Written by Two Words: Generative SEO
I recently went to an AI presentation by SCORE. It randomly popped into my inbox and was being given onsite, so 1) it would get me out of the house, since vampires and I are now competing with our reaction to sunlight, and 2) I don’t know what I don’t know, so it was a great opportunity to see what else I could learn in the world of AI.
To my surprise, besides one other person, I was the youngest there by about 10 years (and that’s being generous). The presentation was geared more toward people who may have dabbled in ChatGPT or Perplexity.AI but didn’t really know all that it could do for their business. After going around the room and introducing ourselves, the individual giving the presentation dove in with his co-presenter and reaffirmed mostly everything I already knew – except Generative SEO.
I will be the first to say I know enough about SEO to be dangerous, and Squirrly SEO has done more for my site than Yoast ever did (sorry Yoast, but sometimes the truth hurts). While I make an effort to go through everything and spruce up my content to keep it fresh and relevant, I fully admit I haven’t explored Squirrly’s latest features when it comes to Generative SEO (or if they even have any – Yoast may watch me eat my words).
So what is Generative SEO?
I’ll let ChatGPT define it for me in a way that’s easy to understand:
Prompt: Please define Generative SEO to an audience that may not be familiar with tech terminology, the importance of SEO for their small business, and may get hung up on too deep of an explanation.
Generative SEO is about making sure your business shows up when people ask questions online, especially in tools powered by AI like Google, ChatGPT, and voice search.
Instead of only trying to rank for short keywords like “Virtual Tech Assistance,” Generative SEO helps your business appear when someone searches or asks things like:
- “Who should I hire to manage my email marketing?”
- “What’s the best tech setup for a small online business?”
- “How do I fix my website without rebuilding it?”
AI tools don’t just list websites anymore—they generate answers. Generative SEO helps make sure your business is part of those answers.
Simply put, when you say “Siri,” “Alexa,” or click that beautiful microphone icon on your phone and ask Google a question, that quick answer you get is coming from an actual website – and that could be your website. Google is no longer relying solely on the right keywords, meta titles, or meta descriptions. It cares about your content and whether your website is truly acting as a resource for people looking for answers.
Now, there’s a good and bad side to this.
While it’s great that your content is being shown, providing answers, and becoming a resource, the biggest complaint I heard in the webinar was what I’ll call the “get and split” concept (my words, not theirs). People get the answers they need and then close the browser or tell their device to stop listening. They don’t click through to learn more about the business behind the answer, the services offered, or how that business could solve their problem.
Is this the slow death of organic traffic? They wouldn’t give a direct answer, but you could feel the unspoken concern in the room.
The problem is that if you don’t play the game of creating better content for Generative SEO, you’re not just competing with AI-generated answers at the top of the page. You’re also competing with sponsored content and stronger, SEO-driven sites with higher page ranks and web authority – pushing your site into the graveyard of second- or third-page results (or, for constant scrollers, several swipes down).
So what should you do?
AI is here to stay, and it’s becoming more integrated into our everyday lives, which means it’s time to learn how to play its game. Even when Generative SEO pulls snippets of your content to answer questions, it’s still pulling your information. When someone searches using ChatGPT or another AI tool, your site can still be listed as a reference – even if it isn’t clicked. That alone increases your chances of being discovered compared to someone who wasn’t mentioned at all. I’ll take something over nothing.
Where does blogging come in?
Blogs give your site more organic content, and that new content keeps your website fresh in Google’s eyes. Your main pages may not have changed in years (don’t let SEO experts hear that), but a blog you posted last week is new, relevant, and helping drive traffic. It also adds more pages to search results and increases the chances of attracting people who need the information you’re sharing – while giving AI more reasons to use your site as a resource.
Blogs also let you demonstrate your expertise across a wider range of topics. You may be a tech manager with a website focused primarily on services, but your blog can cover growing a business, entrepreneurship, and complementary areas like SEO, design, and social media. You become not just a resource for what you do, but a sounding board for what others are experiencing – because they’re often walking the same path you already have.
You can keep it strictly business or make it more personal, but it’s your outlet to share information people may eventually search for online. The person typing into the search bar is human (gasp – what a concept). They might be asking, “What’s the best email marketing system for my business?” but they could just as easily be asking, “How do I deal with burnout?” or “What’s the best way to find new clients?”.
Am I a business coach or life coach? Nope. But when someone reads those blogs and is reminded they don’t have to do everything themselves, they’re already on a website with someone who can help. Whether that’s taking tech tasks off their plate to reduce burnout or offering a consultation on finding new clients, the introduction has been made.
In any case, now is the best time to finally start that blog – but do what you can. While I would love to publish weekly, my blogs are driven by real experiences, so they’re scattered. Consistency is key (yep, brain – “hypocrite,” your concerns are noted). If you find that blogging is working but you can’t keep up, let AI help you. I wouldn’t recommend having AI write your blogs outright – people crave realness more than ever – but it can absolutely help with outlines or rough drafts that you rewrite in your own words.
Let this be one of the top items on your list for the upcoming year. You can thank me later.
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