Is AI Changing the Way Search Engines Interpret Content?
Search engines used to be like strict online librarians.
You type in a keyword, a query, and it points you to the 'shelf' where those exact words live. It doesn't matter if what it pointed you towards was useful or even made sense; as long as the words matched, it showed up, and then it was up to you to pick what works for you.
But today, things are different; search engines have become smarter. We've entered the age of AI. And search engine queries are no longer being viewed 'as-is', but they rather try to figure out what you meant with the query – what was the intent behind it. The results they provide on the search engine results page (SERP) will match that intent.
So that strict librarian has now turned into a mind reader.
This change has huge consequences. Keywords are still important, but not as much as they used to be, and if you want to show up in a search, you need to know a lot about AI – how IT thinks.
The New Ranking Signals Powered by AI
Search engines always use signals to decide which pages to rank higher. Way back when, that included counting keywords and backlinks. Now, with AI, there are new layers to this.
1. What Users Really Mean
What AI brings to the table is the ability to recognize intent easily and accurately. Surely when you typed in a search query, the words didn't always match what you were really after, right?
AI is being relied on heavily to tackle this issue by recognizing the search intent behind the query.
All queries that are entered into Google are categorized into three distinct search intent types:
- Informational – you're looking for information/knowledge/information.
- Navigational – you're looking for a specific location/website/page.
- Transactional – you're looking to buy/sign up.
There is a 4th search intent' commercial' which would refer to the user doing research before they are ready to convert (transactional); For example, such queries would be 'best laptop 2025', 'top golf balls', etc., and the idea is that you're ALMOST ready to buy, you just aren't sure what you want to buy. Some frameworks use 'transactional' and 'commercial' interchangeably because of how similar they are, while others keep them separate.
Google doesn't clarify whether there are 3 or 4 search intent types, so it's up to you to decide.
AI helps the search engine provide a better service, and it looks at various data points and analyzes them to determine what you wanted with your particular query. Based on how you reacted, it'll take note and provide you with the same approach in the future, or a different one.
2. Judging Content Beyond Keywords
If a website is stuffed with all the right keywords in all the right places, that definitely helps Google's crawl bots understand what your website (or a specific page) is about. But that's not enough anymore.
With AI, Google now looks beyond just the groundwork.
What places a website at the top of the SERP is content quality. So, if your website answers the user's query the way the user wanted, it gets shot up in rankings for that particular query. This way, Google (and other search engines) tackle SERP manipulation, where a website would be created with the sole intent of ranking higher, with quality not being the top priority. But while those pages DID answer the user's query and intent correctly, they oftentimes offered content that is not particularly high on the quality meter.
So, what AI is looking for is quality content:
- How relevant is it?
- Is the content provided by someone who has experience/first-hand knowledge on the matter?
- How thoroughly is the topic covered
- Is the content trustworthy (from an expert-level source)?
Google calls this the E-E-A-T – experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
AI models now actively (in real time) scan for various data points that help them determine whether the website meets the EEAT requirements/checklist; the result is an extremely important signal and determining factor in SERP rankings.
3. Watching How Users Respond
AI pays attention to how people behave once they land on a page. Do they click through and stay to read? They may bounce back and try something else. These patterns tell search engines if the page is actually satisfying users or not.
If someone spends a certain amount of time on your page instead of immediately clicking out and going back to search results, that's a sign that the content delivered what it promised.
4. Looking Beyond Text Alone
Search is no longer restricted to only words. AI can interpret images and videos as part of the page's value. That means that, if you write a how-to article and include clear visuals, it may rank higher because AI recognizes that that particular format will help users understand faster.
Voice is also a big deal. AI processes spoken queries differently and often treats them as more natural and conversational.
Optimize Your Content for AI Search
Search engines have become smarter, and AI can easily spot when content is written for/by machines or for/by humans.
This means that your focus should be on using natural, human-written language; writing in a way that feels helpful and clear is always the way to go!
Please think of this as having a conversation with a friend and you're trying to teach them about a topic they're interested in.
If someone enters your page and feels like you're answering their question in terms they can easily decipher, AI will see that as a plus. Otherwise, if the content is basic, hard to read, doesn't add new value, but is just regurgitated text that already exists on dozens of other websites/pages, your website will drop in rankings for that search query.
Structured data (schema markup) is another piece of the puzzle. This happens behind the scenes, and it 'tells' search engines what your content is about, like whether it's a product, a tutorial, a recipe, a guide, etc. This helps AI interpret context better and display your content in ways that will grab attention – rich snippets, for example, or Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Scratching the topic on a surface level is no longer enough to rank at the top of the SERP; you need to cover the topic extensively so that Google's crawl bots determine your website as an 'expert-level authority' on the topic.
AI tools are excellent for research and drafting ideas, but they can't replace human oversight when it comes to originality and authenticity. So, keep that in mind. Unless you're truly an expert when it comes to SEO, you might want to think about using professional SEO copywriting services to help align your content better and raise its quality, so that it checks off all the important factors that Google's AI-driven algorithm (ranking system) evaluates when generating SERPs.
Especially so if you're a company that relies on its website to generate its business.
You want the website to rank higher so that you get as many hot leads as possible, and doing all of this yourself is both very time-consuming and risky since it requires expert-level knowledge to be done correctly.
Conclusion
Google's algorithm is ever-changing, ever-evolving. Always striving to be better and providing a better user experience, with users being the top priority. Why? Well, if the user is continuously unhappy with the service Google provides, then the user will start looking elsewhere – it's only natural.
Don't use shortcuts and quick tips & tricks to try increasing your rankings. Even though they seem like a quick boost or fix, they'll end up hurting your rankings and then force you to undo what you did, and will force you to do it correctly.
Don't chase algorithms, chase quality. Write for humans, get help from the pros if you can't do it on your own, and you'll stay one step ahead in what's become an endlessly changing game of online visibility.