Content Research Techniques for the AI Era 2025

Content research in 2025 has evolved. It's no longer enough to analyze search engine results pages. You must now investigate what AI chatbots are saying about your industry and how your competitors are influencing those conversations. This requires a new set of research techniques.

2025 Research Methods for AI and SEO:

Query AI Chatbots: Directly ask AI models like ChatGPT and Claude questions your customers would ask. Analyze the sources they cite and the gaps in their knowledge.
Competitive llms.txt Analysis: Examine your competitors' `llms.txt` files (e.g., `competitor.com/llms.txt`). What are they allowing or disallowing? This reveals their AI content strategy.
Use an llms.txt generator tool not just for creation, but for its potential analysis features. Some advanced tools can highlight what's different between your file and a competitor's.
Identify 'Answer Gaps': Find questions that AI struggles to answer well and create definitive content to fill that void.
Monitor AI-Sourced Questions: Use analytics to see what questions users are asking that lead them to your site from an AI.

Your research should also inform your technical strategy. For example, if you find a competitor is using a specific WordPress plugin to manage their file, you can research the llms.txt tools vs plugin pros and cons for your own stack. You might also want to compare llms.txt tools to see which offers the best features for competitive intelligence.

In 2025, a comprehensive content strategy is built on a foundation of deep research into both human and machine information ecosystems. By understanding how AI discovers and processes content, you can create SEO-driven articles and landing pages that are perfectly positioned to become authoritative sources in the AI era.