The Search vs. the Chatter: Is Your SEO Content Strategy a Part of the Conversation?

Search Engine Optimization was the biggest buzzphrase in content strategy for what felt like a decade, at least until Generative AI came along. And because SEO content marketing was such a hot topic, it influenced how we approached most online content marketing efforts. 

When we focus all our energy on finding, writing toward, and ranking for keyphrases like SEO content strategy, our messaging will be fundamentally different than if we have different goals, even when writing about the same topics. 

But a new content marketing framework has entered the ring, and with each new SEO algorithm update, it’s looking like a decent bet. 

This new framework, chatter-driven content marketing, focuses on what’s most helpful, important, and topical to readers today. 

The good news is that you don’t have to be an apologist for either framework. And, like with most things, a balanced combination is usually the best approach. An all-or-nothing strategy is rarely sustainable in content marketing. 

Content Consumption Is Changing

Thanks to a decade of SEO over-optimization, keyword stuffing, and black hat marketing practices, search is almost completely broken (I exaggerate). If you’re a content marketer, you can’t be too mad. We did it to ourselves (we’re being dramatic).

A new influx of content is designed to differentiate itself from the rest and to help the end user instead of optimizing for search key performance indicators (vanity metrics). And the helpful-first content can pay off in search performance. 

Jacob Fox, Inbound Website Manager at Cobalt, said the interest and topic-forward approach allows him to interface with subject matter experts (SMEs) in his organization and get a better feel for the industry. As a bonus, every time he looks at his top-performing pages, it includes topical and interest-based content alongside the keyword-focused pages.

Let’s take a trip in the way-back machine for a refresher on the evolution of SEO. 

Initially, we wrote on the internet to amuse ourselves, entertain (read: impress) friends and colleagues, or educate and explain. 

The Early Days: “How often can we say ‘web design’ on a web page?”

Back in 1994, Yahoo began compiling the most helpful websites of the day on their homepage, and once they categorized those pages, they became Yellow Pages for the Internet. 

But a year later, Yahoo added the search engine function to their directory with unforeseen consequences. Once brands realized the search engines scanned pages for topics and keywords, the days of keyword stuffing began.

Peak SEO: “People are asking about SEO content strategy.”

With the search bar installed, the race for more information was on. We were Googling things and asking Jeeves.

As the search engines wisened to SEO antics, they updated their algorithms. Then, the SEOs optimized for the latest update. It was honestly very helpful for darn near a decade. 

Algorithms no longer ranked strictly based on keyword density but factored thousands of other data points to find the most helpful or relevant content for searchers. 

However, we can only optimize (hack) the SEO content strategy for so long before it breaks. Now, most of the internet content is written less to be helpful and more to fit into a success formula. Content is designed for performance when most searchers are just looking for answers. 

The Rise of AI: “Hey AI, write me a 1,200 article about flu vaccines.”

AI was the prophet foretold, at least to many knowledge workers tired of writing and reading. 

If you’ve read anything I’ve written, you know my stance on AI:

• It’s a helpful tool.
• I use it all the time.
• Most LLMs are trained on the public internet, which means while they know everything, they’re still dumb. AI trained on average internet content writes average internet content at best. 

Here’s some more from Jacob: “AI content is eroding Top of Funnel content, which used to be a core tactic for SEO. With this, many experts, myself included, say the focus should go down funnel on commercial and transactional keywords which AI simply cannot replace.”

In fact, with voice chat, Google’s AI-generated summary responses, and the upcoming SearchGPT, the way people search is changing. Searchers are turning to traditional search tools for quick answers but using other, more focused distribution channels to find the higher-level content they need. 

These are the lower funnel opportunities Jacob is talking about. The next phase of internet content will need to be more targeted, helpful, and direct to succeed. You must be educational, entertaining, or engaging to draw attention and sustain an audience. 

Chatter-Driven SEO Content Strategy 

We get it. It’s hard to be smart, funny, and charming on command. You don’t have to be on your own. 

Chatter-driven ideation outsources your content fulfillment to experts, making your job easier, your content better, and your team less siloed. That doesn’t mean your experts will write the content themselves, or your customers will send you guest blogs. It means they have ideas and information for you to translate to your audience. 

Here’s how Content Workshop CEO David Ebner puts it, “There’s what people are searching for online, and then there’s what people are talking about in real life. It’s like an entirely different language .” 

The bonus is that writing based on chatter makes it easier to participate in the conversation. Keywords are great for running in the background, but chatter-driven content can promptly comment on trends and conduct industry analysis. Those same stories can often be turned into evergreen content. 

Where does the chatter come from? Your SMEs.

All the content you could ever hope for is waiting for you. You just have to get your head out of the keyword cloud and come down to earth. Stop searching for ideas and open your ears to the chatter all around you:

• Your customers are asking questions and giving feedback. 
• Your SMEs are a wealth of knowledge. 
• Your sales team is often overlooked.

Your product development team knows everything there is to know about your product. They’re obsessed. It’s what they think about on the weekends. 

Your sales team is on the phone with your audience every day. They know which features are best. They’ve heard wacky and successful off-label use cases from customers. 

Your audience members are SMEs, too—experts at what they want. They’ll give you all the feedback you want.

A subject-matter expert interview doesn’t have to be a Q&A blog. It could be a series of social media clips, a Q&A video, three blog posts, and the throughline for an industry report that you’ll eventually break into infographics and snackable content across your channels. 

Back to the good and great Jacob Fox for his go-to SME strategy:

“I like to set Google alerts for topics I don’t understand and then have SMEs contextualize them when they pop up in the news.”

David said he likes to take a similar approach to contextualizing chatter. “I’ll note what I see in digital conversations or read Reddit threads. Then I can take that back to the SME with my thoughts and ask, ‘I think people want to know more about this. Is this bull***t, or are we onto something?’”

Other Chatter Sourcing Strategies

I teach a few communications classes, and the first thing I have my students do is practice cultural literacy for a cultural blindspot in their lives. This involves setting alerts, building RSS feeds, subscribing to podcasts, becoming a regular on forums, and building tailored social media feeds. 

I rarely read or listen to everything on my subject matter literacy lists, but simply engaging with the headlines and familiarizing myself with the names and thought leaders gives me a window into the issues. 

The magic for content creators and communicators isn’t becoming a subject matter expert. The magic is in becoming “subject matter” curious. With all these issues in mind, I usually return from a walk or a trip through the carpool line with more questions and ideas for my SMEs.

And when you’re truly drawing a blank, the data trends in your industry reports are full of stories. 

Creating Content with Soul

Ted Lasso once said Walt Whitman said, “Be curious, not judgemental.” 

Walt Whitman never said anything like that, or at least never committed it to writing. But it’s poetic nonetheless.

Having topical, human-drive topics can save your soul as the content creator. If you have something interesting to say, you won’t have to write your way into each new topic with a cliche like, “In today’s world of AI and evolving SEO content strategy.” 

To be curious is to be human. And writing content from a human perspective is refreshing. 

Curious About Better Content?

If you want help planning a chatter-based SEO content strategy or just want to hire someone to do it for you, the writers and strategists at Content Workshop are here to help. Reach out today.