One of the best things, well, not so good (if it affected your job negatively), that happened to us in 2023 was the emergence of AI technologies in all fields of work.
For me – in the marketing industry, I was able to collaborate with Artificial Intelligence tools on various topics including article collaborations, keyword optimization, press releases, and several topic ideas for my content marketing processes.
Since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in the late period of 2022, many big tech firms like Google, Microsoft, and other tech startups have launched several AI tools that signal a growing interest in that field.
But as the saying goes, not all that glitters is gold. While all these AI tools have their advantages, you can not overlook the dire challenges it poses.
One of the industries that stand the chance to benefit enormously from AI is the Marketing and Advertising industry. According to a study from Statista, the marketing industry is going to see the fastest adoption rates by the year 2025.
That means all our processes, methods, and techniques are going to be affected by these artificial intelligence technologies. For example, composing a copy, drawing customer personas, analyzing marketing reports, etc.
But today, I want us to talk about SEO. The holy grail of web traffic. How much of an impact will AI have on your search engine efforts as Google prepares to launch SGE, the AI experience integrated into search?
What is SGE?
Search Generative Experience, SGE is a generative AI experience Google is adding to search to provide users with faster and more accurate responses whenever they search for a query without having to navigate to individual pages/websites to get responses.
While SGE is in its testing phase in some parts of the world, experts are predicting a 30% decrease in organic search traffic for most businesses online.
How will SGE work?
The idea for SGE is simple, according to Google. To provide searchers with a quick understanding of a topic or a term while providing “new viewpoints & insights.”
Imagine searching “How to spend your vacation in Paris.” A typical search experience without SGE will populate first a featured snippet or only links for you to click and read more on the recommended website.
With SGE, searchers are given the best responses in a conversation form(thus, all the correct information like names, prices, pictures, locations, etc.) without the need to have follow-up questions or without navigating to websites to find your response.
How will SGE affect SEO?
If you ask me if SGE has a direct impact on SEO, my answer quick answer is yes.
But it will depend on the keyword types and your business niche. Experts in the SEO fields are predicting up to a 30% decrease in organic search traffic for businesses when SGE is launched.
Meanwhile, it’s not as bad as it looks.
Look at it like this. Like featured snippets, SGE will pull these conversations from websites and use AI to generate accurate responses while including the necessary links if searchers want to read more.
So, if not for anything, SGE is allowing businesses to be seen rather than (stealing your traffic). Users will also spend more time on Google search in the process. A win-win situation.
How to win with SGE
1. Be known across the web as an authoritative source on search
Use Google’s E.E.A.T algorithm (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) to get mentioned across the web as a knowledge leader. That way, Google trusts you as a valid source to collaborate with when generating responses.
For example, MailChimp is mentioned across multiple sites because of its E.E.A.T in the Email marketing world.
In Google’s official SGE documentation, Google mentions how it generates these responses by collaborating with other “reliable sources”, making us certain that E.E.A.T is key in SGE.
You can build E.E.A.T by:
- Researching topics in your industry and sharing your expert opinions on them.
- Publishing your views on Authoritative sites and linking them back to your website.
- Publishing press releases on product announcements and updates.
In essence, building EEAT is just another way of letting Google know you’re the “guy” when it comes to a certain topic on search.
2. Have a good and synced overview across all channels
Businesses need to optimize their overviews across all channels to match their missions and visions. For example, your descriptions across social media channels should be in sync with your website and mentions across the web.
That way, whenever a user makes a simple search about you, SGE can generate an accurate response about you that fits the need or purpose of your offerings. For example, whenever a user makes a quick “Who is your [business name], on Search Generative Experience, it must reflect your sync across channels.”
3. Transform content into different types
Early search results from SGE have images and playable videos as part of the results recommended by SGE. This gives us a clear indication that transforming website content to infographics and videos is in order.
4. Focus on Long-tail Keywords
Optimizing your content based on long-tail keywords is a great way to win with SGE. This is because the more detailed a user is in their query allows Google to use SGE to generate accurate responses towards their needs.
For example, rather than focusing on “Ghana Celebrities” as your keyword, you can optimize for long-tail keywords like “Ghanaian celebrities who have won a B.E.T or Grammy” for the best SGE-optimized results.
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