Redefining SEO: How training search engines is shaping the future of digital content

The “search engine optimisation” concept has long been a cornerstone of digital marketing. Still, in today’s world of advanced artificial intelligence (AI), it’s time to rethink how we view this practice. The term “optimisation” no longer fully captures what we do—instead, we are training search engines to understand better and prioritise our content.

Every few years, someone declares that SEO is dead, causing a temporary stir in the digital community. Yet, despite these claims, SEO continues to thrive. However, in the era of generative AI, it’s worth reconsidering the term “optimisation.” While SEO remains vital, “optimisation” has become outdated and no longer accurately reflects what’s happening in the industry.

The term “optimisation” suggests fine-tuning existing content to meet search engines’ requirements. But search engines have always been a form of generative AI, and SEOs have always been intermediaries between human-created content and these AI systems. Our role has always been to train search engines, whether we realise it or not.

The role of SEOs in the AI age

With the rise of AI technologies like ChatGPT, it’s become clear that SEOs’ role has been misunderstood. We’re not just optimising content; we’re training search engines to understand and rank our digital assets in the most relevant way. Generative AI relies on human guidance to achieve its full potential, and SEOs have always played this crucial role.

This shift in perspective has significant implications for how you approach your SEO strategy. It’s not just about getting quick results anymore; it’s about training AI to perform at its best. By viewing SEO as a training process rather than optimisation, you can better understand the complexities and set more realistic expectations for success.

To fully grasp this shift, it’s helpful to look back at the origins of “search engine optimisation” and how our understanding of AI has evolved. “SEO” was coined nearly 30 years ago, when search engines first became popular. In those early days, search engines were relatively simple, and optimising content was straightforward.

But even then, search engines were more than just technical tools based on human-created content and interactions. Over time, search engines have become more sophisticated, integrating AI technologies that allow them to understand and rank content better. Today, Google and other search engines are AI systems designed to serve people by providing relevant information.

Given this evolution, the term “optimisation” no longer fits. Instead, we should focus on training search engines to understand our content and deliver the best possible results.

Training search engines for success

So, what does it mean to train a search engine? At its core, training involves helping the AI understand your content in a way that makes it more relevant to users. This can be done through a variety of techniques, including:

• Keywords: Use specific keywords to signal what your content is about.
• Content quality: Create in-depth, well-structured content that builds trust with search engines.
• Internal links: Establish relationships between your content to help the AI understand its relevance.
• External links: Gain trust by earning links from reputable external sources.
• Schema markup: Use structured data to give the AI additional context about your content.

All these techniques help train the search engine to deliver your content in response to relevant queries. However, it’s important to remember that improper use of these techniques can have the opposite effect, leading to penalties or reduced visibility.

The limitations of ‘search engine training’

While “training” is more accurate than “optimisation,” it’s not without its challenges. The term could be easily misunderstood as referring to educational training, which isn’t the case here. Training search engines better reflects the complex relationship between AI and digital content.

As the industry continues to evolve, new terms may emerge that better capture this process. But for now, thinking of SEO as “training” rather than “optimisation” can help you set more realistic goals and achieve better results.

Ultimately, it’s important to remember that search engines and AI wouldn’t exist without your content. You can train search engines to recognise and prioritise your content. While the results may vary, staying relevant and understanding the language of AI can lead to more harmonious outcomes.