Content marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), is a crucial customer acquisition strategy for many modern companies. But with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence), and as Google refines its increasingly sophisticated search algorithm, the nature of SEO has changed. Here’s how one fast-growing startup building personality tests for modern teams, TeamDynamics, uses Plus AI to stay ahead of the curve and find customers.
SEO is changing and content marketers must keep up
10 years ago, any company that wanted to boost its profile on Google could simply stuff its webpages with keywords (”keyword stuffing”), get a bunch of websites to link back to their homepage (”backlinks”), and boom! They’d show up on Google. From there, free traffic would flow to their website! Search engine optimization (SEO) was born, and the content marketing manager was a hero.
Since this strategy worked, everyone did it — and countless companies sprang up solely for SEO purposes. As a result, there’s too much noise out there on search engines. Try it yourself: Search for “best auto insurance” – you’ll see most of the results are content sites that make money from affiliates. It's not a great user experience, and Google knows it.
That’s why you’re starting to notice a few things that look different in your Google results lately. First, Google is curating its search results and extracting and presenting the best answer to your question in what’s called Google featured snippets. Instead of a user clicking through to your blog post, they never have to leave Google’s search results to get their question answered. Good for the user? Probably. Bad for blog traffic? Definitely!
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The second, and potentially even bigger, change is Google’s answer to ChatGPT. Called Google SGE, this feature extracts and analyzes all the information Google can find related to your question, and then uses generative AI to present that content to users on-the-fly in a set of tailor-made bullet points, paragraphs, and even videos. Even in its experimental phase, Google’s GenAI results are pretty compelling.
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What does this mean for companies trying to use search engines to drive growth in their business? You’re still going to need all the old standards — well-written, high-quality content, on topics that people are interested in — but you’re going to need something else: a “hook” that gets users to click through to your website. And this hook has to be something they can only get on your website, not something Google can simply scrape up, remix, and serve on its search results. Enter: free, high-quality downloadable content on.
Free downloadable content turns search results into customers
Picture this. Website A is a travel agency with a blog post about the best places to visit in Rome. Website B is another travel agency with a similar blog post, but Website B also offers visitors a unique, free downloadable map with the perfect 1-day walking tour of Rome. Which travel agency is going to get more customers?
If you answered “Website B!” you’re already thinking like the content marketer of tomorrow. Here’s why.
First, with equivalent content, each website should start out getting roughly the same placement on Google’s search engine results page (the Google SERP).
However, Website A doesn’t offer anything beyond what Google serves up in its featured snippets and AI-powered Search experience (SGE). With all of its relevant, valuable content already presented in the search results, what’s going to entice a user to click through to their blog?
In contrast, Website B has a hook — its free, downloadable resource. This value-added customer experience sits behind a download link and therefore can’t be scraped, extracted, remixed, and presented by Google. Instead of simply stopping on the search page, users will click through to Website B to access this “bonus” resource. Over time, Google will notice more users clicking through to Website B, and reward that with an even higher search ranking.
What’s more, Website B gets something else from this hook: contact with its prospective customers! By inviting visitors to get this resource, it learns what they’re interested in (visiting Rome), their email address, and anything else it asks for when a customer requests this free downloadable resource. From there, the marketing opportunities are endless. This is how Website B can use free downloadable content to turn search results into customers.
The problem? Creating great blog content is already an investment. Going beyond that to create high-quality downloadable content is even more time-consuming and expensive.
The solution? Plus AI.
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How TeamDynamics uses Plus AI to power its content marketing strategy
TeamDynamics is a personality test built specifically for modern teams. Relative to other, older individual-focused personality tests like MBTI, 16PF, Big Five, HBDI, DiSC, Enneagram, and StrengthsFinder, TeamDynamics is specifically built to help teams understand what makes them tick, and improve their performance as a result — both as a cohesive team, and as team members.
Companies you’ve probably heard of, like Splunk, Jabra, and Hawaiian Airlines use TeamDynamics to improve their teamwork. TeamDynamic customers use it to do things like:
- Define team norms, culture, and values,
- Conduct high-impact team off-sites,
- Coach team members,
- Refine interview processes and new hire onboardings,
- ...and more.
But how does TeamDynamics find its customers? Organic traffic from search engines is key for TeamDynamics’s customer acquisition and growth. It helps bring customer prospects to their door, and, because search engine traffic is free, allows TeamDynamics to keep the price of its offering below other popular personality tests.
To stay ahead of the changes in SEO, TeamDynamics offers free downloadable team-building resources. This helps TeamDynamics build relationships with leaders and managers who are passionate about improving their teamwork. Then, when the time is right, these team leaders give TeamDynamics a try.
Here’s how TeamDynamics creates great, high-quality downloadable content - and how it uses Plus AI to work better, faster, and more efficiently:
Know your audience first
Before you create any downloadable content, you need to know who you're talking to. TeamDynamics focuses on team managers and company leaders who are looking for ways to improve team performance.
Research to meet needs
Don't just create content that you think is interesting; find out what your audience needs. With TeamDynamics, those needs range from defining remote team norms to holding great team meetings; from onboarding new hires to coaching team members; and even using other personality tests like MBTI for team building. Keyword research tools like Semrush can help identify what people are searching for, but talk to your customers, too.
Draft downloadable content with the help of Plus AI
Plus AI acts like a ghostwriter, helping you draft content quickly and efficiently. If you already have an outline of what you want your downloadable content to be, you can enter that directly into the Plus AI presentation builder. But if all you have is a general concept of the type of downloadable content you want to create, Plus AI can start there and create a great first draft. Plus AI takes the heavy lifting out of creating that first draft.
Edit and refine
Good writing is rewriting, and the same is true for high-quality downloadable resources. Take your initial draft and make it better. Add relevant examples, improve the flow, and double-check facts. Plus AI can remix existing slides in response to your edits. And if you realize you’re missing a few points you need to make, Plus AI can add individual slides as you go.
Publish and promote
Once the content is polished, it's time to get it in front of people. Use social media, email newsletters, and other channels to promote your valuable content.
Analyze the impact
Use tools like Google Analytics to see how your content is performing. Are people visiting? Are they engaging with the content? Are they taking the next step to download resources or sign up for your product?
Rinse and repeat
Content marketing is not a one-time thing. Keep producing valuable content, measuring its impact, and refining your strategy.
Ready to supercharge your content strategy?
If your aim is to not only rank better on Google but also offer value to your users, Plus AI is the tool for you. Get started now.
