SEO is over: I’m giving up on Google & optimizing for AI // ThinkInsideTheSquare Episode 66

[@InsideTheSquare]

I cleaned up the audio using Adobe podcast enhance feature and I messed up the video sync when I added it back in. I'm an expert at Squarespace, not editing, and it shows. 😅 This is actually my second time trying to film my podcast and I'm mortified that it came out so bad. I have had to delete so many cruel comments; people seem so much more concerned with my editing than my message, so I've gone back to audio only. 💔 * Please focus on the message of this episode and remember that I'm a person doing my best before you comment below. * I'm open to consecutive criticism and embrace any discussion about the topic, but rude and offensive comments will be deleted.

[@LoverOfAllThingsLavender]

Thank you for doing what you do. The message is clear and I wouldn’t have ever thought of developing my own squarespace website, if it weren’t for you.

[@rahulparashar5187]

I really did notice until halfway to the video and saw this comment. Your content is solid. Forget and forgive haters .. that’s part of the game, they are those lazy zombies who don’t like others doing the hard work

[@derrik-bosse]

Subscribed!

[@rickwalker7754]

Wow... I learned so much from you Becca... I am a 79yo (retired, LOL) Engineer, who invented something and came across your video. as I'm trying to put a little website together... You explained everything so well and clearly. Now I have to go fix things up, so everyone can find me !!!

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you so much for letting me know! I'm really happy that my work is helping you make the most of your website ☺️

[@CarlOlsonArt]

This is probably one of the most profound web dev videos I've watched this year. Thanks, Becca!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You are so welcome - thank you for your comment, Carl! I hope your inspired by my predictions for the future of content creation 🔮

[@VisibleProjects]

Just came across your channel - love your clear and crisp delivery. No b.s. - just actionable insights. Thank you. Subscribed.

[@LordJHouse]

I absolutely second this comment on all accounts.

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you so much!! I'm glad you like my style and appreciate the comments 😎

[@cyclejournal9459]

Agree.

[@oxdogoxSF]

Long time fan... This was great and reinforced everything we are doing today. My personal struggle is how this applies in other countries. We are currently 9 months in on a rebrand of a restaurant group in Thailand. Their social and Web content is a mishmash of English and Thai and we're trying to strategize where to focus on the different languages. Somethings are just more descriptive in English and is commonly used in the industry, but Thai is more often used in search.

[@InsideTheSquare]

What an interesting project; how cool! Best of luck with your multilingual optimization strategy 🙌

[@MaxLosche]

Good video and great tips. thank you for those. I've had the same thoughts about Google and ChatGPT lately. here is my main problem: where will the traffic come from? If chat GPT gives you a compact and satisfying answer in the AI chat, you're probably okay with that answer most of the time. And even if the AI references your site several times (that has actually been the case for me), many users still don't seem to care much about those grey source links in the AI chat...So, where is the traffic supposed to come from? It's great to gain new visibility in AI chats, but if few to no people click through to the original source, we still end up running personal blogs that make no money at all. PLUS the fact that various AIs can freely steal our awesome content. Oh, but they link out to you, so it's okay, right?...That's the main concern I got, anyways. Best regards /Max

[@InsideTheSquare]

I'm with you 100% - I don't think my traffic will never recover. The best I can do is make sure that I'm accessible to my audience, and that I'm creating helpful content so when they need help from a Squarespace expert, they know where to go. Now will I be in business a year from now? I hope so, but who knows! 😬

[@jrathgeber]

Thanks for this video. It was pretty interesting. One thing I could not figure out is: What is the benefit to us of optimizing our content for AI? How do we monetize that? Maybe need another video?

[@InsideTheSquare]

That is such a good and tricky question; one I am struggling with right now as a content creator. The brand recognition is great, but that kind of credit wont pay my mortgage. I'm trying to find creative ways to monetize now that I've lost 80% of my traffic and 80% of my revenue along with it. I'm working on a new video for December with an update so stay tuned! 🙌

[@davypelletier]

Great video. I've been implementing this approach and ive watched my traffic skyrocket. glad to see you post this.

[@InsideTheSquare]

That's so awesome to hear! I'm glad that you're seeing the recognition your quality content deserves 🎉 The future is now, amiright?! 😅

[@davypelletier]

@@InsideTheSquare 2025 is gonna be lit up like an old Christmas tree!

[@JaiSequoia]

Girl! You have hit your stride. You are so inspiring to have turned around what felt like a tragedy with losing all your site traffic into a whole other level of insight and expertise. I have always hated the fake idea of keyword stuffing and trying to make things sound a particular way rather than as you’ve just described - providing clear, concise information to the world with integrity and clarity. One thing I’m wondering about is the schema markups I’ve only recently discovered this in use cases of plug-ins for testimonials and also for FAQ pages. But do you use one on every page of your website? I love it in future if you would talk more about this. Thanks again this was hugely valuable. Appreciating you. ❤

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you so much Jai - for your comment, and your support while I'm on this wild ride! 🎢 I'm definitely happy to leave the spammy keyword strategies behind. I think I'll have to do a deep dive video about AI friendly schema markup; this is such a great question and I'd love to share some concrete examples and sources to help you optimize, too! Stay tuned 😉

[@JaiSequoia]

@@InsideTheSquare Ooh thank you! Well I met you when 7.1 first came out remember? So it's been a few years now. Very cool to be part of your journey - you've certainly been a part of mine! As for schema markup. I've been (lightly) using SEOSPACE and that's where I firsts learned about it and I actually used chatgpt to create and then fix up after a couple of reports from google search console about errors (be nice not to have to wait for errors but don't know how to get around that). As I said, I've only used it so far for testimonial plugins and faq sections so open now to learning MORE about this tool. Big hugs!

[@JoelBrandonMedia]

You’re incredibly well-spoken! I actually thought you were AI at first! 😂😂 Thanks for this!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're welcome! I did use an adobe enhance audio feature so when I added the audio back in, it did come out a little uncanny-valley 😅 glad you liked my perspective!

[@iqwebserve3973]

Clear, concise and structured information. Very pleasant delivery too. I gave up on online marketing and now I feel there is a second chance at this (make a 'second chance' video?). Thanks so much Becca!

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you - I'm glad you like my style! it will be interesting to see where this goes, but at this point, I'm ready to look a postcards and in person workshops like it's 2007 😅 I plan to post a monthly update on my business as I navigate this shift, so stay tuned! 😉

[@alanajwrites]

I got a lot of value from this video. It made me think about how I should use the SEO title and description fields in future. (Sorry for my previous comment which I've now deleted.)

[@kennethmurphy8585]

Omg this is awesome. Thank you so much Becca 🙏🏻♥️

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're so welcome - I'm so glad you enjoyed my insight! 🚀

[@SuadPhotography]

Great Video... would love to see tutorial about exactly how to do this in SquareSpace and ChatGPT. As a Photographer, I learn better visually.😊😂

[@InsideTheSquare]

I'm glad you like it, and that’s a great idea! I'll definitely work on a few example tutorials for this, so stay tuned! 😊

[@AlyssaBurtt]

+1 on this request! I tried asking ChatGPT (free version) to connect to the internet for the most up to date information and it told me it can’t do that.

[@SuadPhotography]

I look forward to it!! All your tutorials are SO HELPFUL!!!!

[@cherrym471]

This video was super inisghtful. I found some of the pages that are being ranked #1 have a forum component - almost like a Q & A section where people can participate and the owner of the page can respond. What is your thoughts on that?

[@InsideTheSquare]

That's a really great question. There are so many factors that go into rank so it's nearly impossible to say BUT we can assume that forums constantly generate new text, which search engines see as valuable. Plus, even if the forum itself is spammy, other websites might link to it, boosting its authority in the eyes of search engines. It's great for high quality content and expertise, but sadly, if the content are garbage, a bot will still see it as popular. 😬

[@floatinglotusdesign]

I'm enjoying following your journey through this experience and I think your approach is spot on. As I am expanding my services to include SEO, I'm absolutely including the importance of working with AI not against and how important expertise and authenticity in creating content for humans is. Is does sound a bit ironic though doesn't it to create for humans so AI works for us! I think we can combine keywords with conversational search. I'm already seeing traffic from ChatGPT and Perplexity. The landscape is changing, but how exciting to be a part of it a these early stages!

[@InsideTheSquare]

I agree - definitely exciting for us content creators! I love the combination concept, and it will be interesting to see where GPT search takes us... 🤔

[@IrinaLogra]

Wonderful explanation. Thank you so much, Becca!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You'r welcome - I'm so glad you found it helpful! 😊

[@QuickHerbFacts]

THIS IS SO SOLID!!!!!! JUST GREAT...THANK YOU

[@InsideTheSquare]

You are so welcome! ☺️ It's been a wild ride as a blogger these days; I'm excited to see where this goes.

[@anitius101]

Muy bueno! Gracias. Y cómo se haría si el producto no tiene un mercado local, sino varios? Por ejemplo 4 países latinoamericanos?

[@InsideTheSquare]

That's such a great question! I'm honestly not sure about local vs global results and how those factor into AI results, but I will definitely keep in mind for my next AI/SEO update episode. // ¡Esa es una gran pregunta! Sinceramente, no estoy seguro de los resultados locales frente a los globales y de cómo influyen en los resultados de la IA, pero definitivamente lo tendré en cuenta para mi próximo episodio de actualización de SEO y búsqueda impulsada por inteligencia artificial.

[@jorgemar2815]

Love the approach can you please provide more information on this. Maybe a how to?

[@InsideTheSquare]

I'm glad you found this inspiring! I'll work on some example content to share in an upcoming tutorial; thanks for the suggestion 🥰

[@maddieandjowjow]

Authenticity❤

[@InsideTheSquare]

Yes!! Finally we get to focus on that and not 8 ways to say the same keyword phrase 😅 Personally, I'm pumped. 🎉

[@maddieandjowjow]

@InsideTheSquare ❤️

[@ChrisGoodall-s8d]

Excellent info! Thanks!

[@InsideTheSquare]

You're welcome! ☺️

[@bringbackthefiretv495]

Exactly!!

[@bobgeorgeff]

Was the audio for your voice generated via a voice clone?

[@InsideTheSquare]

Nope - I cleaned up the audio using Adobe podcast enhance feature and I messed up the video sync when I added it back in. I'm an expert at Squarespace, not editing, and it shows. 😅 This is actually my second time trying to film my podcast and I'm mortified that people hate it so much; the comments have been really negative so I've had to delete one more almost daily. People seem so much more concerned with my editing than my message, so I've gone back to audio only. 💔

[@bobgeorgeff]

@@InsideTheSquare No, no...don't go back to audio only. Just post the video without the Adobe Podcast enhancement. It'll be great! I didn't hate it, but was just curious as to how you did it.

[@sonenstahl]

What is your monetization strategy with this approach?

[@InsideTheSquare]

That's a great question! I still sell my Squarespace CSS cheat sheet, and my course on code. To be totally honest, after 80% decrease in traffic, sales have also decreased, so I have another project in the works that will hopefully save my business. You'll have to tune in to a future episode to learn more about what I'm hoping to launch this December 😉

[@MacSaxe]

But when AI searches the web, doesn't it get the same results as when we search on Google or Bing? I'd love more info on exactly how AI searches the web and who's index/s it uses

[@InsideTheSquare]

That’s exactly what my video is about. An AI engine, like ChatGPT, understands and generates responses based on context, allowing for more conversational and nuanced interactions, while a search engine like Google focuses on matching keywords to indexed content. In an AI engine, the meaning and context of a query drive the response, whereas search engines prioritize retrieving relevant documents or web pages based on keyword relevance.

[@MacSaxe]

@ thanks for getting back to me - sorry I probably wasn't clear in what I was trying to say... GPT apparently uses the Bing search index so when it searches for things, despite it's amazing capabilities, it will still be searching in the now polluted search results we all know and love. But yes I imagine it's already sorted much of the wheat from chaff...

[@thebikeracer]

I’m pretty sure this video is AI.

[@InsideTheSquare]

LOL - I’m sure the bots would have done a better editing job than I did 😂

[@lenoreavajaffe966]

This is terrible news! Love you nevertheless, Becca

[@InsideTheSquare]

I thought so at first, but I think focusing on the collaborative aspect is helping me stay excited about this evolution of information. I'm already happy avoiding clickbait articles 😅 lol Thank you for your comment and support!

[@veronica_._._._]

Why do you sound like ChatGPT?

[@InsideTheSquare]

LOL - I might be on their team, but they haven't replaced me yet 😉

[@veronica_._._._]

@@InsideTheSquare Maybe they owe you royalties....

[@JimMendenhall]

Becca sounds like AI.

[@InsideTheSquare]

I swear the bots didn’t clone me… yet! 😉 lol

[@bobgeorgeff]

The audio and mouth movements are out of sync. But great info.

[@InsideTheSquare]

Thank you for focusing on the content of the video! I cleaned up the audio using Adobe podcast enhance feature and I messed up the video sync when I added it back in. I'm an expert at Squarespace, not editing, and it shows. 😅 This is actually my second time trying to film my podcast and I'm mortified that it came out so bad. I have had to delete SO many cruel comments; people seem so much more concerned with my editing than my message, and have even used vulgar language in a plethora of negative feedback. It's been a nightmare so I've gone back to audio only. 💔

[@TastyGoomba]

tired of seeing reddit in every search result on the G. the info on reddit is crap!

[@InsideTheSquare]

I'm with ya - I am socked that so much of those comments are treated as a trusted resource by Google bots 😳

[@HUBRISTICAL]

This was obviously recorded before Open AI released search gpt lol

[@InsideTheSquare]

I literally recorded and edited this yesterday lol Can you elaborate - how does the prototype of Search GPT make the concepts I'm sharing invalid or outdated? My advice in this video is valid right now, and will be even more applicable when the prototype is public. I'm interested to hear about your contradictory thoughts and personal experience as a content creator! And please remember to cite your sources. 😉