Trends come and go in digital marketing all the time, but one that isn't going anywhere anytime soon is artificial intelligence (AI).

It wasn't that long ago when AI was the stuff of science fiction. It was for robots and machines and complex science. The idea alone barely felt possible to us. Now, though, the world is familiar with AI and it's being used for all manner of things.

AI can be found in automatic check-outs, online shopping recommendations, and more. It's become a staple of everyday life. It's also become an essential part of SEO success.

How Has AI Affected SEO?

Artificial intelligence, in particular machine learning, is an integral part of search engine optimization because it plays a part in how search engines assess and rank web pages in results. This is why you should have some understanding of AI when creating an SEO strategy.

With search engines becoming more effective at finding the right keywords, irrelevant backlinks, and better content it's up to marketers to use AI to get the results they want from SEO.

Not only does using AI for SEO give you a better chance of succeeding at SEO and getting the page ranking you want, it also gives you the opportunity to create better content and better SEO strategies as a whole.

Why you Need AI for the Success of SEO

Let's look at how AI plays a role in SEO and what using it can achieve.

AI and Content

AI plays an important role in created and executing a great content marketing strategy. By using AI you have more chances to connect to the target audience. You also have the power to make those connections more meaningful and get the results you want from them.

Every good content strategy is rooted in good data, which you get from having machine learning and AI on your side. Companies collect and manage a lot of customer insights and data and would benefit from using AI to sort through it to create the best SEO strategy to reach those customers.

AI can help you to create the right message and use the right channels to reach the right people.

AI and Hyper-Personalization

The best way to reach customers is to craft a message and idea that they personally find appealing; one that matches their own personality. They want companies to be able to solve their problems and address their concerns. Personalization is as important to SEO as it is to customer success.

Smart personalization has been shown to increase profits by up to 15%. If that wasn't enough, 79% of organizations that go above and beyond their revenue targets implement personalization strategies to reach their audience.

Putting it simply; personalization is an important part of success for a business.

AI And Search Engines

Search engines themselves are using AI to great effect. Google are constantly adjusting their algorithms to better match how people search for things online. They have become more adept at adding context to searches to provide more accurate results tailored to what people are actually looking for.

Search engines are seeing the results and benefits of using AI and machine learning for themselves. They have a lot of different options for people to search what they want how they want – be it through image search, voice search, or more.

According to the marketing pros at SEOlutions, every digital marketer can get better results out of their marketing strategies when they use the same tools and AI that search engines are using. Tools such as Yoast or Moz help marketers choose and use keywords, optimize sentences, manage content better, and do other things to ensure a page is fully optimized.

Those tools also help to handle image and audio searches so that people are able to find your content no matter how they search for it.

In short; search engines are getting better and better at finding what customers need. You can – and should – use the right tools to meet those needs yourself.

AI and Smart Content

Thanks to the evolution of AI and SEO – and their newfound combination – it is up to marketers to take advantage of intelligent content tools. These tools use AI to boost SEO performance and assist with things like reputation management.

Rather than have staff spend all day checking for mentions on social media, you could use Buzzumo or HubSpot to be automatically notified of any mentions. Other tools, such as Atomic Reach, offer analytics tracking for content. They help you to craft a better strategy built around AI for better results.

Whether it's collecting data, creating content, or putting together SEO strategies, artificial intelligence has become a major part of SEO success and digital marketing as a whole.

What the Future Holds

Technology is always changing and evolving. Search engines are no different. As tastes change and people rely on search engines more, these same search engines have to become better able to adapt to meet those needs. They have to be flexible.

This also leads to different expectations for marketers, writers, and content strategy managers. The days of being able to stuff keywords into a blog post and be done with it are long over. Search engines use AI to better meet the needs of users. This is why AI has also become an important part of SEO success as it allows content creators and marketers to also meet those needs.

The good news is that the challenges of adapting content and marketing to meet the demands of AI can be met using that same AI. AI also helps to create better strategies, manage automation, and improve page rankings across the board.

To summarize; AI is essential for marketing because it makes it easier to connect to users and craft content in a way that appeals to customers and search engines alike.