searching for robots

Hey,

The SEO game is changing y'all. Google announced that they're integrating generative AI into search. This is our first peek at what the new interface will look like:

Instead of showing you your normal generated inline drop-downs and a list of links you can click to find your answer, for a lot of searches, Google will now just simply answer your question using their own language model.

The answer is, and Google has been clear about this, not pulled from the links referenced— but instead it has listed spots you can find the information corroborated. Here's what's interesting for marketers:

1. Informational searches will end without a click‍

For those of you used to writing long informational blogs and pages to get traffic, this will be a bummer, but remember— the internet was already going in this direction with no-click content.

Instead of showing you your normal generated inline drop-downs and a list of links you can click to find your answer, for a lot of searches, Google will now just simply answer your question using their own language model.

The answer is, and Google has been clear about this, not pulled from the links referenced— but instead it has listed spots you can find the information corroborated.

This has been coming for a long time, and it started with no click content directly in the search results:

Back in 2020, two thirds of searches ended without a click. But we still saw organic traffic to our websites. Google will continue to send traffic to helpful, authoritative content. So our goal is the same: create excellent content and get authoritative backlinks to it.

Marketer note: There are three new spots next to the generated answer— those of us who can get our content linked there are going to yield a volume of high quality clicks.

2. Shopping

Generative AI in search will generate more specific and helpful answers to shopping questions that include things to consider and product recommendations with reviews. It can also help run product comparisons, and offer alternatives.

Marketer note: Make sure your products descriptions are keyword optimized, and get your product reviewed as much as you can.

3. Perspectives

A lot of folks are using TikTok as a search engine— and this feature is Google's answer to that challenge. Perspectives is a separate feed of curated, human-first content— think TikTok, YouTube, review sites, testimonials, and highly-rated blog content. This is the feed for folks who want their answers directly from creators.

Marketer note: User generated content just got a whole lot more valuable.

Will SEO change? Yes.

Will your marketing strategies have to adapt? Yup.

Will your job change? Probably.

But instead of resisting this change, let's open ourselves up to learning as much as we can together in the coming months.

We combat fear with curiosity, always.