To ensure safety and long term performance, structural control has rapidly matured over the past decade into a viable means of limiting structural responses to strong winds and earthquakes. Nonlinear response history analysis requires rigorous procedure to compute seismic demands. Therefore the simplified nonlinear analysis procedures are useful to determine performance of the structure. In this investigation, application of improved capacity demand diagram method in the control of structural system is presented for the first time. Developed pole assignment method (DPAM) in structural systems control is introduced. Genetic algorithm (GA) is employed as an optimization tool for minimizing a target function that defines values of coefficient matrices providing the placement of actuators and optimal control forces. The ground acceleration is modified under induced control forces. Due to this, performance of structure based on improved nonlinear demand diagram is selected to threshold of nonlinear behavior of structure. With small energy consumption characteristics, semi-active devices are especially attractive solutions for limiting earthquake effects. To illustrate the efficiency of DPAM, a 30-story steel moment frame structure employing the semi-active control devices is applied. In comparison to the widely used linear quadratic regulation (LQR), the DPAM controller was shown to be just as effective and better in the reduction of structural responses during large earthquakes.