Shocker! Produce Good Content And You'll Show Up In AEO And SEO! 🤯

With AI SEO becoming a real thing, marketers need to start concentrating more on producing good content more than any other old SEO tactic out there.

ChatGPT, Google, Perplexity, etc. are going to ingest the content and cite it when they give the relevant answers to the user.

The hope is that some of the users will click through and do more research on the cited site. But often the end user, the searcher, will get the info they needs from the AI answer and move on.

This will happen much more for low quality searches that don't require clicking, like sports scores. The hope is the longer, more in depth content will provoke a click to learn more for the originating site.

In the latest Zero Click Marketing Podcast, host Amanda Natividad talks with search wiz Kevin Indig about something called ghost citations. This is when the source of the information isn't even cited but the information the source provided is given.

For example, the source might get a cited link at the end of the explanation, but it won't get an: "According to ____ publication." The content of the site will just be dished out in the answer.

From Amanda's LinkedIn podcast promo post:

Kevin gave a great example on this week's Zero Click Marketing podcast:Ask an AI tool "what’s the best CRM?" and it may pull heavily from G2 to form the answer. But the answer itself is more likely to say HubSpot, Salesforce, etc. than "according to G2."G2 gets used. The CRM brands get named. The user gets their query answered. This particular use case might be fine for G2 (it is, after all, their business model to be the credible source, not the beloved brand).But overall, what this means for marketers is that when you're measuring AI visibility, citations are only part of the picture. You also need to ask:

• Are we being mentioned by name?

• Are we showing up in the shortlist?

• Are we associated with the right attributes — trusted, reliable, effective, affordable, premium, whatever actually matters in our category?

Now I can imagine marketers and business owners crying foul. And to an extent I agree with them. But on the other hand this is just the evolution of technology and we all need to adapt or... disappear altogether.

Instead of packing up our toys and going home, we as marketers need to learn how to work in this new paradigm and how to help our clients do the same.

We need to realize that the playing field is changing rapidly every week, sometimes sooner, and adapt.

What do you think? Post your thoughts in comments!

Here's Brian's take:

AEO Is Not A New Thing... It’s SEO!

If you’ve been hearing about AEO and wondering whether your small business needs a whole new strategy, it all about the fundamentals of SEO.

Goldstein Media Digital MarketingBrian Griffiths

The Latest From The Entrepreneur's Enigma Podcast

The First Ever MPN Podcast Awards July 30th

The MPN Awards aren’t just about recognizing winners, they’re about celebrating the creators who generously share their expertise week after week. Together, we can raise the profile of marketing podcasts and showcase the incredible talent within our community.

Click Here To Register To Attend

Sponsor

Looking for guests? Want to be on podcasts? Check out Podmatch! I use it for both getting on podcasts and finding quality guests. It's well worth it and affordable too!

Web Jawn

The ChatGPT browser is already dead

ChatGPT Atlas didn’t even last a year.

The VergeJay Peters

That was quick.

Why most original data never gets cited

Primary research is rare, but when it appears, it is much more citation-dense than ordinary pages.

Growth MemoKevin Indig and Amanda Johnson

Yep... we're in a weird time with AEO.

A must watch from my buddy Kerry Barrett who was on the TEDx Stage!

Driving in Europe feels like a dystopian sci-fi novel

When you get behind the wheel in the EU, Big Brother is Always Watching You.

Machine SocietyMachine Society

It always has been. 🤯🤪

Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Save You From the Permanent Underclass

Trust him.

GizmodoWebb Wright

Zuck is so gross.

Patreon Blocks Crawlers From Stealing Creators’ Work for AI Training

“Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. If that’s not on the table, the crawlers can stay the fuck off Patreon,” CEO Jack Conte wrote on Thursday.

404 MediaSamantha Cole

This is a good move on Patreon!

I agree Meta needs to go away.

AI Is Not Magic. It Is a Cognitive Amplifier.

AI is not magic. It is a cognitive amplifier. Explore how data, infrastructure, ownership, and power determine what AI amplifies, who benefits, who pays, and what trace remains.

Practice of Clarity

I totally agree with this study/article/report.

Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search

The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators

AdweekMark Stenberg

The death of Google search? Hmm. Never thought I'd see this even be floated as an idea.

Pearson’s Anti-Piracy Vendor Takes Down Best-Selling Author’s Own GitHub Repo * TorrentFreak

Pearson’s used a DMCA notice to take down the official GitHub code repository of Pearson’s own best-selling author, Paul Deitel.

Ernesto Van der Sar

Doh! That sucks! DMCA is so stupid sometimes.

Expanding AI transparency in ads

We’re introducing new AI transparency features to help people understand the ads they see and give advertisers simple disclosure tools.

GoogleKeerat Sharma

This is a big move for Google!

Claude Fable 5 isn’t permanently leaving subscriptions, Anthropic says

Anthropic says Claude Fable 5 won’t be accessible via Claude subscriptions after July 7, but it’s not a permanent change, and the company expects the model to return outside the usage-based plan soon.

BleepingComputerMayank Parmar

Well that's good. Though not good for people who like to plan. 🤪

Meta turns off the Instagram feature that let users make AI deepfakes of public accounts

“We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark.”

The VergeJay Peters

Meta just sucks. Glad the company reversed course.

Web Finds and Funnies

Curated by Brian Griffiths

Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken.com)

Gemini just admitted to hallucinating a hallucination. Here’s hoping it wasn’t hallucinating a hallucination of a hallucination.

Bluesky SocialHarry McCracken

GitHub - DosFox1/OSHintosh: OSHintosh - an Open Source Hardware Diskless 68000 Macintosh with a Bootable ROM Disk, using absolutely no hardware from Apple!

OSHintosh - an Open Source Hardware Diskless 68000 Macintosh with a Bootable ROM Disk, using absolutely no hardware from Apple! - DosFox1/OSHintosh

GitHubDosFox1

Pete Brown (@petebrown@social.lol)

Attached: 1 image I wonder how many donated items they get in this slot

social.lol

Truth!

That's It For This Week! Keep Rocking It!

-Seth + Brian

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