Getting Ready for Google SGE

As I laid out in my recent article on Google Search Generative Experience, I am not one of those supporting the idea that it will cause huge traffic losses for website owners. And here I am glad to be in the company of some big hitters and thought leaders in the SEO industry, one of the most notable of these being Searchengineland.com.

They are just one of a list of companies that have been trying to deduce what will happen when SGE hits the streets, and as I say, I, too, have concluded that it will not be the apocalypse many have been predicting.

Certainly, my research supports this finding. However, it will be necessary for all businesses that want to hold on to their traffic to change with the times, for these are certainly ‘a changing’…

SGE in a nutshell

Or should I say it, the smallest nutshell I can come up with.

Perhaps the best way of describing the top half of the new Google results (SGE powered) screen will be that it will change into an area that contains the best answer to a question in a conversational (AI-produced) manner. As this answer is drawn from the ‘best’ sites that Google can find, it’s got to be a good idea to have the answers to questions on your site laid out in that same manner, i.e., in a conversational form.

This main answer will appear in the new ‘Generative AI’ section, with in some form or other (we think) links to some of the sites the AI used to create its answer. These, however, will not be as visible as the People Also Ask section that the AI answer is replacing. Hence, the reason for some predicting that loss of traffic – untrue according to my research.

People Also Search For will also, from we can tell also be going and even Featured Snippets may be at threat (contrary to what I first reported).

But it will include a carousel of links, these listing interesting Social Media posts, Videos or articles, being populated we understand by the thoughts and muses of ‘thought leaders’.

Thus, it makes sense to become a thought leader if you can, and if you can’t reach those heady heights, at least make sure you answer people’s questions in a complete and conversational manner.

How you can show your content is not produced by AI

And, if you can make your content thought-provoking, with the twist that only your personality can give it, all the better, as this will demonstrate to Google that it is not written by an AI engine.

This of course goes for all content, as besides the Generative section, there will be a list of URLs just as there are now.

BUT, besides the change to the top of the screen, the sites listed below will also be affected by changes in the way that Google rates TRUST. This is because of two other changes. The first is the reduction in the power of the backlink – this ‘signal’ being less powerful than before. The second is the rise (from almost zero?) of the power of your Brand. Essentially, this boils down to Brand Awareness i.e. ?‘the extent to which consumers are familiar with the qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services’ [as per the Oxford Dictionary].

Thus, increased social media activity and press releases look to be a good idea, as are forum posts, which are also a good source of relevant backlinks.

And to further improve the chances of your pages being listed, it could be a good idea to remove, or at least NoIndex any pages on your site that are not getting any traffic from Google. This will concentrate Google’s ‘mind’ (and crawl budget) on the pages, new and old, that are getting views, and ipso facto, are more liked by Google and therefore more likely to be included in the SGE AI section, or the list of links below.

So. For your To Do list

1.?????? Make sure you write in a conversational manner

2.?????? To increase Trust levels, link out to supporting data and have a BIO (see my article for more here)

3.?????? Remove all low performing pages as per GSC and Analytics

4.?????? Increase the level of Social media activity and Forum posts

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Finally, do be prepared to have to do a lot of testing once SGE has launched, as no one truly knows what is going to work when the day comes…