Additional content does not result in traffic or attention from AI LLMs. The main pattern we are seeing across our inbound clients is that many have published content consistently for a long time, often in the most cost-effective way possible, yet they are still not getting the inbound results they want. Bounce rates are often high and while users land on the page, they rarely convert into anything more than a passing visitor. The metrics may look acceptable, but the ROI is generally not strong. That is fine for much of the industry, but most of the industry is not focused on making content work for the business. It is focused on generating content so it can bill for it.
With AI, this matters even more. We do not interact with AI interfaces as keyword search tools to find a snippet of information. We use them to gather information with a known target in mind, in a more human way. Throwing more content into the void is not going to get you to the top of the results, nor is it going to get AI to pay attention. We know that because there is endless spam online and none of it is referenced in ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar systems.
What’s The Content For? ¶
Instead, the questions we ask and the information we search for in an LLM are directed toward a curated knowledge base within that model, one that attempts to prioritise authoritative sources in order to provide the best small set of answers. The answer, then, is not to keep pulling the lever on the content machine, but to establish yourself as an authority on a topic.
In fact, many SEO agencies do the opposite of generating mass amounts of content. Instead they work through the overwhelming volume of their client’s content and simply cut anything that is not relevant resulting in more traffic without a single piece of content generated. What they’ve instead generated is more focus and more authority in their targeted domain by removing the unecessary clutter rather than continue to maintain and publish irrelevant content.
The main point to take away is this: you do not want your customers to think of you as a place with lots of stuff, because no one cares about that. You want customers and users to think of you as the expert in a particular field. That is also how AI will assess you, if you produce focused, authoritative articles that cover a topic thoroughly, stay within that area and only branch out where relevant.
Your content strategy is more art than science, but without structure it will fail every time. If you’re not seeing results, adding more content won’t fix it. Building a system will.
