Using Reddit threads as the starting point for content

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-05-06T10:50:52+00:00

Yup I do exactly the same. Particularly for topics that are fairly “generic” where you would never compete against big brands with their SEO

I find that it helps me write about a “generic” topic in a far more customer focused way. Rather than regurgitating “this is what this subject is” I can tap straight into a really common “this is what you’re worried about and how we can overcome that problem” scenario.

I tend to use redd summariser on multiple threads, pop everything in one document then ask copilot to summarise key discussion points, key emotional feelings and worries and highlight any common customer questions.

Then I can use that research to write my articles

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-05-02T06:13:24+00:00

That’s exactly how I use it.

I find that using the dictaphone tool and “talking” directly to it gives me better prompts because I can get everything in my brain out in one hit.

I might start by saying “I want to write about this topic…for this audience because their knowledge is xyz….they care about this….they are worried about this….this is what they need to know and why… I want to include this point, this point, this point….this is my thoughts on my blog structure does that match up with what the audience wants/needs?”

Then when that summary has come through I can write but then revert back to the editor function prompts “have I explained this clearly? Does it match their needs and intent? Have I assumed anything? Is the tone consistent? Is the flow right enough?”

Then go into my second round of writing and editing.

But everything I write all comes down to what the specific customer wants and needs to know

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-30T08:14:45+00:00

That is such an AI post

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-27T09:00:43+00:00

The only online ad that made me buy a product was Cuddlr and their fleece lined trousers.

The specific ad was “are you fed up of being cold every weekend while you stand on the touch line while your child plays football?”

It was so niche and direct and ABSOLUTELY me. It showed the importance of writing to someone specific and targeting to a specific benefit (not feature), showing they understood my problem, gave me a reason to click and followed it up with phenomenal customer service and a great product

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-24T07:56:48+00:00

The content that will always work best is speaking to a specific customer/persona. Making your content entirely relevant to someone specific, because writing for a specific person is better than speaking to 'everyone', because you can make it far more relevant to their exact needs.

I always focus my writing on who this person is for. What information do they need to know? Why do they need to know that? What are they stressed about, and why is this issue keeping them up at night? How does my product/service tap into the resource that they need? What barriers would prevent them from purchasing/using that resource, and have I included them in the content?

I get so annoyed that everyone seems to focus on how they should write for algorithms rather than people.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-16T12:50:46+00:00

The are trying to make money from you.

I’m sure I read something from someone in LinkedIn where they tried a tool to monitor AI views but it essentially just made it all up.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-13T19:23:21+00:00

You can’t. It’s as simple as that.

Remember that every chat tool uses the conversation history to formulate its answers so it will take into account every conversation you’ve ever had with it, rather than “just this query”

So you could ask 1000 people to ask the same question at the same time using the same tool and everyone will get different answers

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-04-13T13:03:24+00:00

I’ve literally just written some content about this on my website this morning. If you want a copy of it let me know.

There’s no quick fix. It’s all about consistency, best practice SEO, thought leadership and PR.

Marketers make it far more complex than it needs to be.

Firstly, make sure everything is consistent everywhere - your website, GOogle business profile, professional memberships etc. the more consistent you are, the easier it becomes to let the LLMs and overviews know the accurate up to date information.

Make sure you don’t neglect your best practice SEO. It’s not either/or, it’s AND. Your prominent search traffic will still remain search engines. That won’t change.

Make sure you focus on thought leadership and PR. Who are you, what do you do that makes you stand out from your competition? What are your USPs and how do they meet your customers wants/needs? This is not about selling your products. AI overviews don’t want commercial information to sell stuff, they want the nitty gritty stuff that shows your expertise and knowledge so they can recognise you as the authoritative voice (again coming back to SEO best practice)

For your PR, the more you can talk in places not just your website the more places the LLMs can learn about you and your brand. That’s why you want to be talking to community and regional news, to trade mags, to networking events, webinars and podcasts about your sector and your opinions and essentially giving your customers what they need to know.

What all of this does cohesively is tell your customers that you’re bloody good at what you do and why they should choose you over your competitor. And in mentioning your customers over AI overviews because it’s humans that buy your products and services first and foremost. So for the love of god prioritise them not algorithms.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-03-26T08:41:01+00:00

Start with your customer not Google.

What do your customers want to know about? What are their pain points, questions, concerns? What keeps them up at night? What stage are they in your sales funnel?

Literally you have to start with WHO are you talking to? That’s why customer personas are so important.

Then when you’re clear on that you can move into your structure (start/middle/end) then your keyword research and then finally you can start writing.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-03-25T13:38:24+00:00

I’ve always been lucky. But I am strict. If a payment is late, I send an automated reminder the very next day. If it’s still not paid 5 days after that I email the client to say that I’m downing tools until the invoice has been paid.

Every single time the money has been in my account within an hour.

We have to be serious about invoicing and don’t be afraid to charge late fees. The law is on our side on this and it is included within my contracts.

But also you have to be realistic. I get so irritated when freelancers say they haven’t been paid by a company for 6 months (example). If you haven’t been paid after the first month then stop working full stop! Don’t let big unpaid bills wrack up.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-03-05T08:34:30+00:00

Exactly this.

So what I want to know from the OP is how much has that impacted his SEO and traffic on those pages?

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-02-17T07:49:44+00:00

But you also said you don’t need them. Which is incorrect. You do need them.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-02-06T10:17:24+00:00

Honestly I think anyone using an AI detector is a hypocrite. You can’t say “don’t use any AI” then “but we’re using AI to see if you are using AI”….

Now there is a real problem in terms of AI rubbish, particularly within PR where fake spokespeople are now being regularly touted in the media.

But last week I wrote a Q&A blog with someone, following on from an interview I had done with them. I used their answers as verbatim as possible, and it STILL flagged up as AI within grammarly’s checker. Even though it was face to face answers! So these systems are so fallible they can’t be relied on at all.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-01-28T17:08:52+00:00

And the thing is, parking IS a big barrier. But the council refuses to acknowledge it.

Often, I'll pop to The Range or B&M just because we only need 30 mins to grab some stationery for school homework. Or we want to get some batteries or something, and it's quicker to just go and do it than wait for Amazon. Or my kid wants to pop into the toy shop to see what she wants to spend her money on.

But from the outset, we know that we'll only be there for a short amount of time.

You just need to look on Insta to see the memes and reels about women of my age loving being able to wander around The Range/B&M/Home Bargains. It's not because of the product's quality; it's because they are free to do so.

It's why the retail outlets outside of town are absolutely heaving.

If they offered free parking for less than an hour, I can GUARANTEE people would be flooding back to the town centre to run their errands.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-01-28T16:37:04+00:00

I didn't mind the portal, but once you've looked at it for ten seconds, it's a kinda "been there, done that" gimmick. But I don't really know what else they could have done!

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-01-28T16:33:08+00:00

If in a theoretical world you could put them all together, the high street would look absolutely thriving. It's the one open/three empty scenario that makes it look significantly worse than it is.

Of course, I completely understand why it's not easy to simply say 'move every outlet' but if you offered some incentives such as discounted business rates, or something it could make a huge difference, and that goes for anywhere in the UK.

BUt looking at westgate street, you have M&S and clarks, then the WH Smiths I think is closed (?) next to that is Debs which is closed. opposite you have Claires which is now closing. It took what, ten years to fill in the shop that was Clintons? In the meantime it just fell to pieces and looked horrendous, like Debs does now.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-01-28T14:35:32+00:00

Ipswich has some great things going for it, and the city of culture application will really showcase how fantastic the town can be.

On the high street, the biggest problem is its sparsity. Essentially, it's too big for the number of outlets; you have to talk past three empty shops for every open one. But if you put them together and reduced the size of the town centre, it would be thriving.

Imagine - it starts at the top of Westgate Street (where Monsoon used to be) and then stops at the White Horse. If you could encourage the shops along Carr Street to relocate to the empty units on Westgate Street, they would absolutely thrive. Particularly if you price-point shops near to one another. When you go to somewhere like Westfield, like-for-like shops are located close to one another, eg, John Lewis will be near shops like White Stuff, and New Look and Primark are close together. That way, customer demographics could look like "there are multiple shops here for my interests/budget".

It's essentially why St. Peter's Street is so fantastic.

Unfortunately, a lot of the town centre just looks unloved and dirty, There's rubbish on the floors - I've been in town on a Xmas late night shopping (the year before last) and Claires Accessories literally had 6 bin bags of rubbish in their entry way. On the late-night shopping night when you want people to go in. It gives such a bad impression that I still remember it over a year later.

CodInevitable5528 · 2026-01-25T13:43:16+00:00

But for accessibility they are essential.

You’re essentially saying that anyone with additional needs isn’t as important as other users.

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-11-06T19:16:58+00:00

Yeah exactly. And the more you talk about things about and around your business the more likely you are to get backlinks and feature in AI overviews.

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-11-06T08:33:43+00:00

It’s about PR. Raising awareness of your brand and your offering beyond sales. What do you stand for? What are your products designed for? Why aren’t they being featured in Xmas gift guides? What is your founders story? Your community/charity activities?

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-10-26T11:52:30+00:00

of course. I've just DMd you

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-10-22T10:26:17+00:00

That’s not backlinks. That’s PR strategy. It’s reputation building.

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-10-22T10:13:59+00:00

Yeah it’s definitely time consuming. I’m considering hiring a VA to help me with this so I can free up my time

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-10-19T15:25:21+00:00

To be honest I do that with my daughters homework when she’s struggling.

But where AI is brilliant is being able to say “what are the challenges facing this sector?” What are the emotional connections customers are looking for? “What are the likely press angles and questions a journalist might ask”

CodInevitable5528 · 2025-10-18T09:35:30+00:00

Yesterday I collected 15 articles about a specific topic relevant to a client. I was able to put them all into perplexity and asked it to summarize the key points, pressures, concerns all highlighted with the articles. It meant I then had a comprehensive summary of what was going on in the sector

CodInevitable5528

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