Monday S.E.O's - Google's AI, Link Buying & WordPress Plugins

Google Generative Search Experience - How do I optimise my site for AI search results?

Google is currently in the process of supercharging its search engine with Generative AI allowing users to make more complex searches which will show an array of different options ranging from recommended google shopping ads, websites, news articles, images and video content.?

This has left many people questioning ‘’How do I optimise my website to appear in A.I search results?’’

At this stage we can only make calculated guesses until this service is fully rolled out. However, here are some of our recommendations.

Question based keyword targeting. - This is something I have spoken about before on my LinkedIn, feel free to check it out. With google search now being able to handle more complex queries people will be more inclined to query google like it’s human. For example‘’where can I buy a dinner dress from that offers next day delivery’’ You should optimise your website to answer commonly asked questions and mirror the tonality of these queries so that Google’s AI is able to pick up on its relevance.

Structured Data - SCHEMA - Correctly applying schema to your website (structured data) implements a knowledge graph, allowing it to be better read by AI.

With this, Google’s AI will be able to better determine the content within your site and its relevancy to the search query being made. If this isn't something you're already working on, now is definitely the time to look into it.

Diversify your content strategy - Generative Search will provide different formats to answer the searchers query whether it be short form video, informative images or even podcasts. Your content should cover different grounds in order to appear in more search results gaining you further visibility.

Google's Generative Search Experience is not yet fully rolled out and is only currently available to those that have signed up for it. However, it is speculated to be fully rolled out across the UK sometime later this year.?

The Risky Business of Link Buying

Often in the world of marketing consultancy I get asked by clients whether buying links is a good idea. High quality links aren't cheap as they aren't easy to obtain, meanwhile low quality links cost less because they are easily generated and provide little value.?

Ultimately buying links in any form is risky business. If google recognise that you have bought links to your website one of a few scenarios can playout:

They Blacklist you, your website will no longer appear in any search results. This means you would need to build a whole new website and domain.

The second scenario is that they completely discredit the links that were bought so that they have no effect whatsoever. This is better than being blacklisted but still not an ideal scenario.

Google doesn't like bought backlinks primarily because they violate Google's Webmaster Guidelines. These guidelines are designed to maintain the integrity and quality of search results for users. A sharp increase in backlinks indicates to Google that you have gained them inorganically, which goes against what the algorithm is looking for. There is a slim chance that you can get away undetected; however, it is not worth the possible consequences.

Our recommendation is that quality content and Digital PR are the way to go here. It’s not worth the risk to attempt to buy your way to the top and cheat the system. If you’re trying to increase your website authority, you need to seek to gain backlinks from relevant, high-quality sources.

New Plugin For WordPress - Speculative Loading

WordPress has now released a plugin that allows your entire website to be pre-rendered in the background whilst you load the initial page.?

This allows the webpage to pre-render the entirety of the website in the background anticipating which page the user might go to next based on where their mouse is hovering and moving towards. Allowing for near instantaneous load times.

Sounds like a lot of nerd talk. How does this help me? - You might ask

Well in a lot of ways actually… if you're utilising it. Ensuring that your website and web pages load quickly enhances your user experience.

We’ve all done it before, you’re looking for something online and you think you’ve found the right fit in the search result. Our new age wired brains want instantaneous everything, so with the website having not loaded in under 0.5 seconds we click back and find another option. As a business owner that's a missed opportunity for a lead or sale!?

You can check your own website speed utilising Google’s free tool

Site speed plays an essential part in your SEO strategy. Not only this, but in relevance to our previous topic on GSE, Google’s foreseeable push into AI-assisted search means your website needs to be up to speed (a completely intentional pun) in order to compete.

Like what I have to say? Have you checked out Good Marketing Bad Golf yet??

Every week I share my answers to commonly asked marketing questions whilst trying to improve my very amateurish swing.?

Feel free to message me any questions you may have or if you’re looking for help with your own SEO.

Until next week.

Oliver Eardley :)

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