😌 How to beat AI content

Happy Tuesday! 👋

With Google launching it’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), marketers and businesses are left asking, “what will happen to SEO?”

Is SEO dead?

Will my organic traffic drop due to AI search results?

These are valid questions. And given that Marketer Milk has grown from SEO, and that we help brands grow through SEO, it’s only fair that we give our input.

SEO is not dead. But it is changing.

If there’s one thing you should take away from the state of SEO it’s that humans will always crave original and opinionated content.

There’s actually a trend where people will search something in Google and type the word “reddit” after it to see results written by real humans. And Google knows this.

Google knows that longevity for their business comes from creating the best possible user search experience.

So how will Google do this? They will prioritize content that is original, thoughtful, and authoritative. And Google will use that type of content to help fuel it’s AI results.

So, how do you win at SEO in 2023 and in 2024? You need to stand out through distinctive branding and content that adds a new perspective on a topic.

Let’s get practical. Here’s exactly how we are doing it:

• Custom images

• Write about stuff you know

Custom images

A surefire way to stand out is to make your content as custom as possible. This means limiting the use of stock images.

Use custom thumbnails for your blog posts and use original images in the body of your content.

Google is starting to pull blog thumbnail images into its SERPs. Having a custom, standout image is a great way to not only help you rank better but also improve your CTR.

Next, pay attention to your favicon. This is the little icon next to your brand name. Having a favicon that stands out can be a great way to catch someone’s attention and make them read your meta title.

We did this with Marketer Milk and saw a lift in our CTRs across our entire site.

Write about stuff you know

This is a tough one to get right, which is why Google is starting to take it more seriously.

With ChatGPT and so many different AI content creation tools available, it’s so easy to whip up content about any subject (without actually being a subject matter expert).

The way you beat AI content is to have a unique perspective on a topic that most people don’t have. And you can only do this if you have first hand experence about a given topic.

For example, if you try to target the keyword “how to open an ice cream shop”, the way you’ll outrank high DR “how to” sites like wikiHow is to have the writer of that topic be someone who actually opened and runs an ice cream shop. This will allow you to produce content that is original and 10x better than what currently exists. The writer will be able to address all the nuances and give personal anecdotes on how they navigated through their journey. (This is why video essays with personal stories do so well on YouTube.)

In the case of Marketer Milk, we know marketing better than any other subject. So when we wrote a piece on the “best marketing courses” (see screenshot in pervious section) we were able to outrank HubSpot because the courses mentioned in that list were courses we actually took. It’s content that is written in the best interest of the reader.

And if you’re writing about a topic you know, one way you can make it great is to ask yourself “is this something my past self should have read?” When you approach SEO content from this perspective you ensure that your content is the best on that subject. And Google is smart enough to figure this out.

So, if you want to win at SEO in 2023, and beat AI content, focus on creating custom content that is written by a subject matter expert. This will not only help you rank better, but it will also help build trust with your readers and make them more likely to convert.

With that, let's get into what we have in store this week (lots of good stuff):

• Marketing news from the past week

• Best channels for acquiring customers

• 4 techniques successful writers use

• 11 realizations from testing Search Generative Experience

• Your first startup marketing hire

• Ad from the past

• Website of the week

• Cool marketing jobs

• And much more

🗞 In the news

• Apple’s Vision Pro revives marketers’ AR ambitions

• Over 7k Subreddits go private in protest over API pricing increase

• Google invites more users to try Search Generative Experience after recent quality updates

• Twilio deploys Google Cloud AI for customer service

🚀 All things growth & product

The best channels for acquiring customers, the difference between a brand and produce channel fit, product lessons from working at Figma, and real-life examples of messaging and positioning in marketing.

✍️ Content, copy, & branding

How Notion reduced their CPL by personalizing ad landing pages, 4 techniques successful writers use, the Storybrand framework, how to make your webinars better, and the 12 brand archetypes.

⚙️ SEO

How to tell if organic traffic is eroding, an SEO case study on Wirecutter, and adding ‘dateModified’ to schema to improve traffic.

🤖 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Realizations from testing Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), and Google’s guides to learning how to use generative AI.

🧠 Extra stuff

📣 Ad from the past

💻 Website of the week

🏝 Cool remote marketing jobs

• Email Marketing Intern at Medterra

• Performance Marketing Manager, YouTube at ClickUp

• Technical SEO Manager at hims & hers

• Director of Growth Marketing at Soundstripe

• CMO at Pepper

Okay, that's it for now 🖤. See you next Tuesday!

“Constant awareness that everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it. You think the only seeds are the ones that make plants or children? Go deeper.” — Marcus Aurelius

Riddle answer: The second page of Google.