AI, Content Knowledge Graphs, and Everything in Between

Okay, let me paint a picture for you. I'm sitting at dinner with a friend—this was, I don't know, ten years ago. And we’re just tossing ideas around like we always did, right? And then out of nowhere, he starts talking about “semantic search.” Semantic search! 

Now, I’m sitting there thinking, "What the hell is semantic search?" Of course, I panic because, well, if he knows about it, I should know about it, too. I don’t like being out of the loop, especially when it comes to something like SEO. I mean, what am I, chopped liver?

So, I went home and bought this book on Google Semantic Search. I read it, and guess what? It was fine. I freaked out for nothing. Classic overreaction. 

It turns out, the whole thing is just about making good content that people actually want to read. Can you believe that? That’s the secret—just make something people like. Who knew? 

Anyway, now we’re all getting our knickers in a twist about AI, generative search, LLMs, and whatever the next big acronym is. 

Here’s the thing: If you’re already creating solid content, don’t worry about it. If you’re not, well, yeah, maybe worry a little. But it’s not rocket science.

The Mess That Is Search Today

So, another friend emailed me a few days ago, and she said, “Hey, what about E-E-A-T?” Now, that’s Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness—don’t ask me why we need all these letters. Anyway, she’s asking me how it will affect where people go to get their information. And I think, “Great, just what I needed, another thing to obsess over.”

But seriously, search has gotten more complicated than ever. Google’s out here throwing AI at everything, like that’s gonna fix all their problems. Meanwhile, Bing’s trying to stay relevant by slapping citations on AI-generated answers like a teacher handing out gold stars. It’s a madhouse.

And don’t even get me started on generative search engines—ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot… Claude! Oh, Claude’s my favorite. Why? I don’t know. Sounds like a guy you could sit down and have a beer with. The point is, the way people search for stuff these days? It’s all over the place. 

Google, social media, AI assistants—it’s like trying to keep up with a hundred TV channels, but you only care about three. 

Forget Keywords—They’re Dead

Do you remember when we all cared about keywords? Those were the days. You’d stuff “best pizza in town” into an article 47 times and call it a day. Now? Useless. AI-driven search doesn’t give two hoots about keywords. It cares about context—which is, frankly, a lot harder to game.

Instead of keyword-stuffing, what you really need to do is build something called a “content knowledge graph.” Sounds fancy, right? It’s not. All it means is you organize your content in a way that actually makes sense. You take your big idea, and then you create smaller clusters of related ideas around it. It’s like, I don’t know, planning a wedding seating chart. Just without Aunt Marge complaining about the breadsticks.

The Website Experience—People Want AI, Apparently

Now, let’s talk about your website. People expect everything to have AI now. Like it’s not enough that I put up a website; now it’s gotta talk back to you? Unbelievable. But that’s where we’re headed, folks. If your site doesn’t have some chatbot or virtual assistant ready to hand-feed visitors the exact information they’re looking for, forget about it. 

Take Kajabi, for instance. You go to their support page, and instead of sifting through a bunch of articles, you just ask the bot, “Hey, how do I do X, Y, or Z?” And boom, it gives you the answer, like a waiter who actually pays attention to your order. That’s what people want now.

Build a Content Knowledge Graph—It’s Not Rocket Science

Alright, here’s the fun part—building your content knowledge graph. Let’s say you’re creating content around, oh, I don’t know, the PESO Model. Start with the big pieces: paid, earned, shared, and owned media. Then, you break those down into even smaller pieces: traditional media, influencers, social media metrics, blah, blah, blah. Eventually, all these little pieces connect, and what do you get? A nice, interconnected web of content. 

Now, you’ve got a map that shows how all your content works together, like a roadmap to avoid the content black hole. And once you’ve got that map, you can start filling in the gaps. If something’s missing, you create more content for it. It’s like filling out a crossword puzzle, only with fewer four-letter words that start with Q.

The Bottom Line—Keep It All Connected

In the end, the goal is simple. You want to make your content as easy to find as possible, no matter how people are searching for it. That means keeping everything connected, organized, and, dare I say, interesting?

If you can do that—if you can make the best content out there for your topic—then the rest? It’ll take care of itself. Sure, things are gonna change, but guess what? They always do. So why stress about it?