Blogs have been a crucial part of the way businesses build authority, answer customer questions, and get found on the Internet for the better part of two decades.
With AI tools flooding the market, it’s no wonder that many business owners are starting to ask themselves the same thing: “Is blogging still important”?
Not only is blogging still important today, but it’s also more relevant than it’s ever been. AI has reshaped how consumers find blogs, but a blog's power to build authority for your brand and answer your audience’s questions is as powerful as ever — especially if you know how to optimize them for AI-powered search.
Let’s take a look at the way that AI is reshaping the way that businesses are creating blog content, and how your business can leverage those changes.
WHY BLOGS ARE IMPORTANT
A well-written blog is more than just words on a digital page; it’s an investment in your credibility and visibility with your audience.
By freely sharing helpful information about your products and services, blogs help build long-term trust and demonstrate to your audience that you’re an expert in your industry.
“Blogs are a great way to introduce your brand to potential customers and to remind your loyal customers what they love about you,” says Joe Kuharic, a social media specialist at Federated Digital Solutions. “When you’re consistently publishing content that answers customers’ questions and solves their problems, you stop being simply a business and start being their trusted advisor.”
In practice, this means that blogs aren’t just content filler for your website; they’re a resource for your audience. Let’s consider an example.
Imagine you own an HVAC company. A potential customer fires up their furnace for the first time in the fall, but it fails to blow warm air. Their first instinct is to Google potential issues with their furnace that they may be able to fix on their own. One of your blogs pops up, and it solves their issue with a clear, helpful answer without them needing to make a call.
“The true power of blogs is that they’re working hard for you all the time — they never take a day off,” Kuharic says. “That means that you can show up for your customers to solve their problems exactly when they need you.”
The blog in the previous example helped establish a relationship with that customer without you even knowing. You’ve proven your expertise and given them a reason to trust you, so that if their furnace goes out in the middle of winter, you’re the first place they will think to call.
HOW AI HAS CHANGED THE WAY WE WRITE BLOGS
Blogs are going through a bit of a transformation at the moment. For a time, shorter blogs that answered simple questions and got straight to the point were the best types of content out there. However, as many search engines have begun rolling out AI overviews, it’s critical to reconsider how businesses write and publish content.
Transitioning From Ranking To Citing
Traditionally, when creating blogs with an SEO focus, publishers prioritized clicks and getting pages get ranked on search engine results pages (SERPs). AI-optimized search is different.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the new strategy to optimize blogs so they are found by AI systems that cite, reference, and summarize information to answer questions users ask. Blogs that do this successfully appear in conversations with generative AI programs like ChatGPT or as a summary in Google AI Overview or similar search engine overviews.
“When you create a blog today, you have to write in a way that humans and machines respond to,” Kuharic says. “AI is just trying to make the information easier for humans to find, so it’s easier than it sounds.”
To write more effectively for GEO, structure your blogs with clear questions, direct answers, and plenty of statistics and citations. Focus on making your blog the source of information, not just a link to click.
Focus On Depth, Quality, And Structure
Because people are asking AI tools questions, rather than searching with keywords, answering the bigger, more in-depth questions for your audience can help your blog posts perform better.
Short, one-off blogs that answer only one question aren’t as likely to be viewed as a worthwhile source to AI. Instead, dig deep into the long-tail questions your audience may be asking and explain the answer more thoroughly.
That doesn’t mean you can skimp on quality and pad your blog with filler. If you want to be discoverable by AI your content needs clear structure for AI systems to easily understand and real information that helps people.
HOW AI IMPROVES SEO RESULTS
Search engines have long rewarded websites with relevant, useful, and consistently published blog content. That hasn’t changed with AI advancements, but the way we structure blogs has shifted.
“When someone puts their question into a search engine or an AI tool like ChatGPT, the tool scours the Internet to provide an overview answer,” Kuharic says. “For writers, that means our blogs have to offer the most helpful information that is specific to people’s real questions they’re asking.”
Trying to trick AI or stuff keywords into a blog post is a fast track to being ignored by AI. Instead, keep in mind that AI tools are designed to help consumers answer questions. Structure your content to align with the needs of real people’s searches.
Blogs should be structured so that:
- Posts have answers to questions early on
- Headings and subheadings are clearly marked
- Google’s E-E-A-T framework is incorporated
- There are answers to multiple questions in a single post
- Copy is written conversationally, avoiding jargon
- Blogs are structured with H2 and H3 headers that flow naturally and break up sections
- You write enough content to adequately answer your readers’ questions in detail, without having unnecessary fluff
“Nobody wants to read a wall of text, not even AI,” Kuharic says. “Great blogs need great information structured in a way that’s easy for both people and AI tools to read.”
HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN LEVERAGE BLOGS IN THE AGE OF AI
It should be clear that blogging is a long-term strategy that builds trust and loyalty among your customers. The best blogs combine the strengths of AI in delivering helpful, relevant content to audiences with the authentic touch of a human writer.
Remember that even though AI helps to deliver your content to consumers, your blogs need to be readable and relatable to your audience. That means you need to answer their questions clearly — your readers, search engines and AI will thank you for this!
“The best blogs are the ones that aren’t just filling space on your website, they’re helping to solve real problems your customers face,” Kuharic says. “Every question they have is an opportunity for your business to show up in a blog and prove why they should turn to you first.”
Don’t simply rely on SEO and GEO to get your blogs read, either! Remember to repurpose your blogs as social media content through carousel posts, infographics, and short videos. Link back to your blog post and encourage your readers to learn more!
Still unsure how to start building a blog strategy? Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you start taking advantage of blogs!
