The big idea: Search starts with a question. Be the clearest, most trustworthy answer, for search engines and for the AI tools that now answer people directly.
See it in action
SEO & AI Discoverability Lab
Part 1: write the search listing for a local bike shop and watch the result change. Part 2: see when an AI answer cites the shop, and why.
AI answer
A simplified teaching model. No one outside these companies knows the exact weights, but these factors line up with public guidance and what marketers observe.
Key concepts
- Search intent: People search to learn, to find a specific site, to compare options or to buy. Match your content to the intent behind the words.
- On-page basics: A clear title, descriptive headings, a useful meta description and alt text on images help both people and search engines.
- E-E-A-T: Google looks for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Show who wrote it and why they know.
- AI discoverability: AI answer tools favor clear, well-organized, credible content. Answer common questions directly and keep facts consistent across the web.
- Reputation is everywhere: Reviews, mentions and listings on other sites help both search engines and AI tools trust your brand.
Learn it in depth
The deep dive
How search engines and AI answer tools find, judge and show a business. Plain definitions first, then the detail. Open the dropdowns when you want to go further.
0Words to know
- SEO
- Search engine optimization: making it easy for search engines to find, understand and recommend your pages.
- SERP
- Search engine results page: everything shown after a search, including ads, maps, AI answers and blue links.
- Organic
- Results you earn, not pay for. Ads are labeled “Sponsored.”
- Keyword / query
- The words people type or say. A keyword is the one you target; a query is what they actually typed.
- GEO / AEO
- Generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization: getting your brand used and cited in AI answers.
- Zero-click search
- A search that ends on the results page because the answer is right there.
1How search works: crawl, index, rank
A search engine is a librarian. First it finds the books (crawl), then it files them by topic (index), then it hands you the best one for your question (rank).
Go deeper: what can break each stage
- Crawl: robots.txt tells bots where not to go. Orphan pages (no links pointing to them) are hard to find. An XML sitemap lists the pages you want found.
- Index: a “noindex” tag keeps a page out. Duplicate pages get folded together; a canonical tag tells Google which version is the main one. Text inside images, or content that only appears after heavy JavaScript, may be missed.
- Rank: Google uses many signals, grouped roughly as meaning (what the query wants), relevance (does the page match), quality (is it helpful and trustworthy), usability (does it work well on a phone) and context (location, language, settings). No one outside Google knows the exact formula.
- Note: robots.txt blocks crawling, not indexing. A blocked page can still show up as a bare link if others link to it. To keep a page out, use noindex and let Google crawl it.
2Search intent: why are they searching?
Same topic, four different needs. Match the page type to the intent, or you won’t rank, no matter how good the page is. Tap an intent to see the bike shop example.
Go deeper: how to read intent from the results page
3Keyword research basics
Find the words your customers actually use, then give each important topic its own page.
| Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Intent | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bikes | Huge | Very hard | Unclear | Skip: too broad, national brands own it |
| bike repair knoxville | Medium | Medium | Transactional, local | Main keyword for the repair page |
| how to fix a flat bike tire | High | Hard | Informational | A how-to guide, with a “or let us do it” link |
| e-bike battery service knoxville | Low | Easy | Transactional | Long tail: few searches, high intent. Build a page. |
Go deeper: the long tail and AI-style questions
4The three parts of SEO
Go deeper: Core Web Vitals and structured data
- Core Web Vitals are Google’s page experience measures: LCP (how fast the main content loads), INP (how fast the page responds when you tap) and CLS (whether things jump around). Good scores help a bit; great content on a slow page still usually beats thin content on a fast one.
- Structured data (schema.org markup, usually JSON-LD) labels facts: this is a business, here are its hours, this is a product with this price. It can unlock rich results, like event dates or product prices, and helps machines get facts right. Google has retired some rich results over time (FAQ results ended in 2026), and review stars don’t show for a business reviewing itself. Check Google’s current documentation before promising a client a rich result.
- Links: a link from a respected, relevant site is a vote of confidence. Buying links or trading them in bulk breaks Google’s spam policies and can get a site demoted.
5E-E-A-T: why should anyone trust this page?
Google’s guidelines for its human quality raters use these four ideas. They are not one score, but they describe what Google’s systems try to reward. Google calls trust the most important.
Go deeper: “Your Money or Your Life” topics
6Local SEO and Google Business Profile
For “near me” and city searches, Google shows a map with a few businesses (the local pack). Google says local results are based mainly on three things.
Go deeper: rules and pitfalls
- Don’t stuff keywords into the business name (“Ridgeline Bike Co. Best Bike Repair Knoxville”). That breaks Google’s guidelines and can get the profile suspended.
- Don’t buy, gate or fake reviews. Ask every happy customer, in a simple way, with a direct link.
- Service-area businesses (plumbers, mobile mechanics) can hide their street address and list areas served instead.
7AI search and answer engines
AI Overviews in Google, AI chat assistants with search, and answer engines don’t just list links. They retrieve sources, write an answer, and cite a few. You want to be one of those few.
Go deeper: what’s the same, what’s new
- Same: Google says there’s no special trick for AI Overviews. Pages must be indexed and eligible for regular Search, and the usual SEO basics apply. Good SEO is the foundation of GEO.
- New: you’re judged on passages, not just pages. Brand mentions without links matter more. Your reputation on other sites, like review platforms and Reddit, becomes part of your “content.”
- Crawlers: each AI company runs its own bots, and robots.txt can allow or block them one by one. Blocking a search-focused AI bot can keep you out of that tool’s answers. Google-Extended controls use of your content for Google’s AI models, but it does not remove you from Google Search or AI Overviews.
- Accuracy check: ask AI tools about your brand regularly. If they get facts wrong, the fix is usually to correct the facts at the source: your site, your profiles and the sites they cite.
8Zero-click searches
Many searches end on the results page: the weather, a store’s hours, a quick definition, an AI answer. Fewer clicks doesn’t mean less value. It means the results page itself is now a place your brand shows up.
9Measuring: Search Console and beyond
Google Search Console is free and shows how your site does in Google Search. Four numbers do most of the work.
- Impressions
- How many times a link to your site appeared in results.
- Clicks
- How many times someone clicked through.
- CTR
- Click-through rate: the share of impressions that became clicks.
- Average position
- Where your link usually sat. 1 is the top. Lower numbers are better.
CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100
Worked example: the repair page got 4,000 impressions and 120 clicks last month. 120 ÷ 4,000 = 0.03, so CTR is 3%. After a better title and description, it gets 4,000 impressions and 200 clicks: CTR is 5%. Same rank, 80 more visitors.
| What you see | What it likely means | Try this |
|---|---|---|
| High impressions, low CTR | You show up but don’t get chosen | Rewrite title and description; match intent |
| Low impressions | Google rarely shows you for this | Improve content, internal links, earn mentions |
| Position 8 to 15 | Close to page one | Your best quick wins: improve these pages first |
| Page not indexed | Google found it but didn’t file it | Check the page indexing report for the reason |
Go deeper: measuring AI visibility
- Google counts clicks and impressions from its AI features inside the normal Search Console totals, rather than as a separate line.
- In your web analytics (such as GA4), check referral traffic from AI tools. Their domains show up as referrers when people click a citation.
- Run a fixed set of customer questions through several AI tools each month. Track: are we mentioned, are we cited, what do they say, who else shows up.
- Watch branded search. If more people search your name, awareness from AI answers and zero-click results may be working.
- Clicks are not the only goal. Tie search to outcomes: calls, bookings, leads, sales.
10Page checklist
Use this before you publish or when you audit a client page. Your checks stay on this screen only.
Real brands in action
Glitterville Studios: Helping search and AI find a local brand
Glitterville Studios in Knoxville makes whimsical holiday decor. It’s been sold at Neiman Marcus, featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things, and its team once decorated the White House. In class we turned weak labels like ‘Christmas Items’ into clear, descriptive headlines and meta descriptions that people and AI can understand and cite.
The lesson: Specific, descriptive titles and meta descriptions help both search engines and AI choose you.
Image courtesy of Glitterville Studios
Sweet BombDiggity Farms: A title tag that says something
A title tag that just says ‘Products’ tells search engines and AI almost nothing. ‘Sweet Bombdiggity Farms: Fresh Ranunculus & Specialty Flowers TN’ names the brand, the product and the place. A clean URL like /blog/ranunculus-care-guide helps too.
The lesson: Your title tag is your page’s headline for search. Make it specific.
Learn more: Sweet BombDiggity Farms
Brand images are shown for educational purposes only. Each image and trademark belongs to the brand credited, and each credit links to that brand.
Frameworks from class
Value, honesty, clarity
Every search listing tells a small brand story. Value means the content genuinely helps. Honesty means the page delivers what the headline promises. Clarity means humans can scan it and AI can summarize it.
- Value: useful or delightful, no fluff
- Honesty: if the headline promises it, the content delivers it
- Clarity: clear, concise, structured
Empathy is your search superpower
Before you pick a keyword, picture the person typing it. People describe whole problems, not single words, so the best content answers the problem in their language.
- Uncover their questions
- Picture their moment: what happened right before they searched?
- Listen to their language and skip industry jargon
Free tools to find real questions
You don’t need a budget to see what people ask. Google itself shows you through autocomplete, People Also Ask and Related Searches. Answer the Public maps how questions are phrased, and Google Keyword Planner shows volume and related terms.
Label vs. invitation
A headline is either a label or an invitation. “Products and Services | Our Company” is a label. “Organic Goat Feed Delivery in Tennessee | Free Shipping” tells a person exactly what they get and tells AI exactly what the page is about. Ask: would this make me click?
Class exercise: Search engine whisperer: Glitterville Studios
Practice on a real Knoxville brand. Open glitterville.com and explore the site first.
- List three to five short keywords and three conversational questions someone might type or ask an AI about Glitterville.
- Label each query by intent: informational, navigational, transactional or commercial investigation.
- Pick one intent and write a title tag (about 60 characters) and a meta description (150 to 160 characters).
- Check your work: is it clickable for a person, clear for AI, and honest about what the page delivers?
Try it
Ask three AI tools the same question a customer might ask about your client’s category. Is your client mentioned? Who is, and why? Then search the same question on Google. Write down two changes that would make your client a better answer.
Tips and best practices
- Check the results page before you write. Search your target keyword and study what already ranks. The page types Google shows tell you the intent you have to match.
- Write titles and descriptions like ad copy. Put the keyword and the benefit first, keep titles to about 60 characters, and give people a reason to click. A better listing earns more clicks at the same rank.
- Answer first, then explain. Open each section with a direct one- or two-sentence answer under a question-style heading. Searchers, featured snippets and AI tools all pull from clear, self-contained passages.
- Show who is behind the content. Add author names, real credentials, original photos and first-hand detail. This is how you demonstrate E-E-A-T instead of just claiming it.
- Keep business facts identical everywhere. Name, address, phone, hours and description should match on your site, Google Business Profile, Apple Maps and directories. Mismatched facts make search engines and AI tools less sure about you.
- Earn mentions, not just links. Reviews, local press, partner pages and genuine forum conversations shape what AI answers say about a brand. Make it easy for happy customers and partners to talk about you.
- Use structured data for facts, not for tricks. Mark up your business, products and events accurately. Check Google’s current rich result documentation before promising a client stars, FAQs or other extras, because eligibility changes.
- Track AI visibility on a schedule. Each month, run the same customer questions through several AI tools and note who gets mentioned and cited. Pair that with Search Console clicks and impressions so you see the full picture.
Quick check
Think through your answer, then select a question to reveal one.
Name the four types of search intent.
Learning (informational), finding a specific site (navigational), comparing options (commercial) and buying (transactional).
What does E-E-A-T stand for?
Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
Go deeper
- Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide