Log in
Use for free
MemberSpace Icon

The Membership Blast — 009

Websites Relying on SEO Are in Trouble (Here’s Why)

* indicates required

Hey friends,

Let me get right to the point.

There are a lot of companies that are in big trouble because a huge percentage of their business comes from search.

That’s what Gary Vee, of VaynerMedia just said on Bloomberg.

He went on to say, “We’re in the early stages of the search engine looking like the Yellow Pages.”

Wow!

Seems extreme but we are seeing this ourselves. For the first time ever, more customers earned their first dollar at MemberSpace after finding us through ChatGPT than Google Search.

So what does that mean for your website?

How do you optimize for AI?

AEO vs SEO

Watch Marvin’s AEO vs. SEO video

Watch Marvin’s AEO vs. SEO video

The easiest way to think about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is this:

We treat search engines like machines. We enter search terms, and they give us links so we can go find the answers ourselves.

With answer engines (or AI engines), we tend to talk to them like they’re intelligent… or even human.

Instead of entering search terms like “online yoga instructors” or “membership software,” we ask AI full questions, and they give us answers, like we’re talking to another human.

We ask things like:

“What are the best yoga studios online for men over 40?”
or
“What are the best membership platforms where I can use my own website?”

You can also see the difference if you open up Google and ChatGPT.

  • Google prompts you to “Search”
  • ChatGPT prompts you to “Ask anything”

So, in addition to optimizing for search terms in traditional search engines like Google, you now need to optimize the pages of your website for questions.

The good news is that AEO looks for most of the same signals SEO does
when determining which brands to mention in its answers.

However, AI really loves structured content, so focus on creating landing pages on your website to answer a very specific question using heading tags to ask the question, and paragraphs or structured bullet points right below to answer it.

So right now, you should be asking yourself:
What questions lead AI to mention my brand or website in its results?

Open up ChatGPT and ask these two questions:

  1. “What types of user needs, goals, or questions typically lead AI assistants to recommend mywebsite.com?”
  2. “Based on the purpose of mywebsite.com, what are some new or related questions people are asking?”

Use those resulting questions to create new and valuable structured content on your website.

  • Answer one big question per new page for bigger topics
  • Use heading tags to ask the question, and short, clear paragraphs underneath to answer them
  • Take your time creating long-form content
  • Cite and link reputable supporting content
  • Use FAQs at the bottom for related questions on the same page
  • Use schema markup when you can (This helps AI understand your page even better)

That’s how you start showing up in AI-powered search.

Of course, there’s more to getting mentioned by AI, but that would be the first thing I’d do to get started.

Now go see what AI thinks of your website!

Thanks for reading,

 

Marvin
Chief Growth Officer
MemberSpace