Are you familiar with the term Search Generative Experience (SGE)?
Several months after Google announced that they are enriching online search with artificial intelligence, SGE is gaining more and more popularity and trust from online users.
Searching with the help of artificial intelligence is certainly changing the rules of search engine optimization (SEO), shifting the emphasis from traditionally good practices and SEO factors to completely new principles for good ranking for user searches and queries.
In this article, we will tell you what SGE is and how it can affect your business's marketing and SEO strategy.
What changes with the introduction of the Search Generative Experience?
If a few months ago online businesses were competing for ranking in search engines, and a good understanding of their algorithms was key, then lately artificial intelligence (AI) has also been in the game. In a previous article, we showed you how consumers search for information about products and services in 2023, and in it you will notice the growing share of AI bots used for search. What does this mean in practice: instead of using Google's search engine to make a query, you can directly search for information about products, services or businesses through Google Bard, for example.
It, on the other hand, can not only generate answers and suggestions for you, but also enter into a "dialogue" about the recommendations he makes.
Test: We are looking for a nice restaurant to book for dinner both on Google Search and Google Bard
| Google Search | Google Bard |
|---|---|
| We make a query into the search engine | We make a prompt to Bard |
| We get a list of results with some restaurants and also links to several restaurant rankings | We get a list of recommendations and also a map with locations |
| We review the results one by one and identify some good options | Bards retrieves some client reviews and supports its suggestions with information from various sources |
| We look for reviews and browse the menu. We also compare prices. | Upon request, Bard reviews the menu for us and tells us which restaurants offer the meals we like. It also gives us photos of the atmosphere and the food. |
| We make our choice and look for contacts to make a reservation. | It can’t reserve for us yet (but apologizes for that), but gives us the chosen restaurant’s contacts immediately. |
Can you spot the difference? While the search engine shows us indexed useful content for us, Bard in real time retrieves exactly the information we need from it to make a decision. In the first case, it takes us several minutes just to review and compare the results, and in the second, a few seconds, to get all the necessary information and make a decision without interrupting our communication with the AI bot.
The same principle is already valid when searching for information in all categories online and will be part of Google's new AI search engine. To date, there is no full clarity on how your site can be one of the "favorites" of AI algorithms, but, essentially, a number of good SEO recommendations retain their validity. We recommend that you also review Google's documentation on SGE.
How to Be Among the top Results in AI Searches
Build your online reputation
In the example we gave with the search for a restaurant above, it is clear that it is not enough to have just a well-optimized website and content. It is necessary for your brand and products to be mentioned and recommended online, so that AI bots can also find them when they search and compare offers. The information you share should be mentioned and addressed by reputable sources in your niche.
It is important to note that the mass form of link building, which is practiced, will not bring the expected results. The evolution of search engine algorithms and AI bots allows them to understand and assess when a content is really useful and unique for the user and when it simply copies competitive content.
Our advice is to focus on added value, not on the amount of content, and to emphasize your own sources of information and inspiration for its preparation (internal data and research, unique presentation formats, etc.). Then the referencing of your brand online would be quite natural.
Make the Right Users Talk About You
The content that you create for your brand will have less and less weight compared to the content that users share about you. In our example with the restaurant, we received not only reviews from customers, but also generated content from them - photos taken during visits to some of the recommended restaurants.
Also, note that the signals to search engines and bots here are more than you could imagine. Even the weight of individual mentions of your brand will vary depending on the experience and authority of the author of the content that refers to your brand.
A good practice is to invite experts or opinion leaders who would be customers of your business to show how they use your products and services or how they create value thanks to them.
Be as comprehensive as possible in your niche
This advice somewhat overlaps with the previous ones, and helps you build authority and recognition in a specific niche of your business. Here, your task is to cover a specific topic that excites your audience to the fullest extent, and to answer all user questions related to it - when, why, how, whether, where, etc.
A good practical advice is to create a series or rubrics of content dedicated to different aspects of the same topic.
A curious moment here is that many experts observe a trend that the results of AI searches are personalized according to the author of the content, if their profile matches that of the searcher.
Example: You are looking for a trip to go on with your partner, and by default, travel agencies are already investing time and money in advertising and organic content on your keywords and topics. However, surprisingly, information shared in a small blog by an author who travels the world with their partner and recommends exclusive destinations for romantic vacations is inserted into the results of your search. In the future, the results of AI searches will give much more weight to such profiled content when similar characteristics are observed between searchers and information providers.
Another expert advice is not to neglect long keywords and phrases (5+ words), which are becoming increasingly used given the growth of voice searches, and now also of AI searches.
Use content formats that AI still has difficulty reproducing
We mean less common content formats for audience engagement - surveys, quizzes, infographics, and most importantly - videos. You probably know that YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, but it has a huge advantage in certain categories of user searches.
Here are two main reasons to use videos to stand out with your content online in the age of AI:
- Videos are part of the results for user queries to Google Bard and will be part of the new AI search engine from Google.
- Videos are more difficult to replicate and reproduce as a content format by artificial intelligence, which will guarantee you a higher degree of uniqueness online.
Example: Shortly after publication, this article, written by our team, will probably be rewritten using artificial intelligence and published by another brand, which we can hardly prevent.
Invest in user experience now
With a high probability, when SGE completely replaces the current Google search model, most websites will immediately face a drop in traffic simply because the classic SEO factors will change their weight.
At this point, it will be important for every online business to retain a maximum number of users who reach the site for a maximum period of time.
Over time, this change will still lead to more qualified traffic to your site, especially if you have followed the previous recommendations and have optimized your content for long-tail keywords.
A few words about Project Magi
In this article, we give examples with Google Bard, but only to illustrate some of the differences between search engine results and the experience that AI-powered search can offer us. Google is currently developing its new AI search engine, and the project is called Project Magi. In 2024, we are expected to see a completely changed interface, functionality, and appearance of Google Search, compared to those we know today, and all of this will have a drastic impact on advertising activities in Google Ads, standard SEO approaches, and the multi-channel experience for brands. We will tell you more about all this in the coming months.
In the meantime, don't hesitate to contact our team about your digital marketing strategy and to request a free marketing consultation with our team regarding your advertising and branding activities.
