Writing That’s Specific May Get Cited More by AI

SEO Ranks Pages, AI Recommends Your Business

The service page on your website may say, “we repair and replace water heaters in your home for Atlanta and surrounding areas.”

That page may sit at positions one, two, or three every month but doesn’t get cited by AI. This is because your plumbing page is written for traditional SEO for keywords. To be cited by AI your page needs to be answering questions that searchers are asking. In other words, you need to be more specific.

Your water heater page may write about specific water heater conditions and possible solutions. That’s more specific but other plumbing sites in Atlanta might be saying the same thing.

If I search for “repair or replace water heaters in Atlanta GA”, I get an AI overview at the top of the Google results page. This is what people are seeing and reading first.

The first Gemini recommendation is TE Certified, from their service page on water heaters. Gemini is looking for the cost to replace the water heater and TE Certified has the answer quoted exactly from their webpage in a FAQ section.

But TE Certified is not ranking first in the organic search results. Reliable Heating & Air is ranked first. This is because organic search looks at keywords and entities. AI looks at reasons to recommend your business, such as reviews and concise answers to questions searchers are looking for.

Let’s look at Reliable Heating & Air and see if they mention water heater cost. We see that they do mention installation costs. So, why does TE Certified get the AI recommendation and Reliable Heating & Air does not? It could be that Reliable Heating & Air lists the low, high and average cost, but it’s not in a conversational sentence like TE Certified has.

It’s enough to rank Reliable Heating & Air number one organically, but not enough for an AI recommendation. TE Certified is using natural language in telling the reader about their typical prices.

Let’s see who Gemini recommends for replacing a water heater. They list three, with Delta Plumbing the winner.

A look at their water heater page shows one reason why Gemini recommends Delta Plumbing for water heater replacement. Here’s part of their water heater content:

“Atlanta water has a moderate mineral content that hits water heaters in predictable ways. Tank water heaters typically last 8 to 12 years. After about year 8, the failure pattern starts: sediment buildup, popping noises during heating, rust-colored hot water, a slow drip from the tank bottom, or a complete leak. We diagnose accurately and tell you whether repair is the right call or replacement makes more sense.”

They are being more specific than other plumbing sites in Atlanta about water heater replacement. They also show customer reviews on their water heater page, which AI relies on for recommendations.

Let’s look at another plumber ranked organically on the first page of Google and see what they write about repairing and installing water heaters in Atlanta. I’m not mentioning their name in the quoted text.

“A properly functioning water heater is essential for your home or business. At [business name], we specialize in high-quality water heater replacement near me and expert water heater repair near me across the Atlanta, GA, area, backed by over 40 years of experience. Our licensed and certified Atlanta water heater experts can help with all your needs, whether you need to replace water heater near me or require emergency service. We perform repairs, installations, and replacements for almost any brand, including high-efficiency models and hot water heater units.”

Do you see the difference? This is general cliché writing without being specific.

Being More Specific

You can be more specific in your content. Back to the plumbing example, you could write about a specific water heater problem you encountered in a specific neighborhood and show how you diagnosed and repaired the problem.

If you’re an auto mechanic, you can write how you diagnosed and repaired a particularly difficult problem and made the customer very happy.

Natural Language AI

The natural language models, what we call LLMs, have gotten very adept at understanding our natural language and topics, so let AI know everything you know about every service you offer and where you offer this service (city + state).

It’s not always easy to write for human readers, AI, and for Google’s organic search. If you need help writing content for your website, contact Blue Lacy SEO.