773 | Content Strategy and LLMS.txt w/ Carolyn Shelby

AI Eats Your Content

Is your website feeding the AI overlords? Or hiding all the good stuff under napkins and toggles? On this week's EDGE of the Web, Erin Sparks sits down with Carolyn Shelby, Principal SEO at Yoast, to reveal why your site's juiciest content may be lost to the bots (and your users, too).

We dig into Carolyn's strategies for structuring content that's not only valuable to users, but also perfectly plated for LLMs like GPT and Google's AI Overview. From the new LLMs.txt "treasure map" for your website to deep dives on why schema isn't your silver bullet, Carolyn delivers expert guidance (complete with sheet cake metaphors and cafeteria tray analogies) to help you chunk, serve, and show off your best ideas for the AI appetite.

And, for those still determined to hide FAQs behind fancy sliders… watch out. Carolyn shares why conversion flow isn't where you think it is, and why making peace with longer, openly structured info pages might just save your SEO bacon (and your server bills).

We wrap with practical tips to build up your content strategy for AI, advice on speaking your users' language, and a side of wit. Press play for your weekly dose of SEO smarts, AI survival tactics, and enough food metaphors to power your next content audit!

[00:04:51] Content Strategy for AI Search Visibility

[00:08:33] Visual Analogy: "Cake & Frosting" Content Model

[00:09:31] EDGE of the Web Sponsor: PreWriter.AI from Bruce Clay

[00:11:00] Rethinking Page Design: Human UX vs. LLM Accessibility

[00:14:04] Redefining Conversion Funnel: From Site-Centric to AI-Centric

[00:16:27] Alternate Markdown Versions of Pages

[00:18:09] EDGE of the Web Housekeeping Break: Upcoming Guests & News Podcast

[00:19:35] Balancing Clarity, Structure & Creativity for Humans and AI

[00:24:34] Transition Phrases: Building Logical Bridges in Content

[00:28:33] Search Rankings as the Gateway to LLM Visibility

[00:30:42] EDGE of The Web Sponsor: Inlinks (WAIKAY)

[00:32:11] Required Mindsets: User Intent & Conversational Language

[00:36:10] Measuring Performance: Beyond Traditional Rank Tracking

[00:39:19] Final Actionable Tip: Create Helpful, Original Content

[00:39:57] Where to Find Carolyn: Articles, Social, & Publications

Thanks to Our Sponsors!

PreWriter.AI: https://edgeofthewebradio.com/prewriter

Inlinks WAIKAY https://edgeofthewebradio.com/waikay

Follow Our Guest

Twitter: @cshel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cshel/

Resources

Learn about Ladonia (DONATE!): https://www.ladonia.org/about/

Carolyn's Posts on LLMS.txt: https://www.cshel.com/ai-seo/how-llms-interpret-content-structuring-for-ai-search-unedited-version/

https://searchengineland.com/llms-txt-isnt-robots-txt-its-a-treasure-map-for-ai-456586