Key Thoughts on Search Generative Experience from an SEO

After reading the release of Google’s Search Generative Experience download the key notes that struck me was the emphasis on creating a ‘quick’ experience for users and keeping users on search results longer, as they are prompting more than one query per topic.?

Naturally structured data comes to mind as Google themselves described the snippets as jumping-off points. This becomes more apparent for e-commerce where SGE will generate a snapshot of product details.

With AI experiences there are given limitations, one being bias which is present as most snippets will use authoritative already highly ranking websites to form a response. As Google learns and takes on feedback I hope to see them directly address bias in responses. There is enough bias in the world but with new technology we can expect reactive change based on live or recent feedback.?

Depending on the query type and vertical the main topic of discussion is click through rate and organic impressions. Search Lab is not open to the UK yet (to my knowledge) but fellow SEO’s have shared their experience.

I would advise you to read the SGE download and make notes to create your own interpretation.

What does this mean for SEO’s and what should we do?

It’s key to remember that search is our product. This invites objectivity over subjectivity and creates room for interpretation and analysis. SEO’s are not out of business, our product is rapidly evolving and it is exciting to understand what this will mean for our industry. This is the perfect time to think like a product manager.

• Stay up to date with latest opinions and releases from Google (I personally try to stay away from any extreme views until I see evidence and rely on fewer trusted sources)

• Communicate this to your key stakeholders and if you a one person band create a community/soundboard internally where you can discuss what is happening?
• Start bi-weekly, and this should help alleviate the sense of panic?

• Research SGE screenshots and examples and start documenting this until you get access

• Get access to Search Lab when it is available to you
• Aleyda is a great known source and one of my favourites, here is her latest update with SGE screenshots
• Search Engine Round Table share the latest update on SGE feedback

• Community Examples on Twitter?

What does the integrated search experience mean for SEO?

It will likely mean a decline in organic impressions therefore clicks due to the AI response logic and format however this is evolving as we speak as it is in beta. For example if you are searching a top 10 listicle article but SGE lists all the companies with direct links to the businesses this could create a decline in how to content.?

As it is in beta and currently running as an experiment there has been a string of feedback where the experience can be improved:

• Author attribution could be clearer with words being directly being shown without paraphrasing or sourced in the paragraph
• Source dropdown can be labeled to indicate the original author?
• User experience can be improved with not all responses being clickable?

Moving Forward - Questions to think about

What comes into question with the evolution of AI is how much visibility will organic search results have when the full SGE is released across all verticals. In the beginning there was noise around this only impacting long-tail queries and since then this has changed to seeing AI responses in transactional shorter queries.?

Whether SEO is a good marketing channel isn’t what’s up for debate but rather how does the role of SEO change and what does the revised size of opportunity look like when assessing impressions and click through rate.?

It invites exploration in user behaviour across scroll depth and devices, satisfaction levels with AI responses and query volume per topic. This can be considered when forecasting organic growth.

We will have to keep watching and waiting for the full release of SGE to understand how user behaviour will change.

Note: I am a SEO professional so this will contain my own bias but I worked hard to be as neutral as possible (promise).