From the moment ChatGPT was released to the public, one thing
became clear: Search, as we knew it, was about to change.
The ability of OpenAI’s chatbot to provide near-instant answers to
specific, complex questions quickly made traditional search engines
appear antiquated. And the record-breaking popularity of ChatGPT
proved beyond doubt that there’s a widespread appetite for this new
way of discovering information online.
Alphabet and Microsoft, the dominant players in search, have
taken notice. In response, they’ve reimagined their core search
products, choosing to move beyond the familiar “10 blue links”
model by incorporating generative AI into their organic results.
The latest, and most consequential, milestone on this journey is
Google’s widespread implementation of AI Overviews (the product
of its Search Generative Experience). AI Overviews, which are now
core feature of Google’s search product, leverage generative AI to
help users resolve their queries within Google’s ecosystem.
AI Overviews (along with Bing’s AI Co-pilot) may appear to
represent a radical rethinking of search, but it’s actually part of a
broader, longstanding aspiration to transform search engines into
answer engines.
We’ve seen glimpses of this through featured snippets, and other rich
results, but SGE promises to do a far better job of allowing users to do
more with a single search – and find the answers they’re looking for
without leaving the platform.
Answer-engine optimization
While AI-driven search promises to be hugely disruptive, it will
produce winners. After all, SEO has always been a moving target,
and publishers will need to adapt once again to the ever-changing
landscape of search.
Zero-click searches are, of course, nothing new. But it’s clear that AI
Overviews (sometimes referred to as “featured snippets on steroids”)
will produce more visits to Google that end without the user visiting
a website.
But it’s important to remember that informational search isn’t just
about getting the facts. Searchers are instead often seeking advice
and guidance in the form of unique perspectives, opinions, and
first-hand accounts – and that’s exactly where brands can thrive in
the era of AI search.
Google knows this, and it’s gone to great lengths to encourage
creators to showcase their experience – even going so far as to
add an additional E to its E-A-T credo.
One thing we can be sure of is that SEO strategies that rely on
answering basic questions and offering the “facts”, will be quickly
rendered obsolete in a world where AI snapshots can handle basic
informational search.
In the new era of search, creators will need to offer something that AI
cannot, namely real-world experience and informed opinion.
This means going far beyond providing mere explanations and
instead drawing on unique experiences that offer helpful advice.
This is great news for subject matter experts (SMEs) who draw on
personal experiences in their content. We expect this is precisely
the kind of content Google will seek to include in AI Overview
recommendations and conversational mode citations.
Opportunities for marketers in the era of AI-driven search
Provided SGE is good at resolving complex, natural language long-tail queries, we can assume that searches will start asking
more of them. This will multiply the number of potential queries to target, in turn increasing the demand for relevant content that
can be used for corroboration.
So, far from reducing traffic from organic search, the presence of AI Overviews and AI-powered search engines could give
forward-thinking businesses a reason to increase their supply of quality content. In practice, this will mean building deeper topic
clusters, covering a wider range of queries, and addressing narrower, more specific audiences.
Source: Chief Marketing Officer Alliance