Seven Steps to Take Now to Improve SEO

By Jamie Rzewnicki
Senior Manager, Digital

Website traffic has taken a dip, click-through rates have seen better days and your social media posts are buried in the algorithm. What happened?

AI happened, and the tactics that worked like a well-oiled machine to drive online traffic require some additional measures to be impactful.  

AI has changed how people search and discover information. That doesn’t mean you have to scrap your entire search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you just need to update the playbook.

Read more: The New Playbook: How AI Has Redefined SEO

Even though search is evolving as users move from clicking links to expecting instant answers, trusted, well-structured content will perform well. That also means new opportunities are emerging to position your brand as a reliable source that AI platforms and real people turn to for information.

We’ve put together seven steps you can take right now to strengthen visibility, earn credibility and position your content to perform in an AI-driven search environment.

1. Reset expectations. BecauseAI has changed how people search and interact online, you probably need to redefine what success looks like for website traffic, click-through rates and other key metrics. The truth is that traffic declines are happening across the board due to Google’s use of AI overviews and users turning to other AI tools. Depending on your SEO strategy, though, you might see an increase in qualified visits. Work with your team to identify realistic goals.
2. Lean into SEO basics and showcase your strengths. Trust still wins, especially in today’s environment where people are searching for authenticity. Highlight your organization’s expertise with author bios and team highlights. Ensure that you cite credible sources on your website and build a linking strategy that earns mentions and citations. Update older content when it makes sense to keep your content relevant. And don’t forget the basics:
   1. Technical SEO
   2. On-Page SEO
   3. Content Strategy
   4. E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
3. Reframe your content and SEO around “answer-ability.” Identify questions your audience asks and ensure your content provides clear, verifiable answers. That may mean focusing less on keywords and more on what your audience is looking for before they get to your site. Add FAQ, how-to guides and other relevant content to your site when applicable. Bonus tip: Use the tools AlsoAsked or AnswerThePublic to discover the terms people are using and the questions they are asking  – and craft your content accordingly.
4. Use structured data and schema to help AI understand your story. Think of structured data and schema as your content’s roadmap. They help AI and search engines understand your content more clearly. When your content is well-organized with headers, summaries and supporting details, it’s easier for these platforms to recognize what matters most and share it accordingly. Schema works like a translator between your brand and the machines reading your content. It tells them who you are, what you do and why it’s relevant. So, the clearer your site’s structure, the more likely AI will cite it as a trusted source.
5. Focus on high-quality, human-led content. AI is a great tool, but content will always need the human touch. Lean into AI to help develop your content by doing keyword research, outlines and meta descriptions with the goal of having AI-augmented, not AI-generated, content. In fact, Google explicitly rewards original analysis and firsthand experience over completely AI-generated content. In practice, that may look like publishing fewer, more meaningful pieces that reflect lived experiences and expertise rather than spitting out numerous, AI-drafted pieces.
6. Use AI as a mirror. Search your company on ChatGPT, Gemini or Bing Copilot to find out how users are seeing you online. Ask the large language models (LLMs) what your company stands for, what its values are and similar questions. Identify what’s accurate or what’s inaccurate or missing from the results and adjust your content accordingly.
7. Prioritize user experiences and accessibility. We used to think of SEO as just keywords and links, but user experience is a key part of it. Your website needs to be fast, clear and accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Take steps to ensure that users can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with web content, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. Descriptive alt-text for images is an important part of accessibility, because it helps search engines understand your visuals and allows AI systems to contextualize and cite your content accurately. And real users – the most important audience! – can connect with your brand in a more human way.

Online search will continue to evolve and brands that use clear schema, verified sources and consistent context will be easier for AI to recognize and reference. The brands that feed AI systems with the right data and authority today will lead tomorrow’s search results. Highlighting verified experts, knowledge graphs and multimedia content, like short videos and podcasts, are ways to show real authority and earn citations in AI answers.

To get started, download the Look East workbook SEO and AI: 7 Things To Do Right Now.

By updating your SEO strategy now, you’re positioning your brand to be discoverable, reliable and relevant in the way search actually works today.