Are you writing for your audience, or are you writing for an algorithm?

For years, content creators have worried that optimizing for search engines means sacrificing authenticity, creativity and readability. Now, with AI-powered answer engines changing how audiences discover information, that concern is only growing.

But what if writing for people and optimizing for search are actually the same job?

In this episode of the MarketingEDGE Podcast, Erin Hallstrom's article draws on her experience training more than 150 journalists in SEO and answer engine optimization (AEO) to explain why the principles of effective journalism are also essential to successful B2B content marketing.

From putting the most important information first to answering buyers' questions in language they actually use, Erin explores how marketers can make their content more discoverable without losing the human element.

Because the best way to write for search engines may be to stop thinking about search engines and start thinking about your readers.

What You'll Learn

• Why journalists resist writing for search engines and what marketers can learn from that perspective

• How SEO and AEO align with audience-first content creation

• Why busy B2B buyers need clear answers before they need additional context

• How the journalistic inverted pyramid approach can improve content clarity and discoverability

• Where to find the questions your buyers are actually asking

• Why using your audience's language matters more than internal company terminology

• How clearly identifying your intended audience can make content more relevant

• Why the "curse of knowledge" can prevent marketers from seeing their content through a buyer's eyes

• Practical ways to evaluate whether your content speaks to the right audience

Why It Matters

B2B buyers are increasingly turning to search engines and AI assistants to research challenges, evaluate solutions and inform purchasing decisions.

That means marketers need content that is both discoverable and immediately useful.

But optimization doesn't have to mean writing robotic copy, stuffing keywords into articles or sacrificing a brand's voice.

The same principles that help readers quickly understand and evaluate information — clear headlines, direct answers, relevant language and an identifiable audience can also help search and answer engines understand the content.

For B2B marketers, the opportunity is to stop treating SEO and AEO as separate tasks and start incorporating audience-first thinking into the content creation process.

When you make content easier for the right people to find, understand and use, you're already doing much of the work of optimization.