Revisiting ‘useful content’ in the age of AI-dominated search

AI has quietly redefined what “useful content” means.

Where brands once built trust and traffic through long-form explainers and glossary-driven SEO, that kind of content now feels increasingly redundant – to users and Google. 

If your site still leans on basic informational articles to demonstrate expertise, it’s time to reconsider what actually builds authority, trust, and relevance in this new landscape.

This article looks at how to rethink your content strategy across business positioning, products, services, and beyond by focusing on what your customers actually care about.

Why your 2,000-word industry guide might be hurting you

About 88.1% of AI-Overview-triggered queries are informational. 

For many, that may feel like the death knell of on-site content creation and blog articles. 

Where would we be without our 2,000-word primer for “The really, really big guide covering the basics about X industry standard concept as comprehensively as we can”? 

This kind of exhaustive coverage of basic industry topics has been a tried-and-true strategy for many businesses. 

And now, it should be considered an invalid topic.

To give you an example, if I searched for “tax year” (225,000 searches per year for the topic group, according to Semrush), we can see this in play.

At least three non-government sites are ranking for “tax year” on the first page (PWC, Reckon, Hnry): 

Historically, creating informational content like this has been seen as a customer-friendly way to build authority in an industry. 

But, somewhat rightfully, Google is taking that away from the majority of informational content if the domain isn’t the single source of truth for that information.

Let’s take the above scenario and say I’m a small business owner (I am) looking for an accountant. 

If they had a glossary of terms or a page specific to dates and important information, honestly, I might question the caliber of that business’s work. 

I say that because the website has very basic industry information, which:

• Makes me think they may be targeting customers who don’t understand the tax year or what quarterly filing they need to do.
• Strikes me as somewhat irresponsible as a business owner and potentially predatory as an accountant. 

You (seem to) be targeting folks who have no clue. And yet they have that information on their website.

For me, as a potential customer, it’s not a good look – for that accountant or that accounting software. I’d look elsewhere.

Beyond that, if I were someone looking for that information, I would go to the authority: the tax department on the government website, not a random accounting firm or accounting software. 

It’s this perspective Google is addressing – and I think it’s a fabulous thing.

But because of this long-standing, informationally driven content strategy, a lot of folks may now be wondering what to do for on-site content. 

The crutch of informational content is, essentially, gone.

Start with your customer, not keywords

I strongly believe the best place to begin is with your customer. 

For this exercise, set aside keyword research and instead focus on what your team members who regularly interact with customers are saying.

Typically, this includes sales, customer support, and retail staff (if you have them). 

Start by asking what concerns they hear most often and what questions come up repeatedly. 

Let those insights guide you in creating truly useful content – rather than relying solely on keyword data.

Business and authority building

The face of authority and customer appeal is changing. 75% of Gen Z consumers say sustainability is more important than brand name, according to Forbes. 

Google’s concept of authority in an industry is changing, too, because they have to react to the changing desires of their searchers.

For many of my clients, the information I recommend to create useful content around includes: 

• Supply chain transparency.
• If in YMYL, credentials about their internal experts or those they consult.
• Funding rounds and profitability: How do you make money? 
• Founding story and the “why.”
• Staff or key players with bios, if not already included.
• Contact and customer service information.
• Use of general, rather than industry-specific language.
• Customer testimonials or reviews.
• Recent awards or industry accolades.
• Industry society memberships.

When in doubt, fall back to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines: 

• “Popularity, user engagement, and user reviews can be considered evidence of reputation for non-YMYL websites: websites and content creators can be considered to have a very positive reputation if they are seen as one of the best sources available online for a topic or type of content.”

---

Products and services

Product and service detail pages are ripe for structured data. 

And no, I don’t mean (only) schema markup. 

I mean structured data in the truest sense: 

• Bulleted lists.
• Tables.
• Headings.
• Numbered lists. 

If you don’t already have the information below on page, now is the time to buckle down and strongly consider including them: 

• Product specs, including the manufacturer.
• Customer reviews.
• Links to variants, if they’re not on page.
• Real product images (rather than placeholders or stock imagery).
• Links to related products.
• Product or service-specific FAQ.
• Clear and unique product description.
• Best applications or use cases for the product or service.
• Generate and solicit external, third-party reviews and review sites.

Other content

Finally, the articles. What do you write about now?

Audit what you already have

First, consolidate what you have to address all the “SEO content” and informational content you’ve written in the last seven to nine years – content that Google is finally addressing head-on. 

This is also part of the AI answer-position zero world. 

Most of the time, those 300- to 500-word “SEO articles” answered single informational queries or provided a single definition of a basic industry standard.

If that information is still critical, integrate it into the customer journey on your site or within your sales onboarding. 

Just as SEO is no longer siloed to technical on-site work, it now sits within the wider marketing and customer journey. 

The information you uncover in your research may not be most appropriate for the website. 

It might be something to pass on to your onboarding team or a piece of information for customer support to add to their scripts. 

Be flexible about where information gets published or shared with your clients. 

Just because you’ve uncovered a valuable piece of information doesn’t mean it belongs on your website. 

It might be more effective as part of your sales onboarding, customer support materials, or internal training. 

In this new era of customer-focused content, success depends on choosing the right channel, not defaulting to publishing everything online. 

That shift will take collaboration – and likely a mindset change – for many teams.

Create less, but make it count

Next, create less – but do it with greater intention.

• Focus on topics you can meaningfully address for both your existing and ideal customers. 
• Invest in original or commissioned research that sparks interest within your industry. 
• Show up where your customers already are – whether that’s video, social, or elsewhere. 

Ultimately, spend more time, effort, and budget on fewer, higher-impact pieces of content.

When you create a piece of content, ask yourself:

• What would my longest-standing client think of this concept?
• What would my newest client think of this idea?
• What would my ideal client think of this content?

If you don’t have direct access to customers or those who speak to customers frequently, there are a number of places online where you can find representative information.

Rebuilding authority with purpose-driven content

As we move away from traditional informational content, companies need to rethink what “useful” really means.

That means refocusing on customer data – specifically, insights tied to the user journey – and aligning content with the brand’s unique value proposition and business goals.

It also means rethinking how we measure success, moving beyond traditional SEO metrics. (But that’s a whole other article for another time.)

We are at a point where cutting through the noise and ranking for an article must rely on industry expertise, having an opinion, and anticipating client needs to build authority rather than spamming the site with industry glossaries pretending to be authoritative.

#Revisiting #content #age #AIdominated #search