Find a community where you can start showing up for your audience

Erin says: “In 2026, we’re already starting to see that AI is where people start their research, and community is where people make up their minds.

Therefore, in 2026, the smartest SEO strategies are going to optimize for both.”

Is it becoming the norm for people to use AI for search?

“People are getting AI more directly in their faces through things like AIO, but I don't think that the average person is going to ChatGPT or Perplexity specifically.

If your demographic is my mother's demographic, I know she's not going to ChatGPT. However, she does use Google a lot, so she is experiencing AI Mode.

It depends on your audience, absolutely, but we are seeing AI answers thrust into search much more now, and that piece is going to change the way that people are reacting to the search results that we're getting. We're already seeing that in some of the studies that have been done on how people are reacting to AIO in Google search.”

What's your mother's non-technical perspective on what AI Mode offers her?

“We don't talk about it. If it has ever come up, she probably says, ‘I don't know what this is.’ Actually, that is interesting. I should ask her, knowing that she uses Google a lot, ‘Hey, have you seen these little things that pop up? What do you think about that?’

Those types of studies would be really interesting, looking at how people from specific age groups or intersections react to AIO.

As marketers and search marketers, we're going to use these things differently, which I think is a real advantage. We're using them the way that the average user might start to use them in three years or so. We are ahead of the game in that respect.

In 2026, though, how are we managing today's average user's current search experience, how they are actually searching, what they're actually reading, and the folks that aren't going over to ChatGPT or Perplexity but are experiencing things like AIO?”

If AI is where people start their research, how does that differ from how people used to research, and do we have to optimize differently to appear in those results?

“I don't know the answer to that. My guess (as a non-SEO) would be that long tail queries are becoming more and more common.

Even if the search isn't changing, people are being presented with AI overviews and things like that. AI is becoming almost like the new front door, and users are increasingly being met with AI overviews or are maybe using ChatGPT or Perplexity. Where we’re seeing a change is in what happens after they have read through that: their click, and whatever their second search is.

Growth Memo did a really interesting piece of user interface research on Google with AIO recently. They looked at where a user clicks after leaving Google, after their search, both with AIO and without AIO.

Without AIO, around 18% of folks were going to communities, videos, and forums and 57% were just scrolling down and going to organic. With AIO, what we're seeing is an increase in community, video, and forums. Instead of 18% of folks going there, we're now seeing 30% going there, and instead of 57% of folks going to organic, we're seeing 40% going there.

That tells me you need to optimize for community, which means optimizing for trust. There's something about an AIO result where people think, ‘Hmm, I don't know that I trust this. I need to go hear from someone I trust,’ and people trust people. It's very hard for people to gain trust in a brand.

What we're seeing with this drop in trust when an AIO shows up is that people want to hear the voices of other people – even more than just the organic links.”

How do you know which community your audience is likely to be interacting on?

“That definitely requires some research. I have an article on LinkedIn about how you get started with looking for a community. It can come down to a simple search.

Think about your business and what you value. Let’s say you value educating the industry, and you value diversity and inclusion. Then you look at who your audience is. Let’s say they are technical SEOs. Your search query would become ‘your value’ plus ‘your audience’, and ‘community’.

For example, ‘I'm looking for communities of tech SEOs for people of marginalised genders’, or ‘I'm looking for communities of tech SEOs who value education and provide educational resources and training.’ You take your values as a brand (and as a human) and your audience, find that intersection, and then go out and search for communities that exist at any of those intersections.

Then it's a matter of joining one to see if it’s the right fit. Is this where I should be? Am I able to help in this community? That’s one area.

Then, it’s looking at who is showing up in industry newsletters. Who's showing up in your customers' LinkedIn headers? For example, a lot of people will put ‘Women in Tech SEO community member’ right there in their LinkedIn profile. You could even ask new customers signing up, ‘Do you have communities in this industry that you follow?’

It is sitting down, doing a bit of research, thinking about where your values and your audience intersect, and then going out and trying to find that niche that fits for you.”

What kind of help should you be providing within those communities, and how do you measure the impact of that?

“After you join a community, what you do is you listen (or read if it's a digital community), then you start to understand what help looks like in this community. Why do people come back to this community every day, once a week, or once a month? What value are they getting out of it?

Are they getting education? Are they getting access to opportunities? Are they getting an amplification of their voices that helps them excel in their career? Once you figure out the different ways that people get value in this community, then you think to yourself, is there anything here where I can show up with that value?

For example, Majestic (which is a Women in Tech SEO Partner) has all of this wonderful content. It's educational, but more than that, what you and I are doing here today is amplification, which is one of our collective career goals at Women in Tech SEO. I know that you invite so many folks from our community to be on these podcasts and to be in these videos. Then, you're sharing those all over Majestic’s socials.

You're using Majestic’s audience to uplift the voices of these people. Majestic is not coming into our community to sell Majestic. Majestic is coming into our community and saying, ‘Where can we create value? How do we do that within the realm of what already exists in the community?’ By doing that, you're getting a lot of trust from these folks.

That can show up in a measurable way, hopefully, in mentions on social media, on Reddit, etc. – where the brand is showing up, being tagged, and being talked about. That's the outcome of the trust you build by going into a community and focussing on how you can really help, instead of going in and focussing on how you earn back however much you gave to be a partner in ROI.

It is a brand awareness play, and the way that it impacts the brand is by earning the trust of these folks that you're helping. In turn, if you don't expect anything back from that help, these folks see the value, the help, and the support that you've given them, and they will call that out.

It goes back to an idea I have mentioned before, which is that visibility is often a byproduct of trust.”

When you’re optimizing for both AI and communities, is that within the same campaign or do you need to implement a different strategy for each?

“That's a great question. As a marketer, I think integrated strategies are always going to be the best. Your SEO, your community, your paid search, and your social – all of those strategies should come from a top-level overarching theme.

In terms of SEO and community working together, and being able to optimize for AI, there is this whole stream I've seen where optimizing for AI can be technical – in the way you structure your content, what you're writing, and all of those things. However, there's also this beautiful thing that happens if you are earning these trust mentions, where AI is looking at LinkedIn. ChatGPT is pulling from LinkedIn. We know that Google has started to emphasise Reddit results more.

These places where people are having person-to-person conversations, where trust is being exchanged, are starting to be prioritised in these AI tools, but also in search itself. There is a beauty in the fact that they are definitely not separate.

I hear so many people saying that the way to get into AI results is by doing brand work. This is brand work. So, they do very much go hand in hand. I also think there is a whole other stream that I don't know much about, which is optimizing the way your content is written to get into AI.

Probably both of those things need to be happening to make sure that you are everywhere you need to be – being in all of these places where ChatGPT and AI, and Google search, are pulling from. There is a lot of strength there.

With trust, a brand can tell me all day long why I should trust them, and maybe I will if it's a low-cost, low-impact decision, but I would love for a brand to show me why I can trust them. I'm not going to pay for Majestic out of the box unless I know that I need it. It’s an investment in time and money, etc.

However, if I'm continually seeing Majestic show up and support my community, and I'm continuing to see Majestic share all these clips of all of these wonderful people who I know – whose voices deserve to be heard, and who are sharing these very valuable things back to the industry – that is starting to plant the seed that these are some really kind people.

I also don't just see Majestic, I see the people behind Majestic. We're often showing up in these spaces and thinking we need to get the brand in there, but really, you show up as yourself. You don’t show up as the brand; you show up as a person behind the brand. That's where you start to build that person-to-person trust.

You are layering in that brand as well. We know that David and Majestic go hand in hand.”

Erin, what's the key takeaway from the tip you shared today?

“Get started, go out, find a community space, find a forum, and find somewhere that makes sense for you.

Join, listen, and figure out what help means to that community and where that intersects with how you can support. Then, get chatting.

When you get chatting, don't show up as the brand. Show up as the person behind the brand. Show up as you.”

Erin Simmons is Managing Director at the Women in Tech SEO Community. Find out more over at ErinSimmonsFreelance.com.