 hybrid strategies for 2025 ↓ AI content generation has revolutionized marketing, but it's a double-edged sword for SEO. Google's E-E-A-T guidelines prioritize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. AI-generated content often lacks these crucial elements. But don't panic. Here are 3 hybrid strategies to boost your E-E-A-T without losing scale:  1. Human Touch-ups:   Use AI for initial drafts, then have subject matter experts review and   enhance. Add original insights, real-world examples, and industry-specific knowledge.   This combines AI efficiency with human expertise.  2. AI-Assisted Research:   Leverage AI to gather data and identify trends.   Have human writers interpret findings and craft unique, authoritative   content.   This approach ensures depth and credibility while saving time.  3. Personalized AI Training:   Feed your AI tool with company-specific data and industry insights.   Fine-tune it to match your brand voice and expertise.   The result? More authentic, brand-aligned content at scale. Remember: Google values original thought and real-world experience. Implement these strategies to create content that resonates with both search engines and readers. Elevate your SEO game and stand out in the digital landscape! Let's explore the possibilities together.

If you're still using AI to "write content", you're already behind. The real players aren't prompting. They're building ecosystems. Let me show you the difference (and how to actually win with AI)👇 Most people think AI = better content 💀Wrong AI = better strategy If you know how to use it. If you're using AI just to write blogs, you're in a race to the bottom. If you're using AI to research, position, and execute? You’re in a league of your own. Most AI content fails because it’s: ❌ Generic ❌ Data-starved ❌ Easily copied Everyone's writing “Top 10 Tools” posts. No one's doing deep research into what those tools are missing. That’s where the opportunity lives. Here's how to use AI like a strategist: ✅ Do competitive analysis ✅ Extract pain points from Reddit, YouTube, and reviews ✅ Build out buyer journeys ✅ Turn one insight into 10 pieces of content ✅ Own a positioning no one else is touching Example: Instead of prompting ChatGPT to “write a LinkedIn post…” → Ask it to summarize common frustrations from real users in your industry You’ll get content that speaks to pain, not filler. Use AI to find gaps. Scrape top-ranking blog posts. Ask AI: “What are these articles missing?” Find the blind spots. Then own them. That’s your content moat. That's what separates you from your competitors. Use AI to map content to your funnel: Top of funnel (ToFu): → Scan social for trending problems Middle (MoFu): → Analyze customer reviews for objections Bottom (BoFu): → Generate custom nurture sequences based on behavior Want to build a real AI-powered content engine? Try this: 🧠 A tool that tracks competitor SEO shifts 🎯 A script that repurposes blogs into high-performing LinkedIn carousels 📊 A dashboard that monitors what’s trending before it hits your feed That’s not content. That’s infrastructure. What I'm saying is that AI isn't here to replace you. It's here to multiply you. The winners won't just use AI to just write faster. They'll use it to think deeper. Move quicker. And execute harder. If this hit, follow for more breakdowns on branding, tech, and unorthodox growth moves for first-gen founders.

How I use ChatGPT to improve my SEO: Spoiler: It's not for writing AI content. I don't think AI writing is better than humans yet. But AI is tremendous for ideation and inspiration. Here's 5 ways to tap into "AI power": 1/ For Content Ideation - Prompt: Generate ideas for expanding content on the topic of [insert your niche or industry]. Include subtopics, angles, and potential keywords to target. - Prompt: Create evergreen content ideas around the keyword [insert keyword] or a broader topic. Ensure the content remains relevant over time and addresses common user queries. 2/ For UX & CRO - Prompt: Provide a checklist of ways to improve the UX and CRO of a blog article for SEO, specific to Google's preferences and user's wants. - Prompt: Insert 2 written CTAs within the following content focused on the services offered by [insert your company and description of its main services]. 3/ For Keyword Research - Prompt: Generate long-tail keyword ideas related to [your topic/niche]. Include variations and combinations to target specific search queries. - Prompt: Provide keywords based on common questions users might ask in [your industry]. Include question phrases and potential content ideas to address these queries. 4/ For SEO Strategy - Prompt: Devise a local SEO strategy for a [specific type of business] targeting a specific geographical area. Include tactics for local citations, Google My Business optimization, and local link-building. - Prompt: Develop a content pillar and cluster strategy for [a specific topic/niche]. Outline the main pillar content and supporting topics to create a comprehensive content structure for improved SEO. 5/ For Backlinks - Prompt: Create personalized outreach email templates for acquiring backlinks in [your industry/niche]. Include pitches and strategies for building relationships with other websites. - Prompt: Identify potential guest posting opportunities in [your industry]. --- How do you use AI for SEO? ♻️ REPOST to make AI simpler for SEO. P.S. I share prompts like this on my Savvy SEO newsletter. Join 7,000+: https://lnkd.in/gs3iPKMA

Are you sure your SEO strategy is ready for LLMs? Most contractors think they have an SEO problem... But here’s what’s really going on: - They stick to the same old SEO tactics. - They copy strategies that “worked” for others. - They ignore how AI is changing search results. Here’s how top performers optimize for LLMs based on search intent: 1️⃣ Full Site SEO Audit Spot crawl errors, broken links, and mobile optimization issues with tools like Google Search Console. 2️⃣ Structured Data Add schema like FAQ and Service to help LLMs understand your content and improve your AI rankings. 3️⃣ AI-Friendly Content Format content with clear headers, bullet points, and concise paragraphs that LLMs can easily read. 4️⃣ Smart Keyword Strategy Use semantic and long-tail keywords that align with user intent, powered by AI insights. 5️⃣ Featured Snippets Target question-based queries with concise answers to land in AI-driven answer boxes. 6️⃣ Consistent Business Info Ensure your N.A.P. (Name, Address, Phone) is consistent across your website and directories. 7️⃣ Backlink Relevance Build high-authority local backlinks that LLMs trust and disavow low-quality ones. 8️⃣ Performance Monitoring Use AI-powered analytics to track and optimize your performance across key metrics. 9️⃣ AI-Generated Content Leverage LLMs to generate and refresh your content based on current AI-driven search trends. 🔟 Regular SEO Audits Keep your content fresh with quarterly LLM audits to stay aligned with evolving AI algorithms. Each step drives better rankings, more traffic, and improved SEO performance. 📌 Save this if your SEO isn’t performing like it should. Follow Josh Crouch 🐂🎯 for more tips on optimizing your SEO and leveraging AI!