In our previous blog, we introduced you to AI Overviews, Google’s groundbreaking new feature that’s changing the face of search.
These AI-generated summaries appear at the top of search results for certain queries, providing users with quick, comprehensive answers.
For businesses and content creators, AI Overviews present massive opportunities.
When your content is featured in an AI Overview, it appears at the top of search results. This prime position can significantly increase your visibility to potential customers. AI Overviews often appear for queries you might not have targeted initially. Getting featured can also help you reach new audiences who are searching for related topics.
Content repurposing is one of the most effective ways to capitalise on this new feature. Google’s AI looks for comprehensive, authoritative content when creating AI Overviews. Expanding your existing content increases its chances of being seen as a credible, trustworthy source on a topic.
Now, if you’ve ever tried writing content for your business, you’ll know it can be time-consuming and mentally draining. Even if you’re just writing a short blog, an emailer or a few social media posts from scratch, it takes time to come up with a fresh idea, flesh it out, get it approved, proof, edit and publish it, and hope it does well. More often than not, you’ll probably then forget about it and move on to the next thing.
However, repurposing the content you’ve already created allows you to get more value from it, making the most of your efforts. This blog explores what content repurposing is and how it can help you get more of your content featured in AI Overviews.
Eight ways to repurpose your content for AI Overviews
Content repurposing involves taking your existing content and adapting it for new formats or platforms. This strategy is essential for AI Overviews.
Chances are your website is already a goldmine of helpful information. You’ll no doubt have a blog with your latest news or expert opinion, or information pages that talk in-depth about your products and services. You may even have an FAQ section, downloadable how-to guides or whitepapers.
Some of it may already be working for you from an SEO perspective, ranking highly in Google and attracting lots of visitors. But some of it might not.
In either case, there’s always something you can do to tweak and enhance your online content to make it work harder for your business.
Whether it’s updating an older product or service page with new information, refining a page’s SEO based on the latest keyword research or combining some of your best-performing blogs into a comprehensive piece of ‘pillar’ content, repurposing is an easy way of giving your old content a new lease of life, rather than having to create something new.
It can also increase your chances of being featured in AI Overviews, boosting your visibility, reaching new audiences and building trust with the search engines.
We’re not talking about rewriting War and Peace here, either.
Here are some really simple, practical things you can do with your existing content to keep up with the latest advances in search:
Convert your downloads into new blogs
Many businesses have valuable content locked away in PDF format. It could be how-to guides (like ROAR!, our free 21 Marketing Essentials Checklist), process explainers, eBooks or whitepapers. These downloads are popular for a reason – they contain information your audience finds valuable.
So, why not convert them into web-friendly ‘Ultimate Guides’? This makes your content more accessible and easier for search engines to crawl and index.
Start by identifying your most popular downloadable content. Break the content down into easily digestible sections, then publish each one as a separate blog on your website.
To create more value, add current statistics, real-world examples and expert insights to make it more comprehensive.
Optimise these new blog posts for search engines. Use relevant keywords naturally throughout the text. Structure them for easy navigation and readability. Use clear headings and subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs. This makes your content more scannable for both human readers and AI systems.
Add videos, infographics or interactive elements to make your content more engaging. This can increase time on the page and improve user experience, both factors that can help with AI Overview rankings. Finally, create compelling meta descriptions and title tags that accurately describe the content and entice clicks.
Create individual blogs from a list post
Listicles are popular. You see them on social media all the time. You may even have published a few yourself.
If you have, why not break them down into individual, in-depth blog posts?
For example, if you’ve ever written a blog called something like ‘Ten Industry Trends for 2024’, based on whatever’s relevant to your business or sector, you could create ten separate blogs, each focusing on one trend.
Add depth and value to each point with statistics and practical tips that readers can apply. This approach allows you to explore each topic in greater detail, positioning your content as more authoritative.
Implement an interlinking strategy for these blogs. Link them back to the original listicle and to each other where relevant. Internal linking helps search engines understand the relationship between each piece of content and can improve your overall SEO.
Combine related blog posts into one big piece of long-form content
Identify a cluster of related posts on your blog. These could be posts that cover different aspects of the same broad topic. Combine these into a comprehensive, long-form piece of content.
Create an authoritative resource that covers the topic in-depth. Include all the information from your original posts, but also add new insights, updated information and additional context. This positions your content as a go-to resource on the topic.
To optimise this pillar content for AI Overviews, use a clear structure with question-based headings and concise answers. Google favours this format for featured snippets and AI Overviews.
Convert an infographic into individual blog posts
Infographics are great for presenting information visually. You can also expand them into detailed blog posts.
Extract the key points from your infographic and use each as the basis for a blog post. Enhance each point with detailed content. Provide context, examples and additional information that couldn’t fit in the infographic format. This allows you to explore each point in greater depth.
Use the original infographic as a visual summary within each blog post. It provides a quick overview for readers and breaks up the text, improving the overall user experience.
Again, don’t forget to embed internal links between all the individual posts and the main infographic to let Google and the other search engines see how each piece of content relates to the others.
Use your own data or research to support your content
Incorporating original research or data into your content is a powerful way to enhance its value for AI Overviews and position your business as an industry authority.
Start by identifying topics where unique data could add significant insights. Conduct surveys or analyse your internal data to uncover interesting trends. Compile your findings into a comprehensive report, which can serve as a standalone piece or update existing content.
Break down your data into digestible chunks for various content formats like infographics or social media posts. Update your existing content with new data to improve its quality and relevance. Look for newsworthy angles in your research that could attract media attention and earn valuable backlinks from other websites.
Convert a PowerPoint presentation into blogs
If you’ve created presentations for webinars or conferences, you can repurpose these into blog content. Transform each slide or section of your presentation into a standalone blog.
Add context and detailed explanations to your slide content. What you might say verbally during a presentation needs to be written out in the blog post.
Provide examples and additional information to flesh out each point. You should also incorporate visuals from the presentation into your blog post, including any relevant charts, graphs or other elements that help illustrate your points.
Launch an online course based on your best posts
Chances are, if you’re writing about a subject on your blog, you have expertise in it.
So, why not create an online course?
Selecting your top-performing posts on a particular topic as the basis of the course not only repurposes your content but also creates a new product for your business.
eLearning platforms like Teachable, Udemy and Skillshare make it easy to launch and sell online courses.
Structure your content for a learning experience. Break it down into modules or lessons, each building on the previous one. Add learning objectives and summaries to help students grasp key concepts. Enhance your course with interactive elements and assessments. Add quizzes, exercises or assignments to reinforce learning. This interactivity can help your content stand out and provide more value to users.
Refresh an old post to make it new again
This tip might be the simplest of the lot. Identify older posts that are still relevant but may have outdated information. Update statistics and information to ensure your content is current and accurate.
Add new insights and perspectives to the post.
Has your understanding of the topic evolved?
Are there new developments in your industry?
Include these to make your content more comprehensive and valuable.
Optimise the refreshed post for current SEO best practices, which might include updating your keywords, improving your meta descriptions or restructuring your content to better answer user queries.
Best practices for repurposing content for AI Overviews
When repurposing content for AI Overviews, keep these best practices in mind:
- Maintain content quality and relevance – Always prioritise providing valuable, accurate information to your readers.
- Ensure proper keyword optimisation – Use relevant keywords naturally throughout your content. Avoid keyword stuffing.
- Create content that answers specific questions – Structure your content around questions your audience is likely to ask.
- Structure content for easy comprehension by AI – Use clear headings, bullet points and concise paragraphs to make your content easy for both humans and AI to understand.
- Track appearances in AI Overviews – Monitor when and where your content appears in these summaries. Learn what worked and apply it to other pieces of content.
How can QBD help?
As search continues to evolve, staying adaptable and focusing on creating high-quality, informative content will always be a winning strategy. Refreshing your older content can maximise its value and improve your chances of featuring in AI Overviews.
You might be surprised at how much valuable material you already have that can be repurposed. With some creativity and strategic thinking, you can make your content work harder for your business in this new era of AI-enhanced search.
That’s where QBD can help. We’ve already had massive success in helping a wide range of clients across various sectors to rank higher in Google search and feature in AI Overviews with high-quality, well-optimised creative content and ongoing SEO support.
We can do the same for you.
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation conversation to discuss your SEO and digital content and see how we can help your business reap the rewards of Google’s new AI Overviews feature.
About the author
Jon is our Head of Creative Content. He works with a range of QBD clients, producing engaging, SEO-friendly website and digital content to help them reach a wider audience.
He does this by gaining a deep understanding of who our clients are, what they do, who their customers are and what makes them special, then helps them to tell their brand story in a way that connects with their target audiences.