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Generative AI and SEO

This document discusses how generative AI is coming to search engine results and what this means for SEO professionals. It begins with an overview of SEO and how search engines work. It then explains that Google is developing a Search Generative Experience (SGE) using AI to generate search results. The document provides 5 predictions on how SGE will be a good thing for SEO, including that it will require a focus on users rather than search engines, and holding SEO practitioners more accountable for real results. It concludes by offering advice on where SEO professionals can start in preparing for SGE, such as auditing content quality and assessing how AI results impact queries.

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SEO is About to Change Forever– and for the Better Generative AI is Coming to Search Results: Why That’s Good News for SEO Pros
Agenda • SEO Overview / History Lesson • What’s Next for the Industry • 5 Predictions Why Google’s SGE Could be a Good Thing for SEO pros • Where to Start 2
Source: Hubspot Source: BrightEdge Source: Statcounter SEO accounts for $70 Billion in annual marketing investment from U.S. companies. Source: Borrell Associates There are an estimated 5.6 billion Google searches per day. Websites rely on search for 68% of their traffic on average. Google owns 93% market share for search engines, followed by Bing at 3%.
Crawling Rendering & Indexing Ranking in Search Results How Search Engines Work & SEO’s Role in the Process Source: searchengineland.com SEO’s Role Search engine bots crawl the web for content SEO’s Role SEO’s Role Websites return content upon request, and search bots index URLS Search engines return web content believed to be relevant to the query Ensure important URLs can be easily found across the web Ensure content can be rendered and is legible to a search engine the same way a user would read it, and the content is indexable Ensure web pages are relevant for target queries and of high enough content quality to rank
Search companies are constantly improving their products to ensure they’re surfacing the most useful and relevant results. SEO methods have evolved to match. 2011 Panda Purpose: To combat low quality sites 2012 Venice Purpose: To include results based on a searcher’s location 2012 Penguin Purpose: To discourage acquiring unnatural backlinks 2012 Pirate Purpose: To bar copyright-infringing content from SERPs Source: Yoast.com 2013 Hummingbird Purpose: To better understand search queries 2013 Pigeon Purpose: To improve local search results 2014 HTTPS/SSL Purpose: Encouraging site owners to implement HTTPS 2015 Mobile Purpose: Encouraging site owners to think mobile-first 2015 Rankbrain Purpose: To improve Google’s understanding of the meaning behind queries 2016 Possum Purpose: To improve localization of search results 2018 Medic Purpose: To better match reputable results to searcher's intent 2018 Mobile Speed Purpose: To include site speed as a ranking factor for mobile searches 2021 Page Experience Purpose: To highlight pages that offer great user experiences 2021 MUM Purpose: To provide answers to complex questions 2022 Helpful Content Purpose: To bring more focus on original, helpful, high quality content 2019 BERT Purpose: To further improve interpretation of the user’s search query
AI-generated search results are the next major evolution of search products. Google’s Search Generative Experience Bing Chat ● Search-native AI results ● Available via waitlist ● Based on Google’s history developing “transformers” ● No rollout plan has been announced yet. ● Available in open beta ● Chat-based AI results ● Cites websites used to generate AI results
The SEO industry as a long history of trying to “game the system…” … and Google has a long history of patching those loopholes (proactively). Consider AI search results the next upcoming “patch” for algorithm loophole-finders.
… especially if it’s written by ChatGPT (topic for another talk). Reminder: there’s no such thing as “SEO content” Content is for users– not search engines.
We’re better than this! >> Content written only for SEO makes for a poor search experience. Source: The Verge
AI content considerations– from the horse’s mouth: Spam Policies “...using automation– including AI– to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies” - Google Expertise & Experience “[AI engines] do not have a true understanding of the world, they are prone to hallucinating, and crucially they are incapable of justifying their utterances….” - Google Researchers Uniqueness & Helpfulness Per Google, they will continue “...maintaining a high bar for information quality and the overall helpfulness of content…”
Google’s Bard launch demo cited incorrect info about the James Webb Space Telescope These AI products are still very much in a testing phase :) leading to a $100 billion decline in Google’s market value* Bing’s chat AI believed it was still 2022 and proceeded to argue about it with a user who was testing the product *source: NPR
But if SGE was to roll out in current state, it would drastically impact SEO performance and methodologies. Current Google Search Experience Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) Test #2 in Organic Results #2 in Organic Results AI generated results– could include: ● Paid or organic shopping results ● Brand content (website, social, PR) ● Local results ● Informational/NORA query responses
13 5 Predictions Why SGE will be a Good Thing for SEO Pros
Business intel & KPI alignment Understand what users are searching for Give users what they’re searching for Show proof on other sites that people care about us Make sure search engines understand the content Are we achieving what we set out to do? How can we improve to scale? Know Your Customer & Their Needs The basics will still apply: know your customer, what they search for, and the impact of AI on those results. 1 Be in the Right Place with the Right Stuff Continuously Improve
AI search journey: ● Search once ● Ask follow-ups ● Read about products ● Visit a website to purchase Website traffic from organic search will be more qualified than ever. 2 “Standard” search journey: ● Visit 4-5 different websites ● Compare different products, prices, features ● Search 3-4 different queries ● Read reviews ● Make a purchase
SEO practitioners will be held more accountable for real results (not vanity metrics). 3 #2 in Organic Results Old SEO Primary KPIs: New SEO Primary KPIs: Keyword rankings Organic traffic Organic conversions / transactions Non-brand impressions Non-brand organic traffic (& quality) Est. non-brand conversion value / revenue
… to holistic, thought out approaches to content, PR, web development, and UX. SEO strategies will be forced to evolve from task-oriented delivery… 4 SEO PR Content UX Web Development
SEO efforts will have to focus less on search engines, and more on users. 5 “...using automation– including AI– to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies” - Google With the intro of AI, it’s now on content creators to create a better web– and work toward a shared goal with search engines (vs against them) of delivering quality results.
19 Summary & Where to Start
SEO approaches that won’t work for SGE: ● “The only SEO checklist you’ll ever need” ● Rankings as a #1 KPI ● Optimizing only for keywords ● Target word count ● “SEO content” SEO approaches that will work for SGE: ● Optimizing for users, not search engines ● Incorporating more bottom-line KPIs ● Optimizing for intent ● Appropriate topical coverage based on user needs ● Quality content
Tactical starting points ● Audit your content: is it quality? Written for users, or search engines? ● Assess informational vs mid or low-funnel non-brand traffic impact ○ What would happen to organic performance if you lost all informational traffic? ● Start playing with the tools ○ Assess your top traffic-driving queries: what do AI results look like? What role do they play in your customer’s journey?
The remaining unknowns: ● Measurement of engagement with AI results ● Breadth of queries that will be impacted, and to what extent ● When SGE will roll out ● Adoption of AI search results
Bonus Content: High-Level ChatGPT Use Cases for SEO What ChatGPT Can Do What ChatGPT Can’t Do ChatGPT is a tool, not a strategist. It is incapable of justifying outputs with research or expert opinion, prioritizing tactics, or developing fully-baked content with accuracy and precision. ● Optimize content for SEO purposes (natural keyword utilization and alignment with search intent) ● Provide expert opinions, points-of-view, or proprietary content that competitors can’t replicate. ● Inform content outputs with SEO research (i.e., search volume and competitiveness) without the use of a premium version or an extension. With human editing, ChatGPT can: ● Support the creation of new web page outlines ● Small-scale content creation (i.e., article titles) ● Support for technical or code-based tasks (i.e., structured data for web pages) With very specific direction and human fact-checking, ChatGPT can provide some efficient support for specific content creation, technical SEO, or analysis tasks.
24 Thank You!