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Google Killed Your Blog Traffic.

Here’s What Smart Marketers Are Doing Instead

You spent years publishing educational blog content. It brought in traffic, leads, and backlinks. But now?

Traffic’s down. Rankings are flat. And your “Top 10 Tips” post isn’t doing numbers.

Here’s what’s really happening…and what forward-thinking marketers are doing instead.

Why Top-of-Funnel Blog Content Is Dying

Traditional top-of-funnel content aka the stuff designed to “educate” or “raise awareness” is collapsing. And the culprit is AI search.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini…they don’t just index your content.

They summarize it. Repackage it. And present it as their own answer.

This leads to:

• Fewer clicks

• Lower organic traffic

• Vanishing ROI on “evergreen” blog posts

When the search engine answers the question directly, your blog doesn’t even get a chance.

Here’s the Type of Content That’s Dying

These headlines used to perform. Now they’re basically obsolete:

• “What Is CRM and Why Does It Matter?”

• “How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business”

• “Beginner’s Guide to Paid Ads”

• “What Is a Sales Funnel?”

• “How to Start a Podcast”

• “Top 10 Benefits of Using AI in Healthcare”

• “What Are Buyer Personas?”

• “What Is Content Marketing?”

• “How SEO Works”

• “Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide”

If your blog is full of explainer content like this, it’s probably invisible in AI search.

What’s Replacing Top-of-Funnel?

Two words: Mid and Bottom Funnel.

Let’s break it down:

• Mid-Funnel = Evaluation Stage

  • The buyer is comparing, researching, and narrowing their list.

• Bottom-Funnel = Decision Stage

  • They’re close to buying. They want proof, pricing, objections handled.

That’s where you should be focusing.

Examples of High-Performing Mid-Funnel Content

These are the types of posts AI search engines still cite — and buyers actually read:

• “Apollo vs ZoomInfo: Which One Is Better for SDR Teams?”

• “Best AI Tools for B2B Freelancers”

• “Top Retention Platforms for Subscription Businesses”

• “Clay vs PhantomBuster for Automated Prospecting”

• “Best Marketing Tools for 5-Person Teams”

• “HubSpot vs Salesforce for Agencies”

• “Should You Use Browse AI for Lead Scraping?”

• “Best Onboarding Platforms for Fintech Startups”

Notice the difference?

These aren’t generic. They’re specific, comparison-driven, and aligned to real buyer intent.

Bottom-Funnel Content That Still Works

This is decision-stage content — the final nudge before purchase:

• “Why We Switched from Klaviyo to Postscript”

• “Our Results After 30 Days with Clay”

• “Case Study: $140K Revenue from One Campaign”

• “Apollo Pricing: Is It Worth the Cost?”

• “Live Teardown: B2B SaaS Content Audit”

• “What You Actually Get at Each Pricing Tier”

• “7 Red Flags to Watch for in Data Vendors”

• “How to Justify AI Spend to Your CFO”

• “Postscript vs Klaviyo: Retention Showdown”

Bottom funnel content isn’t about education…it’s about confidence. It removes doubts, proves value, and builds trust.

Why This Content Works in AI Search

Here’s the reality: AI search tools are becoming intent engines.

They want to recommend answers, not just explain them. That means:

✅ Specific, high-intent topics

✅ Product-focused insights

✅ Real comparisons and first-hand data

✅ Clean structure that’s easy to summarize

If your content helps someone decide, not just learn, it’s far more likely to get surfaced in AI results.

How to Build High-Intent Content That Works

Let’s get tactical. Here’s how to shift your content to match today’s search reality.

1. Start with Your Ideal Customer’s Friction Points

Ask:

• “What tools are they comparing?”

• “What’s confusing about pricing?”

• “What objections do they raise in sales calls?”

• “What almost stopped them from signing up?”

• “What internal barriers do they face (e.g., budget, compliance)?”

Use those as content prompts.

2. Use ChatGPT to Simulate Buyer Intent

Try asking it:

• “What would a VP of Marketing ask before buying a CRM?”

• “What questions would a Head of Ops ask when evaluating workflow tools?”

• “What objections would a founder have to adopting AI in their team?”

• “What concerns would a compliance team raise about AI tools?”

• “What would a one-person marketing team need from an email automation tool?”

You’ll get realistic buying-stage questions that make perfect content seeds.

3. Build Content That Resolves Objections or Supports Decisions

Examples:

• Objection: “This tool is expensive.”

  → Post: “Here’s What You Actually Get With Our $499 Plan (And Why It’s Worth It)”

• Objection: “I’m not sure it’ll integrate with our tools.”

  → Post: “How We Integrated [Tool] with Salesforce in 90 Minutes”

• Objection: “Too many options. Not sure what to choose.”

  → Post: “Clay vs Apollo vs Browse AI: Which One Fits Which Use Case?”

Every post should help someone say: “Okay, now I feel good moving forward.”

4. Format for AI Discovery

AI tools skim your content. Make it easy to parse:

• Use bullet points, comparison tables, clear H2s

• Structure your post around questions and clean answers

• Include pricing breakdowns, screenshots, customer quotes, etc.

• Use FAQ schema, product schema, and updated metadata

You’re not writing for Google circa 2015. You’re writing for AI indexers and answer engines.

5. Don’t Just Blog. Distribute Smart

Blog posts alone won’t cut it. Repurpose and distribute where AI and buyers hang out:

• LinkedIn carousels and breakdown posts

• Newsletter archives (especially searchable platforms like Beehiiv and Substack)

• Product review platforms like G2 and TrustRadius

• Private communities (Slack, Discord, forums)

• Embedded answers in YouTube videos and demo walkthroughs

• Direct uploads to ChatGPT via custom GPTs or content embeddings

Wherever buyers are searching…and wherever AI models are pulling answers from…that’s where your content needs to live.

Quick Recap

❌ Top-of-funnel content is no longer a growth engine.

✅ Mid and bottom-funnel content — aligned to real intent — is how you win.

✅ Write for buyers in motion, not browsers killing time.

✅ Optimize for AI search engines, not just human readers.

✅ Distribute everywhere the algorithm…and your ICP…are watching.

Want help seeing how visible your brand is across AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity?

That’s what we do at Open Forge AI.

We show you what AI sees — and give you a plan to outrank your competitors where it matters now.

Reply to this email if you’re interested.

Let’s win in the age of AI search.

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