Moz recently published its analysis of Google’s GEO guidelines for optimising and creating content for generative AI search. The conclusion will be familiar to anyone who’s been across search since the introduction of LLMs – for content to succeed, it needs a unique human perspective. Generic articles, no matter how well optimised, are losing ground to expertise-driven content.
This is not a new argument. It’s one we’ve been making since 2023, when Google introduced the Experience signal to its E-E-A-T framework. The December 2025 core update reinforced it. What has changed is the commercial stakes.
What is commodity content?
Commodity content is mass-produced and easily-replicated content that relies solely on secondary research and generic insights. It can answer obvious questions, confirming what readers already suspected, but ultimately offers little beyond the surface. It’s designed for quick consumption and lacks inherent value.
This can be useful when you’re trying to answer a question quickly or settle an argument with a quick Google search. But when conducting in-depth research or making an informed decision, it lacks the requisite insight.
For years, producing it at volume was a reasonable content strategy. That’s no longer true.
Why does this matter now?
Generative AI can summarise common knowledge instantly. When a user asks a factual question, large language models and AI features such as Google AI Overviews can produce a credible answer without directing them to a website. Content that exists purely to explain the obvious has been automated.
This does not make informational content worthless, however. Guides, explainers and FAQs still signal reliability, support internal linking and form part of how potential clients research a business before committing. AI systems cite credible sources, and being that source still matters, but citation alone is not a content strategy.
Is this what E-E-A-T has always been telling us?
Google’s E-E-A-T framework elevates Trust specifically because it’s one thing a language model cannot replicate. But Trust is underpinned by Experience and Expertise, something that stands out in our modern noisy landscape. Genuine insight in written content is not about length or structure; it’s about offering an insight users can’t find anywhere else.
It looks like this:
- Additional context around complicated topics
- Willingness to cut through false information rather than simply rewriting it
- Personal experience balanced with thorough research
Written by and attributed to people who actually work in the field
Non-commodity content provides a real answer. It does not solely serve a commercial brief, but is instead designed with longevity in mind.
Refining your approach to content: Where to get started
For businesses that have spent years producing content with the sole intention of ranking rather than offering their own experience and expertise, this might feel like trying to turn around a slow-moving tanker. Fortunately, this is not primarily a writing problem, but a positioning problem.
Refining what your business offers and your USPs are the first steps in writing content people click on and stick with..
Define what you want from content
The first step is deciding which topics your business genuinely wants to own. Not those with the highest search volume, but areas where real expertise exists within your organisation.
From there, the work is building content around that authority: original research, and informed perspectives that reflect how the business actually thinks. This repositions content from less of a traffic exercise into a reputation-building one. When coupled with trust signals, such as social media reviews and media coverage, you begin to craft a multi-channel strategy that earns you citations across AI search.
Find your niche
Resist the urge to be everything to everyone and instead narrow your focus to the intersection of your unique expertise and your audience’s underserved needs.
True authority isn’t built in crowded, generic spaces. It’s built over time through a deep exploration of the specific, complex challenges that your competitors are either too afraid of or too unqualified to address.
What this means for you
At Loom, we put finding the unique value of your niche and expertise at the heart of our content strategies. We bring SEO, content and paid media together in one connected multi-channel strategy, where content creation and optimisation decisions are made in the context of overall growth strategies, not in isolation. Businesses that invest in content are best positioned to build durable organic presence in areas that matter most to their growth.
To discuss how Loom can support you with your content strategy, book a discovery call today.
