It’s no secret that writing custom content for your website is critical to portraying your unique brand, products and services. But with the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in our everyday lives, website copywriters and digital strategists also need to understand what factors can help positively or negatively influence a site’s ranking on popular AI search engines.
Understanding AI-Driven Search
AI search engines, such as ChatGPT, Claude and and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) are transforming how users find information. Unlike traditional search engines based around keyword algorithms and indexing, AI-driven searches analyze the context, intent, and natural language patterns to deliver more precise results and relevant answers. This means in addition to following Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines, content must be structured, informative and conversational to rank highly in AI searches.
Key Elements of AI-Friendly Content
-
High-Quality and Authoritative Content
AI-driven searches favor credibility and authoritativeness. Creating well-researched, factual, and authoritative content motivates AI to rank your website as a reliable source. For example, the footer of Bank of America’s Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) page details the bank’s disclosures and provides redirects to individual pages on their website, citing where the bank’s rates are derived from – thereby adding authority to the content.
-
Structured Data and Clear Formatting
AI bots scan content more effectively when it’s well-structured. Using clear headers, bullet points, numbered lists, and schema markup makes it easier for AI to extract relevant information from your site. When teaming up for a redesign or rebuild project with ZAG, our team provides a detailed heading tags strategy to ensure the heading elements proceed in a logical, sequentially descending order. And bonus - this also happens to follow website ADA best practices too. For example, Patriot Bank’s SBA Loans page has a clear H1 heading followed by optimized H tag headlines for H2, H3 headings.
-
Optimize For User Intent
AI searches focus heavily on user intent rather than just matching keywords. Answering potential user queries can directly enhance your visibility in AI-generated search results. For example, Bonvenu Bank optimizes its website for user intent by utilizing semi-custom financial literacy articles and infographics from ZAG. By addressing specific user needs through its detailed blog, Bonvenu Bank set itself up to increase engagement and improve its AI search rankings.
-
Engaging Content
User engagement is a key factor for ranking high AI-search platforms, making engaging high-quality content even more important. Some ways financial institutions can boost their user engagement are by incorporating images, videos, and infographics into their website. These steps not only can help improve user experience, but they also tell AI platforms that the website’s content is valuable. For example, Bank of America has a Home Resource Center page that features mortgage calculators, educational videos, and articles to illustrate the homebuying process. These unique resources help keep users on the page longer and improve the website’s search rankings.
-
Fast and Mobile-Friendly Website
AI-search platforms are attracted to mobile-friendly and fast websites because they’re able to index them quickly. If your website has optimized images, a fast-loading design, and an easy-to-use mobile experience, this will go a long way in boosting your financial institution's AI-driven rankings. For example, ZAG teamed up with Neighbors Federal Credit Union to provide them with a refreshed website architecture that made it simple for users to find what they are looking for with minimal clicks, including popular links at the site. Through quick load times and a mobile-friendly website design, Neighbors Federal Credit Union is viewed more favorably by AI search engines.
The Value of Appearing in AI Search Results
Landing a top spot in AI-generated search results, like Google’s AI Overviews, can help improve your website’s visibility, credibility and traffic. As mentioned earlier, AI-powered platforms prioritize content that is authoritative, well-structured, and directly answers user queries. This makes it essential for financial institutions to optimize their content with those parameters in mind. A good example of this would be for financial institutions to provide clear content that addresses common banking, investment, and financial planning questions. This is why having FAQs on pages can help both users and AI search value.
Blocking AI Crawlers
While ranking highly in AI searches has its perks, we’re aware that some financial institutions might prefer to restrict AI crawlers from accessing their content. Google developers have provided a document on how a financial institution can leverage their robots.txt and meta tag limitations to prevent AI from indexing certain pages. It is important to note that these robots’ meta tag limitations will be unsuccessful if your website is using structured data, also known as schema markup.
How ZAG Interactive Can Help
Creating content for AI isn’t about ignoring traditional search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, it’s about pairing them together with AI-search focused strategies. By focusing on high-quality, well-organized, and user-focused content, financial institutions can increase their likelihood of performing strongly in AI-powered search results.
Whether it’s’ building a unique website architecture, optimizing your webpages' content, or developing a creative social media marketing plan, ZAG Interactive is here to elevate your financial institutions' online presence. Contact us today to get started.