Case Study: 11 days, Ranking Snippet & Getting Included in Generative AI Answer

In just 11 DAYS, we’re ranking for snippets and getting included in Generative AI answers—with no backlinks and only lightly updating our content.

??? The reason behind this?

It wasn't just the right keywords our team chose.

It involved several strategies. A portion of this strategy is choosing a long-tail keyword with low competition, which reveals: Weak spots on the SERP.

If you Google it right now and feel dissatisfied—because the page loads poorly, or the answer doesn’t address your question—that's a weak spot you can correct.

???Many SEOs still think in old terms:

“It’s a goldmine; I’ve got to go after this keyword.”

But will you ACTUALLY get clicks?

Google’s zero-click searches are monopolizing the industry.

It’s no longer true that ranking number one guarantees clicks.

?? A zero-click search means you see:

• Generative AI widgets
• Snippets
• "People also ask" sections
• Product recommendations

All of this shows up before you even reach the actual number one result.

IF you rank #1, you still have to get through all of that to reach someone who might click your result.

?????So, I always ask:

Is this keyword at risk of being monopolized by zero-click results?

If it is, don’t bother going after it.

Whenever user sentiment is involved—like ratings and reviews—it’s harder to summarize and compare. Keywords around that are more subjective and difficult to monopolize.

It’s challenging for Google to surface many user review sites, giving you a chance if you provide a better analysis from the user standpoint.

A significant part of our rankings over the last 11 days wasn’t just about choosing the keyword but also about consistently updating our content.

? We used ChatGPT to rewrite our content to be better than our competitors.

???How?

• Improving the title tag.
• Updating the timestamp every few days.
• Rewriting the introduction to be as valuable as possible.

All of these elements helped us move up in the rankings.

Here’s Andy Crestodina’s take on this:

A flood of AI-generated content will overwhelm users and algorithms

“Personally, I think we’ll survive. We’ve made it this far despite deep, fundamental problems with web content, including spam, clickbait, misinformation, retargeting, cold outreach, popup windows, bloated pages and intrusive ads.”

???Here’s what we trained ChatGPT to do:

We’d present the top seven ranking articles on Google and their definitions.

For example: “Can keywords be phrases for SEO?”

We would analyze those articles and say: "Here’s the answer from the top-ranking articles. We want ours to be more in-depth with an example."

We improved our content, published it, and let Google crawl it to see our progress.

By enhancing the content this way, we forced our piece to be better than the others, allowing us to rank.

TL;DR

It was a two-part approach:

1. Choose a keyword that isn’t monopolized by zero-click searches and has major weak spots—where the information is outdated, not thorough, or buried deep in the article. Identify those cracks and make your content better.
2. Rewrite the answer to be clear and engaging. Every few days, update it. Refine the title, rewrite the intro, and provide better examples compared to the competition.

Something like what’s now called: Ranch-Style SEO.

Thanks for reading!

??-Dmitry.

The original post is on my Linkedin profile

I’d appreciate it if you would share it with anyone who would benefit from it! ????

Dmitry Dragilev on LinkedIn: In just 11 DAYS, we’re ranking for snippets and getting included in…

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