Generic Content is Killing Your AI Visibility. Here are 5 Ways to Fix It.

If your brand has always been at the top of Google search results but is now falling behind in AI-driven search, it could be because your content is so generic that AI assistants have no reason to mention you. With so much information available online, your content needs to stand out.

Generic content hurts your brand's credibility and weakens your authority, since AI doesn't think you have anything worth sharing. On the other hand, specific content with unique insights and real examples signals expertise and trust, increasing your brand's AI visibility. Here are some ways to make sure your content doesn't become generic background noise.

1. Answer user questions directly

Brand visibility in AI platforms is all about answering questions in your content, since that's exactly what the AI bots are doing. When you give a direct answer for a question that a user asks, AI is more likely to cite your content than if you were simply beating around the bush with vague, ambiguous content.

This means that you have to write content around specific questions the user asks. For example, answering the question ”What’s the best way to remove coffee stains from a white chenille sofa without damaging the fabric?” is far more useful than talking about 'Best Ways to Remove Coffee Stains'. 

If you want your brand to be cited by AI platforms, make sure you match the user query directly in your H2 and H3 subheadings. Then, place a direct answer of under 60 words - an analysis of 18,012 verified ChatGPT citations found that 44.2% of all citations come from the first 30% of the text. Follow it up with supporting data, facts or first-hand insights. 

An analytics tool like Blogchatter GEO can help here, by giving you content recommendations based on prompts users frequently ask.

2. Display credibility signals

AI platforms take credibility very seriously, and it is one of the best ways to ensure that your content pieces stand out from all the other generic ones that end up as background noise. Make sure that you are validating all the claims you make with proper data, statistics and expert references. 

Avoid making vague claims like 'studies show' or 'experts recommend' - instead, name every source that backs your claim, and include an expert quote every 150–200 words. The expert could be anyone who has a verifiable reputation in your field.

Make sure all third-party certifications, accreditations, or industry awards are front and centre so the AI bots don't miss it. Showcase the expertise of your team, mentioning their individual certifications and training - all these help in boosting your brand credibility. 

3. Include original insights

We know that in order to stand out and get the attention of AI bots, your content needs to be unique, and there's no better way to achieve this than to quote your own original insights and research based on your internal data. This is information that no one else has, making it pure gold for your brand.

Include original examples from your lived-in experiences in your content - these perform better than the same old generic information that everyone has access to. This also proves your industry expertise and establishes you as an authority. Specify outcomes your customers have had, including numbers, dates and any other technical parameters that validate your claims.

One tip here is to take a look at your ranking with respect to your direct competitors using an AI analytics tool like Blogchatter GEO. This tool tells you your brand ranking as well as Share of Voice, so you know where you stand. Use this to look at what your competitors are talking about, which will help you identify gaps in their content that you can fill in yours.

4. Don't rely only on AI-generated content

A Wharton study found that 58% of marketing teams use AI-generated marketing content. While this may certainly save them some time and money in the short term, the fact is that AI-generated content is often too generic to pass through the filters that LLMs use.

LLMs that use the Parametric Memory mode to generate content use information that is compressed into its internal memory. Basically, the machine is just regurgitating old information, completely ignoring any newly published content on the topic. The result is redundant, low-cost and generic content that has no value to the end user.

What's more, it completely misses out on specific information that only your brand possesses. All this ends up in poor brand visibility since your content has nothing specific for the AI bots to extract. 

Instead of using AI to write your content, use an AI tool for analytics, like Blogchatter GEO, that’ll help you improve your visibility on AI platforms.

5. Consider local and cultural nuances

It is a well-known fact that most LLMs today have a Western-centric perspective by default, and this can affect both prompt results and AI brand visibility. In fact, Cohere's survey found that over 38% of respondents felt that AI does not adequately understand their cultures, and 63% went so far as to say that their cultural norms were violated. 

This is because most of the training data used on these LLMs is sourced from English content, which overwhelmingly aligns with American and European sensibilities. This creates a gap between users and information that has cultural context, and filling this gap can be your ticket to specific content that gets cited by AI.

Whatever your target market is, make sure the cultural context is visible in your content. Include local case studies, press coverage and region-specific data. At the same time, ensure that you cite diverse sources, regional institutions, and traditional norms.