Succeeding in Search Beyond SEO 

How AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) are changing the senior living web experience 

by Lance Morgan, Director of Digital Strategy

by Aimee Baker, Digital Strategist

By now, we’ve all heard loads of news about ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overview and AI mode, Grok, and other AI-driven tools. Maybe you’ve even experimented with some. The impact that these AI tools will have on the way we use the internet cannot be understated. More and more users are utilizing these tools for recommendations and references for services or products to solve a need instead of scrolling blue links in search results.  

According to Google, over 1 billion people now use AI overviews on their search results page. This has increased Google’s search usage by as much as 10% in most markets already, and that’s expected to grow. According to an Apple executive’s interview with BBC, Google searches via Apple’s Safari browser have decreased for the first time in 20 years. AI on the web is causing a real-time, fundamental shift in the way we use the internet itself. Although what we know is changing by the hour, there are some strategies to implement to increase the likelihood of being recommended by LLMs, short for large language models.

Conversations beat links every time  

First, we need to understand how consumers are using LLMs to meet their needs. In the realm of senior living, a typical prompt might be, “Give me the top 7 CCRC senior living communities within a 20-minute drive of my current location.” A deeper, secondary prompt may be “How does a refundable entry fee at a senior community work?”  

Rather than a navigation-based, keyword-driven experience, AI is allowing search engines like Google or services like ChatGPT to present a conversational, personalized experience. Rather than a simple 3- or 4-word search query on Google that produces an endless list of (sometimes) relevant websites to weed through, AI tools give a succinct answer within the guidelines the user has provided.  

This often results in “zero-click” searches—users get their answer and either follow up with another prompt or move on without ever clicking a link or visiting your website.  

We can extract two big takeaways from this. First: only measuring SEO success by tracking organic traffic driven to your website means you’re completely missing the opportunity provided by these LLMs. Second: in LLMs, you essentially have an all-new audience to consider when creating content you put on your website. Welcome to the world of AI optimization or AIO.

The value of LLM recommendations 

When a user is introduced to your community via an LLM, it can make for a very strong first impression. Users often feel natural language results from LLMs are more reliable because these systems can process vast amounts of data very, very quickly. Plus, we are simply programmed to respond more favorably to natural language conversations and recommendations than we are to just a list of websites like a typical search result. 

This means it’s vital to think about AI optimization, or AIO, as you consider how you structure your online presence. AI optimization focuses on making sure your web content is discoverable, structured, and credible enough to be referenced by LLMs like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode, or many of the other tools.

AIO best practices are being written now 

While the entire web industry is working hard to sort out the best tactics and methods to make a site or brand more visible, we have a good idea of where to begin. To even have a chance to be in the conversation, LLMs have to find you and understand what your community is all about. That means having structured data and schema they’re specifically looking for. In plain terms, this is just snippets of code that give the crawler information, but web viewers never see this.  

We also recommend adapting your content strategy to help LLMs crawl your site(s) more efficiently. These tools crawl differently than search engines. So think in terms of Q&A formats. FAQs are great, but you can also format subheads as questions and then deliver an answer in the following copy.  

Reviews and reputation management have a big role in recommendations to users since they take real-world feedback into account. With Google Reviews and other platforms factoring into the AI’s analysis, it’s more important than ever to encourage your audiences to leave reviews for your community. Review campaigns targeting residents, their families, and even your staff can be a great way to bolster positive sentiment online about your community.  

“In a zero-click, AI-prompting world, it’s vital to be informative, include the proper website technical tactics, and test consistently to ensure we’re evolving right along with artificial intelligence.”

Measuring AIO program success  

With generated website traffic no longer being the benchmark, how do you know if your AIO efforts are producing fruit? The most direct way is via AI prompt simulations—pretend to be someone in the throes of research, ask questions you know your audience is asking, and see how the AI responds. Once a result is generated, you can ask the AI why it recommended one community over another. While you may not be able to test every AI platform, starting with Google and ChatGPT would cover a lot of the market.  

Lastly, and possibly the biggest tip, is to answer questions to build authority. This isn’t a new SEO strategy by any means. Content should be easy to find, and it should answer the users’ questions. The trick here is to go several layers deep into the questions—what possible questions would a user ask about your community, services, or details beyond that initial prompt? Remember, LLMs operate much more conversationally than traditional search engines.  

What we (and even the AI companies) know about this technology changes by the moment. The rate of adoption of LLMs using AI has outpaced virtually any other technology in human history. However, partnering with the right experts can help make sure you have an edge over competitors. In a zero-click, AI-prompting world, it’s vital to be informative, include the proper website technical tactics, and test consistently to ensure we’re evolving right along with artificial intelligence.