This makes me wonder - will anybody really scroll all the way down to the bottom of the search results page to click on an organic result?
SGE: What’s Search Generative Experiences?
There are several ways that Google’s Search Generative Experiences uses AI to boost your search experience. The 3 main pillars include:
- AI snapshot: Generates a unique summary (about one paragraph) for longer queries.
- Conversational mode: Answers follow-up questions while retaining the context of the original search. (This one is our favourite)
- Vertical experiences: Provides a preferred list of features and more product details in commercial searches. (This one will highly impact e-commerce experiences.)
We’ll get to these pillars – and the other features – further below.
How do Search Generative Experiences change how people search for content?
Search Generative Experiences (SGE) is to SEO what Google was to online businesses: you could ignore it, but you’d be missing out on a vast market opportunity…. aaaand, you’d be left out of your client’s search efforts in the near future.
SGE will definitely reshape how your customers search for content online.
The Interface of Google is a-changin’.
Right now, when you go on Google and search something, you see some ads on top, and organic results quickly follow.
That will NOT be the case with SGE. With the new Google Experience, close to half of the screen will be dedicated to search generative experiences – the AI results. After this large portion of the screen, comes paid results. And, on the bottom – yes, you’ve guessed it! – you’ll be finally able to find the first organic results. Right at the bottom of the page.
This makes me wonder – will anybody really scroll all the way down to the bottom of the search results page to click on an organic result? Sure. If they can’t find the right information before. Which will be highly unlikely. And the trend is for SGE results to get better with time.
In a nustshell – SEO is about to take the backseat of the digital marketing initiatives.
exactly how will google’s search interface change?
Kristi Hines at Search Engine Journal did a great job showcasing 12 different views of search engine results using the new SGE approach. I highly recommend checking them out. Use cases include:
- SGE For SERPs With FAQ, People Also Ask, & Knowledge Panel Features
- SGE For SERPs With The Local Pack Feature
- SGE For SERPs With Sitelinks
- SGE For SERPs With Shopping & Reviews
- SGE For SERPs With Product Details & Store Listings
- SGE For SERPs With Sponsored Ads & Featured Snippets
- SGE For News And Top Stories
- SGE For SERPs With Images
- SGE For SERPs With Video
- SGE For SERPs With Events
- SGE With Code Tips
- SGE For Unavailable Queries
Don’t hesitate to read Kristi’s complete article for more in-depth information.
Vertical Search with AI is ON!
A huge thanks to Search Engine Land for their great insight on Search Generative Experiences and Vertical Search piece. According to Search Engine Land, Google’s SGE can pull in 35 billion product listings from the Google Shopping Graph, which has 1.8 billion updates every hour. This means that the generative AI needs to update fast (practically in real-time) to provide relevant answers.
For a SMB, it’s virtually impossible to be in all channels. Set up a small budget on the side and give it a few months to test Search Generative Experiences.
Search Generative Experiences: Google’s approach
Google has a five-point approach to generative AI in search:
- Information needs: How can Google reduce the number of steps it takes for the searcher to accomplish a task or complete a goal and how can Google make the experience more fluid and seamless?
- Information quality: The information Google responds with needs to be quality, and the way the AI responds needs to be high level. So should Google answer health or financial-related queries?
- Safety constraints: Should Google provide first-person responses? Should Google provide fluid answers that users would trust to be 100% accurate, when Google might not be able to verify the accuracy of all the answers?
- Ecosystem: Google wants to provide traffic and credits to the source of the content. Google wants to design an experience that encourages the users and searcher to dig deeper into those sources.
- Ads: Can ads be relevant and provide additional information to the user and how is it best to show the ads to the user in this experience. Take a peek into how ads in SGE could look like.
When should I care about Search Generative Experiences?
Neil Patel, one of the most popular online marketing gurus, foresees 4 major trends coming out of SGE:
- Organic traffic will decrease.
- Showing up in the top-ranking results, even if it’s not your site, will become more important.
- Content should still be a priority.
- Investing in other harder-to-track channels will drive longer-term results.
I’m a small business owner. Why are Search Generative Experiences relevant for me?
The digital environment is changing, and competition will be even stronger. As a small business owner, you can leverage Search Generative Experiences (SGE) through:
Ads
We expect new placements coming up, as well as new tracking features (stay tuned!).
Optimized budgets
For a SMB, it’s virtually impossible to be in all channels. But we’d be falling short if we didn’t recommend testing SGE. Set up a small budget on the side and give it a few months to test-drive Search Generative Experiences.
More time on SGE, and potentially less on SEO
According to Brian Solis, over 4,6 billion pieces of content are created every… day. That’s insane! If it was hard to rank on SEO, with SGE taking more space, it will be even harder for brands to get on the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
So, should I stop all my SEO efforts and focus instead on Search Generative Experiences (SGE)?
The short answer is no, you shouldn’t. The digital landscape is ever-changing, and SEO still plays an important role in your marketing strategy. So, maintain your backlink strategy, work on your keyword strategy, and, more importantly, keep on producing high-quality, relevant and helpful content for your community.
RIP SEO?
Well, this is a provocative title. As experience has demonstrated time and time again, rarely a marketing initiative blows out quickly. SEO is still here, but it will become less and less relevant with the rise of Search Generative Experiences.
