Author Archive Brien Seyle

What’s best for GEO today is what’s always been best for SEO: Fresh, original, high-quality content. The trick is to put something on the internet that isn’t already there. Generative AI can’t do that. It can only remix what already exists. To get AI and search engines to see your site as an authority, you’ll need to create primary resources.   

Luckily, generating useful new information isn’t as hard as you might think. Here are three ways to create original material without requiring a dedicated research wing or tons of time and money. 

First, though, a little background on why we’re enthusiastic about novelty in SEO/GEO content. 

Research-Based Vs. Original SEO/GEO Content 

In the pre-AI days, a lot of SEO content was based on research alone. Organizing information was a valuable service even if you didn’t create the data from scratch. Done right, the results were both helpful (for your audience) and beneficial (for your web traffic numbers). 

For example, if your audience operates in a heavily regulated industry, you could create a list of relevant standards and regulations. You’d pull from existing regulatory and technical industry sources, but you’d create something new: An organized compilation of information that’s directly relevant to your audience. They’d click, they’d learn, and maybe they’d convert.  

These days, research-based articles are less likely to lead to a click — which doesn’t make them entirely useless, of course! They still build authority and show up in search, both AI and conventional. They just tend to move the traffic needle less than they used to. 

People still need to organize the internet’s information, but they increasingly trust AI to do it. Remember, the goal of content marketing is always to genuinely help your audience. That’s what brings them to your contact form. There’s no point offering something AI can do just as well. So, to stand out these days, create the content that AI can’t.     

The best way to show up in AI overviews and search engine results is to say something new. To put it in vaguely sciencey terms, you must generate new data. That’s the one thing AI can’t do. It’s the best way to stand out from the proliferating AI slop. It’s also kind of exciting.  

3 Types of SEO/GEO Content for Original Data Creation

Here are a few types of content that bring new ideas to the internet, broadening your visibility along the way: 

1. Case Studies

Case studies are great because they’re real-world stories. They’re your stories, and they’re yours to tell. That originality makes them extremely valuable on a stagnating internet. 

As we’ve mentioned before, we love case studies. They meet so many goals simultaneously. All at once, case studies are: 

• Great sales content. Hand them to leads who find themselves in similar positions to the ones described in your case studies. They’re proof of effectiveness. 

• Great SEO content. Only the most qualified leads will search for the sorts of challenges your case studies describe. They’re the most likely to click and take action. With well-structured success stories, you’ll show up for these highly relevant searches. 

• Great GEO content. The AI chatbots love to cite examples. Case studies give them those examples on a platter. 

Don’t have time to write up your success stories? At Relay Online Marketing, we make it easy. Fill out a questionnaire or just meet us on a 20-minute phone call, and we’ll take it from there. Contact us if that sounds helpful.     

2. Do-It-Yourself Surveys 

We’d estimate that 99% of content creators — human or otherwise — love a good statistic. Numbers look authoritative. They make our claims stronger. Good, new data that’s highly specific to your industry is very likely to show up in relevant AI responses and traditional search alike.   

The trouble is, it’s hard to generate good, fresh data. Scientists are expensive. One simple DIY solution is the humble survey: Solicit responses, generate some percentages, and write up your findings.  

Not comfortable surveying your strangers on Reddit? Survey your customers or staff. Any group that’s big enough to generate meaningful statistics can help you learn interesting facts about your industry — and if you’re interested, odds are your audience will be, too.  

3. Editorial Articles

You’re probably an expert in your industry. You’re definitely the expert on your business, and we’re sure you have opinions. Share them. 

Of course, you’ll want to keep it relevant to the business. Your political views aren’t likely to show up in search. But original ideas about how your industry could be more efficient, or more ethical, or more exciting — those might. Call it thought leadership if you must. The point is to express your point of view, to share what you’ve learned from your unique vantage point within the industry. 

If those insights are hard to get down on paper, we can help. Contact us to turn a quick conversation into original SEO/GEO content that makes your authority clear.  

We used to think of case studies as sales copy. They showed off your competitive differences. They gave qualified leads confidence that you were the right partner. This was brand storytelling, best for tugging the heartstrings (or purse strings) of sales prospects who were almost ready to click “buy.” 

In other words, we classified case studies as bottom-of-funnel content. For the top of the sales funnel — the discovery phase of a buyer’s journey — we’d recommend helpful, informative blog posts. We’d try to find out what questions your audience hand, then post the best answers to those questions. 

Generative AI has completely flipped our view of case studies (or success stories, if you prefer). They’re not just for sales anymore. They’re also essential top-of-funnel tools, ideal for getting brand mentions into AI overviews and website links into AI citations. Here’s why case studies are more important than ever in the era of zero-click search. 

Case Studies in the Shift From SEO to GEO 

In retrospect, traditional SEO was simple. Every search query was a question. Post the best answer to that question and you’d climb the SERP rankings. There was an alignment of interests between searchers, search engines, and content producers: Everyone wanted the best answers to show up first. 

Now search engines want their own answer to show up first. Searchers seem okay with the shift. It’s hard to know which numbers to trust, but everyone seems to agree that some huge majority — between 60 and 80 percent — of searches are ending without a click. 

In some ways, that’s not as huge a shift as it sounds. As we’ve mentioned before, people who want to buy something still have to go to your website. Search engine rankings are still important for your bottom line. 

But the new paradigm does change the type of content that puts your brand in front of fresh eyes. Before generative AI engines, concise, informative content was great for digital visibility. Now you can’t just answer a question, because AI will do that for you — and the AI overview always comes first. 

To get discovered, you must show up in AI overviews and AI chatbot responses. That’s the goal of generative engine optimization (GEO). Case studies have become really good for GEO for three main reasons: 

1. Case studies give chatbots easy access to examples. 

Generative AI can’t make anything up, but it’s programmed to project authority. It uses real-world examples to do so. If you can provide such an example, you have a strong chance of showing up in the AI-generated answer to a question that’s highly relevant to your industry. 

2. Case studies demonstrate experience. 

As half-baked chatbots take over the internet, real experience is only growing in value. The people who make the chatbots know that, so it’s no surprise that, in 2024, Google added “Experience” to its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. (This joins the pre-existing factors of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). 

With a full slate of success stories on your website, you show off your experience to prospective customers, search engines, and AI bots alike. You’re more likely to be cited in an AI overview. You may also rank higher on traditional search engine results pages (SERPs).

3. Case studies put you in front of highly qualified leads. 

The nice thing about AI search is that it encourages people to ask really, really specific questions. (Now, AI will answer those questions whether it has good information or not, so this benefit doubles as a drawback.) 

But suppose you run a B2B business in a narrow niche, like selling rubber seals to gas mask manufacturers or something. If someone asks ChatGPT, “How do I repair a horse gas mask,” that is a qualified lead. It’s someone you want to get in front of. 

Now say there’s not much info online about rubber gas mask seals in general, let alone specifically for horse gas masks. And say you did a custom horse-gas-mask seal job a few years ago. If you tell that story on your website, chances are high that the AI bots will mention you to that searcher. 

In other words, the case study will help you get discovered. It will also, simultaneously, help you convert a prospect into a customer. In fact, scratch what we said earlier: Case studies haven’t shifted from bottom-of-funnel to top. They’ve grown to occupy the entire sales funnel at once.

We Will Write Case Studies For You (Without AI) 

We’ll talk about what makes a good case study some other time. But if you’d like help telling your success stories, contact us today. We’re experts in the form (and we’re probably cheaper than you think).