igital marketing is in the midst of an AI evolution with the eruption of artificial intelligence. AI offers time-saving tools not just for search but for content creation and marketing planning. Nevertheless, it’s disrupting search engine optimization (SEO), content, and social media marketing.

I recently celebrated 30 years of digital marketing! I started in 1995, before the internet was a household word. I remember when Google and Yahoo were both born as ways to index websites so people could easily find information. My job back then was to create websites and make sure that they were indexed in Google and Yahoo, and the bevy of other lists and directories that existed back then. The objective was to be found when a world wide web surfer was looking for what the business had to offer.

Then came the evolution of social media—Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter (now X). We all had to adapt and adopt, and re-strategize to these new media channels. That’s why I started my business over 13 years ago. I saw a need to show small business owners how to effectively promote their businesses in this new-fangled media.

When this new-fangled marketing started, you had to become a content magnet, then share that content on social media to build relationships and gain a following. That was the formula: Content plus social media gave you SEO or traffic to your website. Given that, you still needed a website set up to capture leads. The objective is still to convert a visitor into a lead or sale with an enticing offer or call to action.

If needed, you put them in an email automation system to nurture them into a sale. Without content and social media, you wouldn’t get the traffic to your website. Without traffic to your website, you won’t get those conversions!

Whether it’s sales, bookings, getting the phone to ring, or lead generation, the purpose of all of your marketing efforts is to get conversions. Conversions are still your goal—that hasn’t changed. What has changed in how your potential customer is going to get there; how are they going to find you?

These AI tools are called large language models or LLMs. By the way, Google is still very much in the game. Their AI is Gemini. On the Google mobile app, tap on the beaker icon to turn on AI Overviews. On desktop, you can turn on AI mode, which is technically a research assistant rather than a search engine.

Furthermore, if you don’t like Google, go over to Bing and try Microsoft’s Copilot, which uses the popular ChatGPT. Seventy-seven percent of Americans use ChatGPT as a search engine; it has over 700 million weekly active users. Additionally, we have Grok, Perplexity, Claude, NotebookLM, and over 100 other AIs!

Ranking in an AI platform is different than ranking on a standard Google search. Eighty-seven percent of AI queries are question-based searches. Over 13 billion people are using AI tools for search:

• 50 percent for information,
• 34 percent for navigation,
• 14.8 percent for conversion (They are looking to buy.), and
• 0.8 percent for a transaction (They are ready to buy.).

If your target customer has a question, a problem, or a pain point, they’re now, more than likely, going to ask their favorite AI search tool. The question is, which tools? Where are they searching? What are they asking? How do you know when they’re ready to make a decision? How do you get your content cited in the AI search results? (Note: These stats are changing by the minute.)

Content used to be king. It’s now queen. Context is king these days. Context, as defined by the dictionary, is the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed. Context is also the parts of something written or spoken that immediately precede and follow a word or passage and clarify its meaning.

You still need to be a content magnet, but it’s for the AI-bots instead of the end user.

I used to tell people to write for the human reader with the search engine in mind, but now it’s to write for the human reader with the AI search bot in mind.

Now more than ever, EEAT is crucial. What is EEAT?

• Experience: This is something AI cannot provide—your personal experience on a subject.
• Expertise: Does the content showcase your expertise and high level of knowledge or skill?
• Authority: Are you the go-to person on this subject?
• Trustworthiness: Is the information provided correct? Can you trust it? Are you legit or a fly-by-night operation? You do not want to sound fake. Remember this; it is important! This is what Google and the AI bots look for! Google Reviews factor here big time. Check out my article in the October issue of Messenger.

You want to become a trustworthy content magnet for the robots. Then strategically share that content on social media, where your post can be found and cited by the AI search bots. Content plus social media that the AI search bot can cite, which will lead to traffic to your website, brand recognition, and those conversions.

Keep in mind that the AI search bots scrape everything from everywhere!

Without strategic content and strategic social media posts, the AI bots won’t find you—neither will your potential customers!

Would you believe that LinkedIn and AI search bots are the latest hot couple? As I’ve been researching how and where the AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and others are finding content, it shouldn’t have surprised me that LinkedIn came in the top 10 most-cited sources!

That makes sense! I’ve been saying since I started my business that if you want to be known as an expert in your field, get on LinkedIn. Naturally, you need more than just your professional listing, your resume, and a company profile. You have to work it!

First off, both your personal and your company profiles have to be optimized, and you need to post to them daily (at least during the week).

Repurpose your blog posts from your website on LinkedIn, either from your personal page or your business page, whichever has the most followers. Now you can feature a video (under 15 minutes) as your cover (at the top) on a LinkedIn article.

You can write the article while it’s uploading. If you have a transcript, simply copy and paste it. My videos are presentations with voiceovers, so my presenter notes serve as my transcript. Add a few screenshots, and in less than 30 minutes you have an article with a video featured on top. What’s really cool is the video plays the timeline!

Copy the link and share it with your groups. The more exposure you get, the better. As often as you blog on your website, copy the article to LinkedIn. As often as you do videos (keep them under 15 minutes), feature them in an article on LinkedIn. Doing this regularly should enhance your EEAT factor not just with Google but with the AI search engines.

In my next article, I’ll dive deeper into Reddit and Quora, which are two other prominent sources for the AI search bots. Plus, I’ll share a cool AI tool trick to beat the competition.

The speed at which AI is developing is mind-blowing. Follow or connect with me on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/giselleaguiar/, where I share the latest news in AISEO and digital marketing.