In our first couple articles about Marketing to AI and AEO and GEO versus SEO, we provided some updates on how to slightly modify your thinking about content development in a supposedly post-SEO world (although that’s a misnomer). We weren’t talking about a massive shift, but it was worth some commentary. If you haven’t read those articles, take some time to do so, only because this article is going to build upon those foundational principles. As you can tell from the title of this article, the topic in focus is not switching from keywords to prompts, but adding prompts to your thinking as you develop digital content.
What is a prompt?
Think of a prompt as a full thought. For example, instead of the keyword, “best leftie golf clubs” a prompt might be, “Where can I find golf clubs for a left-hander who is only 5’6’’ and has a nasty slice and only golfs a couple times per year?”
These context-rich prompts are much more common now due to voice interactions with our phones and their native AI technology. And as individuals, we have advanced our understanding of how to achieve more relevant results faster rather than having to type a longer-tail keyword within a search engine and wait for what we perceive to be better results.
I’ve used the example of “water” in the past and in my book, “How Search Proves the Principles of Positioning.” The challenge with such a basic keyword is the intent that search engines had to figure out: do you mean “bottled water,” “ocean water,” or “how to get soft water in my house?” The intent shifts dramatically with just one or a few additional keywords.
Now that voice search and other easier forms of asking AI like Gemini or Siri or Co-pilot to provide results, our “search” has become conversational and the response much more rich and relevant. Using the same example above, the results for “I have a lot of iron in the water in our home. How can I get rid of that iron and get really soft water?” If you’re copying this and throwing it into Gemini, you’ll find you get quite the lengthy and detailed answer.
How does a prompt change our content development?
The good news is that AI is smart enough to understand the foundational need behind our questions, which as you can fathom, would be infinite. In fact, a term has emerged called the “infinite tail,” a derivative of the “long-tail” keyword. An infinite tail stems from the number of words in these prompts which automatically increases the number of ways someone could ask the same or similar questions.
And even greater news is that the way we write copy and develop content doesn’t need to change significantly. It may have become easier, in fact. Rather than figure out specific keywords that may sometimes be awkward to include in headlines, subheads, or sentences in an article, AI is smart enough to know the topic about which we’re writing.
Therefore, writing to a keyword and putting it in your content a certain number of times is a practice that’s already disappearing. However, don’t become lazy! The foundational methods of writing a good article still apply. You should still assume your high school English teacher is grading your thesis paper! Her direction? Pick a topic, write a thesis statement, and make sure everything that follows your thesis both supports and credentials the statement. Your existing content – IF developed in this way – does NOT need to change. Simply adjust moving forward…
How to write to a prompt?
Beside writing like you always have, here are five tips to consider when writing to prompts:
- Keyword Clusters: If you’re used to writing to specific keywords, back off using just one keyword and write to broader keyword clusters. For example, Google Ads has worked on keyword clusters for over a decade, so if you’re used to writing landing pages as destination URLs for your paid search ads, you’ll be just fine. Keyword clusters are just what they sound like: groups of keywords that are topically related but not identical.
- Content Pillars: Remember about a decade ago when “pillar pages” were popular? While they never really matured, the same theory of content pillars is a good way to think about writing to prompts. Typically, the more general topic should be at a higher level within your website structure versus more detailed topics being lower within the directory structure. For example, most websites’ primary navigation works this way. The topic-level navigation might be “Products.” The next level might be how you group your products (by application or market or solution type). The final level gets into the specifics – for example, how your product works in a specific market or for a specific application. Some might even take this one level deeper if micro applications are in play.
- Focus on Intent Over Syntax: Don’t disappoint your English teacher by generating content slop. But keyword syntax doesn’t matter nearly as much as in the past. AI is smart enough to comprehend the intent of your content provided you put forth a logical, clear presentation of your ideas.
- Continue to Write to HUMANS! Unlike many SEO firms we’ve competed against in the past, we’ve never told a client to write to the bots. And we remain firm on that stance today. Getting a click is great, but if you don’t offer a value proposition to the human reading your copy, the purpose for developing content in the first place is lost. Keeping the sales funnel or transactional goal in view is still critical. If your content isn’t persuasive and written to sell your products and services, then you’ve lost the point. Forget the bots. Write to humans. Trust us, that’s how you win in the world of content marketing.
- Keep It Different: As we recommended in the above-cited previous PositionistView® articles, keep your content differentiated. If you are truly dramatizing your difference in the marketplace, differentiated content should flow easily for you. AI is returning synthesized answers from multiple sources, and the more differentiated the content, the higher value AI considers you as a source. Your goal is to be one of the cited sources. If you write anything with AI that is published online (e.g., your website, social media, etc.), you should consider it as throw-away content. AI considers it worthless because, why would AI want to cite itself? That’s now how AI works.
We’ll keep you updated as keywords move to prompts.
If you are a regular reader of PositionistView, you know we have your back. We’ll keep you updated on where this world of prompts moves. A few things we’re tracking:
- Google Ads – Google recently announced it will be moving away from keywords in the not-too-distant future on its paid search platform. Google isn’t sure what this looks like, but it’s already indicated it’s using intent over keyword match type. We’ll keep you updated since whatever Google does on the paid search front, it will probably integrate (or have already integrated) into organic search and Gemini. Gemini has already taken over a good chunk of the SERP, including if you engage with it – the SERP morphs into a chat rather than keeping its traditional search listings (organic and paid).
- ChatGPT (OpenAI) Advertising – We have begun using ChatGPT’s new advertising platform. The platform uses prompts rather than keywords, and we’ve been able to enter not just topical concepts, but psychographics, geographics, demographics, and other frameworks around which we want the ads to appear. There is no obvious feedback loop other than what appears to be something similar to Google Ads’ “negative keywords.” We were hoping it would work more like Google’s Local Service Ads, where leads are designated as either worthy or not worthy.
- Tracking Organic Search Traffic – Google Search Console has been a wonderful tool and we continue to use it to ensure that client organic search traffic continues to grow. We do not believe that every interaction will end at the search page or AI conversation – all of us still transact business with individuals and organizations. Prompts should simply give us more relevant search traffic and therefore, more qualified prospects.
We trust our updates on technology help shortcut your learning curve. If you have further questions on how to proceed in this world of content development for AI, please reach out and we’ll guide you through this bold new world!