Why Blog Coverage Matters More Than Ever in the Age of AI

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation is increasing your visibility in search engines (i.e. making sure you rank high up in search results) when people search for your name, your track, your genre, your city or related topics.

Search engines do this by looking at text, titles, descriptions, and profiles and links across the web (blogs, your website, platforms like YouTube and Bandcamp, social bios, and knowledge panels). Linking is hugely important when it comes to SEO - the more respected websites that link to your profiles or website, the more 'authority' the search engines give you, and the more likely you are to rank highly for relevant search terms.

Key factors impacting SEO:

• Keywords: These are phrases people use to find you (e.g., “lo‑fi hip hop UK”, "indie pop artists”, or your artist name). It is important to strategically use these throughout your website copy, digital EPK, profiles, and press releases.

• Content: Clear, relevant pages and posts about you and your releases (press features, interviews, reviews, discography) help to provide a breadth and depth of content that search engines can 'crawl' (this is what it's called when they visit a page and its content).

• Authority: Inbound links from other credible sites (editorial coverage, citations, consistent profiles) give your content 'authority'. The more authority you have, the higher you will likely rank.

• Technical SEO: This means having pages that load fast (so no massive graphics or videos), a clearly structured webiste with no duplicated content, link that are not broken (a broken link is a link that goes to a page that doesn't exist), and lastly clean page titles, meta descriptions, and othe meta data (meta data is data about a webpage or item like an image that doesn't show on the webpage, but is used by search engines to undrestand contant and in the search results)

• Consistency: It's important to use language such as artist name, handles, and links consistently everywhere you appear online.

How AI is changing SEO

Search engines now have AI Summaries that appear at the top of search results. These offer a more contextual and conversational approach to research. So instead of seeing a list of search results to your question, you see natural language responses that may mention particular resources, websites, or relevant recommendations.

Old world:

• You enter a simple search term (e.g. "best new indie bands in New York")

• List of search results which you then have to click through individually to find what you're looking for.

New world:

• You enter a simple search term (e.g. "best new indie bands in New York")

• The LLM then does their 'research' and provides you with a long-form response (e.g. "Band X is a great new band from Brooklyn who are influenced by Blondie and the Strokes and who regularly play at Venue Y") along with a series of links they have used to create the summary.

• The AI summaries will often prompt further searches based on this response (e.g. 'get more details', 'find out where these bands are playing live'), which, when clicked, will return a new long-form AI response.

• These summaries show above the traditional search results, meaning they are what the user will see first before scrolling down the page.

What has changed:

• AI summaries: Search engines increasingly show synthesised, long-form answers that cite trusted sources.

• Editorial gravity: Blogs, magazines, and interviews provide the structured, contextual text that AI systems rely on.

• Entity understanding: AI connects your name, releases, genres, collaborators, and locations into a cohesive “artist profile,” primarily from editorial coverage and well‑structured content.

In the image above, you’ll see how AI pulls information from a number of different articles, shown on the right hand side. The coverage pictured includes from Rising Artists Music Blog and Lost in the Manor, and was secured for the artist via Musosoup.

Written coverage is now the backbone of discoverability

The search engines AI uses editorail coverage to create these AI responses. The more of an authority a a publication has (e.g. it has a lot of trusted inbound links and it produces high-quality content), and the more you are written about by credible outlets, the more you are likley to be mentioned in these AI summaries that appear above the search results.

In the image above, you’ll see Google’s AI overview of an artist, again pulling information from articles online. Included in the image is an article by York Calling, which was secured via Musosoup.

Why blog coverage matters more than ever

• Context for AI:  Reviews, interviews and other written content provide narrative and facts (who you are, what the track is, release dates, genre markers, comparisons), which are ideal inputs for AI answers.

• Visibility without clicks:  AI answers (summaries shown on the results page) often reference editorial sources. Being covered improves your chances of appearing in those summaries.

• Authority signals:  Mentions on trusted sites act as credibility markers that strengthen your long‑term visibility across search and discovery surfaces.

• Future‑proofing:  Articles endure! A well‑written review or interview can keep you discoverable years later, supporting catalogue growth and reissues.

Practical SEO steps for musicians (beginner friendly)

Get your foundations right

• Artist website: Have one page that cleanly lists your name, bio, discography, current release, links to streaming and social profiles, links to press and coverage, and a clear way for peolpe to contact you.

• Links: Ensure that all your links to profiles, press, and any other links are all operational (not broken!). You can use tools like SEMRush, MOZ, or Screaming Frog, to easily check for any broken links.

• Primary and canonoical URLs: This is slightly more technical, but you need to ensure you consistently use the same URL for your homepage. Often people share both a www. and a non-www. version. It really helps to ensure you consistently share the same one and set either one as your primary URL. You can usually do this on your CRM or hosting provider. Learn more about canonical URLs here.

• Release page: One definitive page on your webiste or link per single or album (Bandcamp, official site, or a well‑maintained smart link). This ensures there's a clear single URL that you want coverage to links to, and therefore authority to be attributed to.

Keywords and meta data

• Keywords: Think of the keywords and key phrases that you think people may search for to find you. Think hard about what potential fans are search for. For example, if you are a hiphop artists from London, terms such as "London-based hip-hop artists" and "up and coming London hip-hop artists" are relevant. Use tools like artists.tools Spotify Keyword Research Tool to discover search trends relevant to you.

• Consistency: This may seem obivous but it's very important. Use the exact same artist name across all platforms. Have a social tagging strategy that ensures your hashtags are consistent and clearly related if you can't have exactly the same on each platform.

• Genre and location: Include clear descriptors on your webiste, social and streaming profiles and any other material like press releases and EPKs (e.g., “dream‑pop from London, UK”). It often pays off to have a main genre, but also a few niche genres you can look to really build some authority in (e.g. Pop > Dream pop, Synthgaze, Cloud pop).

• Clean metadata: Meta data are things like page titles, meta descriptions and image alt tags that help search engines understand what a page or an element like an image is about. Make sure these are used and consistent with your webiste and profile copy. Learn more about meta data here.

Content that helps search (and fans)

Press‑ready materials:

• Short bio (75–120 words) with genre, influences, and location.

• Long bio (300–500 words) for interviews and deeper features.

Music How-Tos

Crafting a Compelling Musician Bio: Tips to Showcase Your Brand and Story

Release notes and press release:
A concise story and key facts about your release (release date, inspiration, collaborators, recording details). Remember to include keyword that are relevant to you.

Assets:
High‑quality images with descriptive filenames (artist‑name‑press‑shot.jpg), alt text, and captions. Here's a handy guide to optimising images for the web.

Coverage via Musosoup

• Focus on long-form written content: Coverage types like reviews, interviews and features are great for generating keyword rich, contextual and linked content.

• Targeted publications: Choose outlets aligned to your genre and audience.

• Exclusivity and timing: Offer first‑listen or early access; submit well before release and secure a roadmap of coverage that will help to consistently and regularly get content infront of the search engines.

• Collaborate: Make sure to share content links with your fans across socials and embed links in digital EPKs, future press releases and no your website. This helps to ensure links to the content are out there and also reinforces credibility.

Profile hygiene across platforms

• Streaming profiles: Keep bios and links up to date. Use consistent tags and keywords.

• Social bios: Choose one main link you want to use for a release campaing and stick with it.

• Video platforms: Ensure you have clear titles and descriptions with your artist name, release name and any relevant links. Ensure to add timestamps and credits.

Local and collaboration signals

• Location markers: Ensure you mention city/region in bios and posts. Local mentions and local press boosts your chances of getting ranked for location specific searches (which are highly relevant when it comes to music-related searches).

• Credits: Name producers, labels, featured artists in descriptions, and request they back link to your website and releases. These connections help AI map your network.

Maintain and monitor

• Regular updated: Refresh bios and links when you release new music, and have more coverage links to share..

• Fix broken links: Regularly check for broken links and set redirects, remove or update old pages to ensure links work.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Inconsistent naming

Problem: Variations of your artist name confuses search.
Fix: Standardise everywhere; update old posts when possible.

Multiple conflicting “official” links 

Problem: Splits authority and dilutes signals.
Fix: Pick one canonical homepage and one canonical release page.

Brief of vague bios

Problem: AI lacks context; fans don’t understand your story.
Fix: Include genre, influences, location, and current release details.

Late submissions to blogs

Problem: Editorial calendars fill up; coverage misses your release window.
Fix:Submit early and coordinate dates.

Images aren't optimised

Problem: AI doesn't have good asset meta data to use.
Fix: Provide a press kit with images along with embedded meta data.

Summary: Use reviews straetgically to rank in AI search results

Links still matter, but they’re no longer the star of the show. In the age of AI‑generated answers, editorial coverage is the clearest path to being recognised, summarised, and surfaced in search. Use Musosoup to secure credible blog features, keep your profiles consistent, and maintain a clean, well‑linked hub. Do this steadily, submit early, and your music will be easier to find today and tomorrow.

Useful tools:

General search visilbity

• Google Search Console

SEO audit tools

• SEMRush

• MOZ

• Screaming Frog

• Ahref

Keyword research

• Artist.Tools

• Google Keyword Tool

Image filesize reduction

• Squoosh