My team and I have been helping brands reach their SEO traffic and conversion goals through content and links for over 10 years. Recognized by industry leaders and household brands as an authority in both organic content and digital PR.
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Content Caffeine #52: Q&As won't save you, AIO/organic overlap and bot publishing
Published 1 day ago • 7 min read
Content Caffeine
For content-obsessed marketers and SEOs
Hi there,
If you've read too many articles and posts about how to get cited in LLMs, then today's insight is for you.
Today's highlights include:
Why Q&A Content Won’t Save You
The AIO/Organic Overlap
Bot Publishing
As always, thanks for being here.
I'll be back on October 30.
Nicole
P.S. Got a great resource, big news or an experiment you want to share? Hit the button below and send it my way. You might feature in my next newsletter!
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In one of the 37 articles I read last week telling me how to optimize content for LLMs and AI engines, this bullet point jumped out:
Restructure content. Shift from narrative blog posts to structured question-answer formats. Make it easy for AI to extract clear answers.
I disagree. And, I've found no supporting evidence that 'hacks' like this drive meaningful traffic or revenue.
Yes, AI engines like structured content, but designing every piece of content like a glorified FAQ is short-term thinking.
You'll have no clear advantage in search if you follow everyone else and spoon feed LLMs and AI engines neat answers.
Your goal is to build a credible brand that AI engines want to cite, which means the format matters less than the depth and credibility of the information inside it.
Why we tell stories
The resurgence of storytelling in marketing isn't an accident.
Stories are one of the best ways to make a brand memorable, create emotional connections, and build trust and brand loyalty.
Plus, you can repurpose the content to reach your audience in the places and platforms they prefer, and earn media coverage, mentions, and recommendations as a result.
(You'll also reach LLMs because they're probably scraping the sites where you're active or mentioned).
Treat websites as a definitive source of information
AI crawls the web using traditional search structure as a foundation, which means your SEO fundamentals haven't changed. What has changed is how AI looks for deeper meanings and context, and assesses the gap between credible and mediocre content.
If AI systems decide what's credible, give them compelling reasons to choose your site over a competitor's.
For SEOs and marketers, your edge comes from substance:
Depth: Long-form, niche-specific coverage that expands your semantic footprint.
Proof: Transparent author bios, experience, and real-world insights that establish authority.
Quality: Research-led, accurate content that earns citations and builds trust.
What Google says about mediocre content
1. Liz Reid (Head of Search, Google) interview.
Liz Reid (Head of Search, Google) was interviewed by Anirban Chowdhury and said [quotes edited for clarity]:
"If you produce content that's very shallow, that you're just going to hope is ranking at the top but doesn't really have much to say, then your content really doesn't have much more than like an AI overview would give in the first place. So, people aren't going to want to click…"
Aside from the fact that Reid has basically confirmed that AI Overviews steal clicks, her statement reinforces the need to go deeper with your content.
Reid also stated:
"…if you produce really high quality content, you bring your perspective in, you're bringing your experience, you're doing something that you want to read for a minute…users are going to want to click in further.
…there's more push on sort of niche content…"
We've seen evidence that long-tail queries are growing in AI search and this trend creates opportunities to dominate high-value micro-niches.
In my opinion, focusing on more niche topics will equate to the biggest opportunity for AI systems to select a brand's content as relevant.
2. Robby Stein (VP of Product, Google) interview.
Lenny Rachitsky recently hosted Robby Stein on his podcast.
When asked about the rise of AEO/GEO and its effect on content, Stein had this to say [edited for clarity]:
"...do you satisfy the user intent of what they're trying to get? Do you have sources? Do you cite your information? Is it original or is it repeating things that have been repeated 500 times? And there's these best practices that I think still do largely apply because it's going to ultimately come down to an AI doing research and finding information.
…so if I were a creator, I would be thinking, what kind of content is someone using AI for? And then how could my content be the best for that given set of needs?"
While Stein's thoughts may echo Google's documentation on the "Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google's AI experiences on Search," he's also reinforcing the need to evaluate your content efforts.
1. Focus on differentiation: Marketers should focus on content that AI cannot easily reproduce, such as original research, proprietary data, video, podcasts, user-generated content, and first-person perspectives.
2. The blog's evolution: The blog's future lies in being a vehicle for opinion, original research, and storytelling, helping to build human authority.
The irony is that the most effective tactics in content marketing are the least used.
Why? Because they're hard. These strategies take time, resources, and creativity, but you don't get noticed for doing the easy stuff.
Websites still matter
The zero-click phenomenon doesn’t mean websites stopped mattering. It means the opposite. Aside from being a training groundfor AI (like it or not), websites are a destination for the most qualified visitors you’ll ever get.
Reid again:
"…as a publisher, you want to really think about what is the user's experience when they get to my site…be optimizing for a great experience when you land on that page. "
Final thoughts
Brands that treat their websites as living sources of authority are the ones AI and customers will trust.
When people click through—whether from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or anywhere else—they're already better qualified and their trust is fragile. Your site either confirms that trust or shatters it.
And, if a website isn’t the definitive resource in its space, no Q&A format will save it.
"Today, more and more seem to be discounting blogging because of AI. Those people who decide to drop blogging because of AI will be making a poor strategic decision.
When more businesses consider dropping blogging, it creates an opportunity for those who continue. The results, however defined, seem to show this. And blogging could be the trojan horse for getting found in AI results.”
—Joe Pulizzi
Do you follow me on LinkedIn? I share regular tips and stories I don't have room for here. Come and join me.
Digital PR is fast becoming the new organic search.
If you need innovative ways to stand out from your competitors, we have ideas for you.
↩ Steer your brand North today.
Information
✶ Bot publishing
Search Engine Land (SEL) has joined the herd of websites publishing AI-generated content. As of writing, 'Insight Engine' has published 6 articles for SEL's "SEO knowledge library."
I wonder if contributors to SEL's blog realize that this bot is training on their content?
✶ The AIO/organic overlap
A 16-month study reveals how AI Overview citations increasingly overlap with organic rankings, growing from 32% to 54%. See the industry breakdowns and strategy tips.
✶ AI search relies on brand-controlled sources
86% of AI citations come from sources brands already control, according to a new analysis of 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Brand visibility platform Yext's findings challenge the perception that forums like Reddit dominate AI answers.
Yext’s analysis also suggests that brands can directly influence visibility in generative results by keeping website content accurate, structured, and crawlable. (Yes, SEO.)
Google announced a new AI Vulnerability Reward Program dedicated to finding bugs in AI products. The AI bug bounty pays $20,000 for an individual report of a “Rogue Action.” Multipliers for report quality and a novelty bonus are also available, which could bring the total amount up to $30,000.
Inspiration
Risk vs Opportunity
"Every past decline looks like an opportunity and every future decline looks like a risk."—Morgan Housel
This line sums up how many SEOs feel about AI today.
When we look back at past SEO disruptions they all seem manageable in hindsight. "Oh, that just required better content" or "we just had to clean up our backlinks."
Each event became a story of adaptation and opportunity. We survived and the whole industry collectively learned.
Now, with AIOs, AI search alternatives, and talk of a zero-click future, a decline feels risky.
We can't yet see the opportunity because we're living in uncertainty. Will traditional organic traffic even matter in five years? Should we pivot entirely to become "AI optimization" specialists?
Why this matters for SEOs
Humans are terrible at recognizing opportunity during disruption.
And, as SEOs, we're now juggling defense and offense around AI in search.
We can work through this together, but that means acting on incomplete information and tolerating uncertainty.
While we can't abandon what's working today to chase what might work tomorrow, we also can't ignore that elements of SEO are changing.
The skill is to keep our options open and pivot when the opportunities become clear. Remember, every decline eventually becomes an opportunity story. Thanks for being here! I'll see you again on October 30.
In the meantime, feel free to ask me a question, send an interesting link, or tell me what's on your mind. I read all your emails!
Dates to watch
November Monthly Observances
Native American Heritage Month
Movember
World Vegan Month
Novel Writing Month
National Gratitude Month
Weekly Observances
November 16-22: American Education Week
November 24-30: Game and Puzzle Week
Days
November 1: Day of the Dead/Día de los Muertos
November 1: All Saints’ Day
November 1: World Vegan Day
November 2: Daylight Savings Time ends (US/Canada)
My team and I have been helping brands reach their SEO traffic and conversion goals through content and links for over 10 years. Recognized by industry leaders and household brands as an authority in both organic content and digital PR.
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