SEO & AI Search (GEO) Expert

Improve your Google ranking with Peter Mahoney, 20+ years SEO & Wordpress experience

Why search volume matters in your keyword strategy

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When planning an SEO strategy, one of the most important questions is not simply which words describe your business, but which words are people actually searching for. You may have the perfect phrase to capture your services, but if nobody types it into Google, it’s not going to bring visitors to your website.

This is where search volume comes in. Search volume refers to how many times a particular keyword or phrase is entered into a search engine over a given period. The higher the volume, the more people are looking for that term. But raw popularity is only part of the equation- you also need to consider how many other websites are competing for the same word too.

Take the example of “sports psychology” versus “performance psychology”, which is a real world example I worked on with a client recently.

On the surface, both describe a similar area of practice in the same industry. But data shows that in the UK, “sports psychology” has been searched far more frequently over the past year. At the same time, when you compare the number of sites optimised for each phrase, the balance between competition and demand becomes less clear. This is why data-driven analysis matters: it reveals the difference between what you think people are searching for and what they actually are.

The key lesson here is that SEO success depends on striking the right balance between popularity and competition. Sometimes the most obvious keyword is worth pursuing because of its sheer search volume. But other times a slightly less common term provides a better chance to rank because fewer competitors are targeting it.

In practice, the best approach is usually to target both high-volume keywords and their close alternatives. And then over time your analytics will show which terms bring the right visitors to your site, helping you refine your SEO strategy for maximum success.

And of course, these are all things I do for all my own clients, all the time.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Don’t rely on gut instinct – always check actual search data.
  2. Balance keyword popularity against the the level of competition.
  3. Use both primary and secondary terms, then refine based on the data.

How do I make the most of AI search optimisation?

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Thank you for sharing the recent update. I’m in the early stages of planning for the upcoming year, and with the increasing influence of AI-driven search tools becoming part of SEO, I wanted to ask if there are any additional elements I should be mindful of. Specifically, are there considerations I should take into account when it comes to website optimisation and future improvements?

I’ve also noticed on our analytics platform that “ChatGPT” has started appearing more frequently as a search medium driving activity. I would be really interested to understand more about this development and whether it is something we should be actively preparing for in terms of strategy.

Thank you for your question, and I really appreciate your interest in how AI search is beginning to shape SEO. It’s definitely an area worth paying close attention to, a LOT os going tiok change every week over the coming few years!

At the moment, I’m closely monitoring how search engines are incorporating AI-assisted answers into results, and I’ll be keeping you updated through the reporting I already share.

The good news is that I’m managing the technical side of it for you, so there’s nothing urgent you need to change immediately. Over the next month or two – possibly three – I’ll have the data to come back to you with some concrete suggestions. These will likely include adjustments to some of the text and posts you already have on your site, ensuring they are fully aligned with how AI-generated search results are evolving.

Some of the older SEO guidance may no longer apply to be honest; for example, the traditional advice to avoid counting things like headings or bullet points toward overall word count might be shifting. AI-driven search tools appear to give more weight to structured and scannable content, so elements such as lists, headings, and formatting could carry greater value than before.

In short, it’s still early days, but I’ll continue keeping a close watch. As soon as I can say for sure based on actual data, I’ll provide you with specific actions so we can future-proof your content and ensure it performs well in both traditional search engines and AI-driven searches.

Thanks again for raising this—it’s the most important shift in search since Google launched – so absolutely something to talk about!

Peter Mahoney
SEO & AI Search (GEO) Expert

AI Search (also known as GEO) – the biggest change in SEO & search since Google launched

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Keeping ahead of the AI component of search is essential – and I am actively managing this for my clients.

I have been discussing for some time the growing role of AI in search results – both how users interact with it and the best practices for optimising for these new formats.

We have now reached a stage where many users are engaging with AI-generated search results directly. In fact, for most people, these AI-powered summaries are appearing prominently at the top of their usual search results pages.

The underlying principles remain largely the same. AI systems select the most reliable websites to recommend using very similar criteria to traditional search rankings. However, there are subtle differences in how certain elements of SEO are prioritised. In other words, some of the same technical and content signals I manage for you carry slightly different weight in AI-driven results compared to standard search.

I expect significant changes in this area over the coming years. Keeping ahead of the AI element of search is crucial – and this remains a core focus of my work for you.

Content Creation for AI Search

When creating or editing content for your site, it helps to keep AI and voice search strategies in mind.

In particular, AI-powered search tools often prefer content written in a way that poses and answers a questions. Where possible, structure your articles accordingly.

Here’s my updated guidance for crafting blog posts and articles:

  • Title – ideally framed as a question.
  • Length – aim for 360–520 words in paragraph form.
  • Images – at least one image, 1200 × 600 pixels or larger.
  • Subheadings – use two H2 headings, with at least one phrased as a question.
  • Opening sentence – summarise the main point of the article and, where relevant, link a few words to a primary page on your site.

Note: Longer posts are fine, but once you exceed around 800 words it’s usually better to split the content into two shorter, focused posts.

I’ve slightly increased my recommended word count based on the latest research from Google and Bing. If possible, consider repurposing your existing blog posts to align with these updated recommendations – it is often much faster than starting from scratch.

 

How do I get the most from my blog posts?

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On a web-front – I posted my first blog last night and it appears fine, but I was winging it with any tags, links, etc, etc.. so at some point I would appreciate a quick “how to” session on maximising the impact of these posts.

I’ve checked out the blog post and it’s great length wise, but other than that could be improved.

Here’s the break down for what you want for each post:

  • 300-500 words of text in paragraph format
  • At least one image (with file dimensions of at least 1200×600 pixels)
  • Have 2x subheadings (coded as ‘H2’); at least one of these should mention some important search terms for your site
  • The first sentence should function as a description of the whole article, (i.e. summing up the content first before getting into the supporting information)
  • Ideally that first sentence will have some words that you link to one of your primary pages on the site

So here’s where that blog post could be improved.

  1. You have two many sections. Just an intro, and 2x subheadings are all you’re after. The only exception to this would be if your article was something akin to “Top five reasons to…”. Then you’d use 5x sub headings. And don’t give your conclusion a subheading, that’s a hallmark of AI content.
  2. Your first paragraph would have been better as something like, “How your annexe fits into the surrounding landscape is a very important, but often overlooked, part of the garden room planning process. Whether your garden room is to be a peaceful office, creative studio, or energised gym — many property owners focus just on the building itself”. That way, the first sentence is the summation. And you could easily link from that paragraph the first use of ‘garden room’ to your ‘design and build’ page, and a couple of the use cases from the second sentence to the relevant ‘uses’ page.
  3. “Paragraph format” doesn’t strictly allow for text in bullet points to count towards the word count. A few bullets in an article are fine, but you’ve relied on them.

I hope that helps. I suspect this article is more or less right out of ChatGPT – which isn’t a bad thing per se. But if you ask it for an article and give it specifics, like 2x subheadings, etc., it will spit out something that’s ok – and be made really good with some simple edits from yourself.

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

Your SEO guy doesn’t do your SEO?

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Usually I post these without editorialising. But this interaction was just so funny and ridiculous – I get some odd requests but this one is beyond!

I am working with an SEO guy to generate traffic for my website. He asked me a some things to fix plus I have indexing errors in Google search console.

Basically I would need a fix all those issues(and possibly more) to make the website “visible” and make Goole like it.

Can you help me on this?

If I can be frank, this is a bit of an unusual request – simply because your SEO guy should be fixing anything related to SEO. That’s his job. 🙂

I certainly do all the SEO work for my clients.

I do quite often have so-called ‘SEO companies’ employ me to do their own websites’ SEO – but I’ve not had someone reach out previously to say they have an SEO person, but that person isn’t doing the SEO work and fixes for them.

Perhaps he’s actually just consulting on SEO for you–in which case I would query how much he really understands about this very complicated field – if he’s not able to do the work himself.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on this.

 

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

Outreach for backlinks – how to get quality links that Google will love

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I’m thinking of redirecting my Virtual Assistant work to other tasks as the generic LinkedIn work I instructed them to is not really fruitful.
Part of an admittedly AI suggested strategy is to redirect her work to include outreach for back links. Is this an advisable strategy and do you have a recommended approach/template for her to use as part of this process?

That’s been something I’ve recommended a few times myself. 🙂

“Outreach” needs to be quite specific though. It’s not buying links, or paying for them (there are a very, very few exceptions to this). It really is about contacting people you probably already know. For a start, anyway.

It’s about getting in touch with clients, suppliers (which applies to you less than other people given the nature of your business – but for a lot of people suppliers are more likely than anyone else to give them links, simply because of the nature of the supplier/purchaser relationship) and just really leveraging your real world networks to ask for links. Sometimes it might behoove you to offer those reciprocally too.

Those very few exceptions I mentioned above is for things like payment in kind. Perhaps in exchange for a link from a well known client of yours you offer them a discount on their next service. That sort of thing.

Links generated through real world interactions have value. Automated processes don’t. You’d think Google wouldn’t be able to tell the difference but they can – it’s not a technical difference it’s a relational one. And one thing big tech is excellent at (think Facebook and other social platforms) is working out the nature of relationships.

I don’t have a generic template to share with you on this – simply because this interpersonal (inter-business) type of relational question isn’t really well served by generic emails or questions. But I can work on something with you that would help with your specific need.

Peter Mahoney
SEO Specialist of waaay-too-many years

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