I believe the biggest missed opportunity is building topical authority with semantic clusters of content. Most agencies and teams are still working with individual keyword optimization methods from 2018. Google's AI has become much better at reading the content for depth, not just keyword density. I believe the switch was made when they recognized that websites which cover subjects from many different sides of the coin keep users engaged for longer and have a greater ability to provide answers to user queries. What does this look like in action? Creating one pillar page and linking it to 8-10 related subtopic pages that each support the same theme. While creating these types of content clusters can take some time to plan ahead of time, compared to the constant stream of blog posts that need to be created, the increase in rankings is quicker and will last longer. For example, I've seen real estate teams create content clusters on topics such as "first-time buyer financing" and dominate the search results for those terms within weeks.
While many SEOs focus on keywords and technical tweaks, they often miss the bigger picture which has been and still is a big game changer: being mentioned everywhere you can and sharing the right information about your brand across the entire web. It shouldn't be focusing only on rankings. It should be about ensuring that when Ai overviews, search engines, or any platform pulls information about your brand, they're finding your narrative everywhere they look. Most brands still aren't creating a consistent presence across the web, aren't doing it systematically which is why it remains such a underrated strategy.
Updating old content consistently is one of those simple tactics everyone forgets. AI systems and Google's new ranking models prioritise recency signals far more than people realise. We've built a quarterly audit where SEMrush flags any post slipping in visibility, and a quick refresh often brings it right back.
Web Designer & SEO Specialist at Squarespace Website Design + SEO by Tiffany
Answered 3 months ago
Backlinking and blogging are just as important as ever for building topical authority and domain ranking which ties right in to not only traditional SEO, but AI visibility as well. Easy tip: find relevant threads on Reddit and link to your site (AI refers to mentions on Reddit as one source of determining what it features in results).
Programmatic SEO! Making pages in bulk that are helpful and tackle hyper-specific content, is still working. You have to add value to what's already online, and show your own expertise in the pages. If you do that, success will come!
Product descriptions require brands to answer customer questions directly. Many brands fail to include this basic practice in their marketing strategies. The process requires more than listing features because it demands writers to create content that shows understanding of their target audience's mental state. Our swimwear descriptions about curve support and our lace bralette descriptions about sun-kissed skin contact led women to spend more time on our website while exploring our products more thoroughly. Our messages addressed her exact needs at that particular instant when she sought to experience her most authentic self. Google detects this information. The most important validation comes from her direct experience.