DECEMBER 8, 2023

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

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Google’s eagerness to deliver the content people seek led to the creation of its Search Generative Experience. It pushes down sponsored and organic links in favor of delivering detailed content so searchers don’t have to click.

If you’ve opted into the SGE experiment as a user, you already know what I’m talking about. It’s the article-type response generated by Google that appears at the top of the search engine results page.

So how do you get your content to be part of that experience – and still rank well below? Do these five things:

1. Follow Google’s EEAT principles: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness matter a lot. Fortunately, EEAT mimics quality content practices. Provide detailed, accurate information that demonstrates your credentials and links to credible sources.

2. Write for searchers and AI: Craft content that will flow naturally for your target audience to consume. Write conversationally. Don’t use jargon or technical terms that could complicate the text for the reader and the AI algorithm. Be clear and concise. Make the content scannable.

3. Structure your content logically: Like your audience, AI tools prefer content that’s easy to follow. Pay attention to how you structure the content. Write helpful headings and subheadings. To see how well you did, read just the headings and subheadings. Do they tell what the story’s about? Do they logically follow each other? Adjust as necessary.

4. Think about your audience’s prompts: Similar to creating content for traditional search-optimized content, integrate keywords and phrases that your audience is likely to use in their prompts. The easiest way to do this is to input a question into search, then look at the People Also Ask questions to see their related questions. Organic results and knowledge panels in the results also can be helpful.

5. Experiment: Introduced this year, SGE is designed to evolve as it better learns what searchers want from it. You can do the same – craft different text, formats, etc. Analyze what works best for Google’s AI algorithm to improve the chances of your content showing up in the results. Of course, look at your website’s analytics, too, to see how SGE results impact website traffic, conversions, etc.

Helpful Resources:

• ​Google Search Quality Rater Guide (Google)
• ​Control Your Snippets in Search Results (Google)
• ​Navigating Google's Search Generative Experience: Your Preparation Guide (SEO Clarity)
• ​SEO Tips for Content Creators Who Want To Build an Audience (The Tilt)​
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– Ann Gynn

CEX 2024 registration is now OPEN. Content Entrepreneur Expo returns to Cleveland, Ohio, May 5-7, 2024. Save your seat today at the best prices ever!​

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Supported by Lulu

Don’t Throw It Out!: With 6.3M Instagram followers, Creative Explained’s Armen Adamjan needed a way to turn his plant hack videos into a sustainable creator business. Using Lulu Direct, he sells his books based on his videos directly to his fans. Selling books helped Armen turn his passion into a successful business. Learn how Armen did it.

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• Here's everything you need to know about what happened at OpenAI in less than five minutes. (Content Inc.)
• Joe and Robert discuss Google's AI product launch of Gemini and whether it can save its search business. (This Old Marketing)
• Don't miss out! Register now for CEX 2024 before early bird pricing disappears!
• Join Tilters Michelle Peterson Clark and Ann Gynn at 12 p.m. EST Tuesday for Tilt Your Business: A Weekly Mastermind for Content Entrepreneurs.
• ICYMI: Successful Creators Know If They’re Wearing the Sales or Brand-Building Content Hat​

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