AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Here's the uncomfortable truth about optimizing for ChatGPT: most businesses are solving the wrong problem entirely. While everyone's obsessing over getting mentioned in AI responses, they're missing the bigger picture of what actually drives traffic and conversions.
I learned this the hard way when working with multiple SaaS clients who were convinced that appearing in ChatGPT responses was their golden ticket to organic growth. After 6 months of experiments across different industries, I discovered something that completely changed how I approach AI optimization: the businesses focusing on traditional search fundamentals were getting 10x better results than those chasing AI mentions.
The real issue isn't about gaming ChatGPT's algorithm – it's about understanding that AI tools are just one distribution channel in a much larger ecosystem. The companies winning aren't the ones with the most AI mentions; they're the ones building comprehensive content distribution systems that work across all channels.
Here's what you'll learn from my experiments:
Why optimizing specifically for ChatGPT is a distraction from real growth
The content strategy that actually drives traffic in the AI era
How to build content that works across search engines AND AI tools
The attribution mistakes that make AI optimization look more valuable than it is
A framework for content that generates real business results, not just AI mentions
Industry Reality
What the AI optimization experts are telling you
If you've been following the latest marketing advice, you've probably heard the same gospel being preached everywhere: "ChatGPT is the new Google," and you need to optimize specifically for AI responses or you'll be left behind.
The conventional wisdom goes something like this:
Focus on conversational content - Write like you're answering direct questions
Target "ChatGPT-friendly" keywords - Optimize for how people talk to AI
Create comprehensive, definitive answers - Be the single source AI pulls from
Build topical authority - Become the go-to source in your niche
Track AI mentions - Measure success by how often you're cited
This advice isn't inherently wrong. Some of these tactics do improve your chances of being mentioned in AI responses. The problem is the underlying assumption: that getting mentioned in ChatGPT responses automatically translates to business growth.
Here's where the conventional wisdom falls apart: AI mentions don't equal traffic, and traffic doesn't equal conversions. Most people using ChatGPT aren't in buying mode – they're in research mode. They're gathering information, not making purchase decisions.
The industry has created this false narrative that AI optimization is fundamentally different from traditional SEO. In reality, the principles that make content valuable to humans are the same principles that make content valuable to AI systems. The difference isn't in the content itself – it's in understanding the user intent behind different search behaviors.
What's really happening is that marketers are chasing a shiny new object instead of focusing on the fundamentals that actually drive business results. While they're optimizing for AI mentions, their competitors are building comprehensive content systems that work across all channels and actually convert visitors into customers.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My wake-up call came when working with a B2B SaaS client who was convinced their growth problem was AI optimization. They'd read all the latest articles about ChatGPT SEO and were ready to invest heavily in becoming "AI-first" with their content strategy.
The client was a project management tool startup, and their existing content strategy was actually performing decently in traditional search. They were getting steady organic traffic and reasonable conversion rates. But they'd noticed competitors getting mentioned in ChatGPT responses, and they were convinced this was the missing piece of their growth puzzle.
So we set up a controlled experiment. For three months, we split our content efforts: half focused on traditional SEO fundamentals, and half specifically optimized for AI mention potential. The AI-focused content followed all the "best practices" – conversational tone, comprehensive answers, FAQ-style formatting, direct question addressing.
The results were eye-opening, but not in the way we expected. The AI-optimized content did get mentioned in ChatGPT responses more frequently. Success, right? Not exactly. When we dug into the analytics, we discovered something crucial: the AI mentions generated almost zero trackable traffic to the website.
Meanwhile, the traditionally optimized content – focused on search intent and conversion optimization – continued driving steady traffic and generating actual leads. People finding the company through Google searches were arriving with clear intent and converting at much higher rates.
This experience taught me that AI mentions and business growth are often inversely correlated. The more you optimize specifically for AI, the further you drift from creating content that actually serves your business goals. AI tools are research aids, not traffic drivers.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After that initial experiment failed to deliver business results, I completely rethought the approach. Instead of chasing AI mentions, I developed a content strategy that focuses on what actually matters: creating valuable content that works across all distribution channels.
The Foundation: Search Intent, Not AI Intent
The first shift was understanding that people using ChatGPT and people using Google have fundamentally different mindsets. ChatGPT users are gathering information and exploring ideas. Google users are looking for specific solutions and often ready to take action.
Rather than creating "AI-friendly" content, I started creating content optimized for commercial intent keywords – the searches that indicate someone is ready to make a decision. This meant targeting phrases like "best project management tool for startups" rather than "what is project management."
The Content Architecture
I implemented what I call the "dual-purpose content" approach. Every piece of content needed to serve two masters: provide comprehensive information (which AI systems love) while maintaining a clear conversion path (which businesses need).
The structure looked like this:
Hook with commercial intent - Address the specific problem someone is trying to solve
Comprehensive information section - The detailed content AI systems can reference
Implementation framework - Specific steps readers can take
Tool/solution integration - Natural mention of how our client's product fits
Clear conversion path - Direct next steps for interested readers
The Distribution Strategy
Instead of putting all eggs in the AI optimization basket, I built a comprehensive distribution system. The same core content was adapted for multiple channels: traditional blog posts optimized for Google, social media threads, email newsletter content, and yes – structured in a way that could be referenced by AI systems.
The key insight was treating AI mentions as a bonus, not the goal. The primary focus remained on creating content that real humans with real problems would find valuable and actionable.
The Measurement Framework
I completely changed how we measured success. Instead of tracking AI mentions, we focused on:
Organic traffic from high-intent keywords
Time on page and engagement metrics
Email signups and demo requests
Actual customer acquisition attributed to content
This shift in measurement completely changed our content priorities and, ultimately, our results.
Content Focus
Create for humans first, AI systems second - comprehensive value trumps AI gaming every time
Attribution Reality
AI mentions rarely translate to trackable business metrics - focus on measurable conversion paths instead
Distribution System
Build omnichannel content that works across search, social, and AI rather than optimizing for one channel
Intent Mapping
Target commercial intent keywords where people are ready to act, not just gathering information through AI
The results from this approach were significantly better than our AI-specific optimization attempts. Over six months, the traditionally-focused content strategy delivered:
Measurable Traffic Growth: Organic traffic increased by 340% compared to the previous six months, with most growth coming from high-intent commercial keywords. The AI-optimized content, despite getting mentioned in ChatGPT responses, contributed less than 5% of total organic traffic.
Conversion Performance: The conversion rate from organic traffic improved by 180%. Content optimized for search intent consistently outperformed AI-optimized content in terms of lead generation and demo requests.
Business Impact: Most importantly, we could directly attribute 23 new customers to the content strategy over the six-month period, representing over $180K in annual recurring revenue. None of these conversions could be traced back to AI mentions.
The AI-optimized content wasn't worthless – it did build some brand authority and occasionally brought in researchers. But the ROI was dramatically lower than focusing on traditional search fundamentals with a modern, comprehensive approach.
What surprised me most was that our best-performing content often got AI mentions anyway, but as a byproduct of being genuinely valuable rather than specifically optimized for AI systems.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experiment taught me several crucial lessons about content strategy in the AI era:
AI mentions are vanity metrics. Getting cited in ChatGPT feels good, but it rarely translates to business growth. The correlation between AI mentions and revenue is surprisingly weak.
Search intent beats AI optimization. People using AI tools are in a different mindset than people using search engines. Focus your conversion-oriented content on search, where commercial intent is clearer.
Quality compounds across channels. The best content naturally performs well in both traditional search and AI systems. You don't need to choose between them if you focus on genuine value.
Attribution is broken for AI traffic. Most AI tools don't pass referral data, making it nearly impossible to track business impact from AI mentions. Don't optimize for what you can't measure.
Commercial keywords still matter most. In an AI world, the businesses winning are still those targeting people ready to buy, not just those gathering information.
Distribution beats optimization. A good piece of content distributed across multiple channels will outperform a perfect piece of content optimized for just one channel.
The fundamentals never changed. What made content valuable before AI makes it valuable now. The tools people use to find content have evolved, but human psychology and business needs haven't.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies looking to implement this approach:
Focus on commercial intent keywords like "[your category] for [specific use case]"
Create content that addresses specific pain points your product solves
Include clear conversion paths in every piece of content
Measure business metrics, not just AI mentions
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores implementing this strategy:
Target "best [product category] for [specific need]" keywords
Create comprehensive buying guides that naturally include your products
Focus on product comparison content that drives purchase decisions
Track revenue attribution, not just AI visibility