Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) & What It Means For SEO
Google’s SGE is their new search experience that relies on Gemini. Gemini is Google’s new shiny AI.
SGE was officially rolled out in the USA for all users on May 14th, 2024.
SGE is rolling out at around the same time that Google’s major HCU (helpful content update) just rolled out.
SGE brings artificial intelligence to Google search in an interactive way. Google’s algorithms were already deploying AI. The AI integration into search is supposedly a good thing, so I’m quoting Google’s own words that searchers can now;
Ask new kinds of questions that are more complex and more descriptive
Get the gist of a topic faster, with links to relevant results to explore further
Get started on something you need to do quickly, like writing drafts or generating imagery right from where you’re searching
Make progress easily, by asking conversational follow-ups or trying suggested next steps
In other regions besides the US, you can only experience SGE by opting into Search Labs. Expect Google to roll out SGE officially for all users in the coming months.
Even if you don’t like the SGE search experience, there’s no way to opt out.
SGE prioritizes other results over traditional web pages. Knowledge panels and Gemini’s answers will take the top spot on more Google search results.
This means fewer users will be clicking on organic web results.
Let’s see what SGE means for SEO.
AI Overviews Lead To More Zero-Click Search Results
Zero click results are search results where users don’t click on links to other webpages. Why? Because the information presented on the search results pages is already good and detailed enough to satisfy the searcher.
In other words, the user did not leave the search results page. Their question was answered sufficiently enough that they don’t explore more answers or details.
Zero-click results are not a new phenomenon. Before AI overviews, we had snippets and knowledge boxes, and they were known to answer a searcher’s question to their satisfaction.
The first impact of SGE on search will be an increase in zero-click results. Let Gemini explain zero-click results for us via the screenshot below:
Spot on, the AI overview does a good job, maybe better than I did.
If the overview isn’t enough, a searcher can find more information by clicking the “show more” button (circled in blue). This is not a click to a new webpage, so we are still at zero clicks to other websites.
Then the searcher will see a result like the one in the screenshot below;
The AI overview combines and repackages information from several websites.
We don’t have tools to tell us the number of zero-click searches. SEO tools use pageview data, and zero-click results do not generate pageview data.
SGE Uses Online Content, Google Is competing With Creators
Available online content feeds SGE search results in one way or the other. Gemini collects and rewrites, or just blatantly copies plagiarizes content from one or several pages. It does all this to provide better answers to search queries.
However, a searcher will not know the source website unless they dig deeper. In the AI overview, 3 or more websites could be linked.
The AI overview borrows one sentence here and a paragraph there. Sometimes, it does little or no rewriting. Gemini’s AI overview is a mix of content from several original content creators.
In the AI overviews there’s no link to the specific source. Let me demonstrate that using the screenshots below;
The above screenshot shows a low-quality AI overview; it repeats buffalo, and the info about zebra is sketchy.
But I digress, here is a photo screenshot from the blog that SGE used to write the zebra information, and here is the link if you want to check out the article;
Gemini copy pasted a part of the article, cut out a key part, and gave a very erroneous quote. The AI overview result has a different meaning than the original!
Gemini is outranking the original content creator on Google search while delivering remixes of questionable quality.
Gemini’s AI overviews form the biggest competitor to websites/webpages (except sales and checkout pages).
- Should SEO specialists strive to do better than AI overviews by improving on their answers (which will then be copied by Gemini)?
Will we see people learning how to write for AI? Hope not.
Conversation-Like Search Courtesy Of Vertical Experiences
You can add more details to search queries by selecting a contextual word or phrase that Gemini recommends.
It is a rudimentary chat-like experience.
This feature should become more refined with time, but here are screenshots of what it looks like today (see area marked in yellow);
According to Google’s documentation, the area I have highlighted in yellow provides what they call “vertical experiences.”
That section helps searchers make buying or research decisions faster by highlighting key considerations, angles, and dimensions about a given query.
Google describes it as a “snapshot of noteworthy factors” to consider for that query.
If a searcher clicks on “Price” in the area highlighted in yellow they get something like this:
Look at the image above, and note that the selected item from the snapshot is now added to the search query. Then search results are refreshed/refined to answer the updated question. The vertical experience bar or snapshot also updates to show the new word(s) added to the search query. It can even remove some other factors that no longer apply.
Now the searcher can click on another noteworthy factor e.g “in Kenya.”
See is the refined search results page below;
From the image above, you can see the question updates on the search bar, and now the vertical experiences bar is gone. Google ft Gemini feels it has accurately captured the searcher’s intent or context behind the search, and it has answered the searcher’s question well. So it sees no need to keep the vertical experiences bar visible.
Also, Google now wants to earn money by showing shopping ads and getting those clicks.😊
What Is the Top / First Organic Result?
If your website ever ranked first on Google organic search, you knew that searchers didn’t need to scroll. They’d find your website link right there on the search results.
Then ads started pushing your website farther from the top. SGE is here to continue pushing web results even farther from the top.
With SGE, I suspect that most if not all organic results will be at least one scroll or click away on the search reults page.
Look at the example below;
The websites linked in the AI overview result are not visible in the screenshot above. They are one more click away, under the “show more” button.
See below;
All the websites linked within the AI overview are one click and one scroll away from the homepage. And if you did not click “show more” you wouldn’t have seen those websites.
In the image above, look at the organic results beneath the AI overview. Two of the websites in the snippet above appear on webpage results but below many other web results. One of the websites in the AI overview does not even appear anywhere else on page 1;
So who gets the most impressions and clicks, the one in the AI overviews section or the first linked website beneath the AI overview?
Who is really ranked higher than the other if we use clicks and impressions as key metrics? We don’t know, yet unless Google tells us.
How SGE Affects SEO Strategy
Anyone who has done SEO right does not really need to change anything. Especially now that there’s no way to check how many times your website is linked or appears within the SGE results.
What do I mean? Look at the screenshot below, at the area highlighted in yellow;
The websites linked in that highlighted section are what I’m talking about. No tool can give us the data yet.
Also, how will an SEO know whether they appear on the first, middle, or left link? What is the click-through rate for each position?
And even more importantly. Did the result appear directly on the search results page or was it hidden so the user had to click “show more?”
In the example above that result comes after clicking “show more.” See the original result below;
Hopefully, Google Search Console will be updated to give us more SGE era data, and soon.
However, looking at the vertical experiences section, some things are immediately apparent;
Google has a “near me” suggestion. You can use optimized Google My Business, landing pages, and location schema to rank for location searches.
Price and product specifications also appear in the vertical experiences section. This information is from Google’s Shopping Graph. You can give Google this information by providing accurate and updated product data through Google Merchant Center, product pages, and product schema.
The idea is to provide information about your business to Google through website schema, landing pages, and other tools. On-page content will obviously play its role, but everyone seems to do that quite well already.
Strategic Item 1: Costs vs results
SEO is still very much alive, we don’t know if more people will ignore AI overviews and scroll to organic search results. Or how much organic traffic will dip, if at all?
In theory, fewer clicks are now available for organic search results. Will this mean fewer customers acquired from organic search?
What then?
Keep checking the ROI from SEO, is it still worth it or not.
ROI from SEO should be calculated in the long run, using at least a year’s data.
Strategic Item 2: Create content for potential customers, not for Google rankings
Good marketing departments have always set potential customers as the north star of their content marketing campaigns. Some create content solely to rank on Google, with little thought on how it will help their lead nurturing and lead generation process.
It is time to think of website content as user-focused, good website rankings are best achieved with that approach.
Strategic item 3: Can visual SEO fill the gap?
Visual SEO focuses on still and motion graphics like videos, photos, infographics, and gifs.
Google wants to focus on more visual searches. It is losing that to TikTok, Meta, Pinterest, and even Twitter oops X.
SGE will probably not affect visuals, especially real photos or videos.
Strategic item 4: Build brands
Marketers need to focus on growing their brand search volumes and direct web traffic. This is a key area for growth. You will need online and sometimes offline campaigns to grow your brand.
And it will show as the website gets more direct traffic, plus traffic from branded keywords.
If you don’t track this, do it. And start growing the numbers intentionally. It will affect your sales numbers, in a good way.
Strategic Item 5: Deep Content
Lots of online content is still shallow. Most of it was written by writers who copied from other articles.
Original, expert content will always have an advantage, but it costs more to produce.
Maybe it’s time to add content creation to job descriptions? A dental practice should have the dentist authoring or supplying material for content creation. A law firm should have lawyers help with content. Same for a cybersecurity firm. You get the drift.
Myths
In some marketing circles, there are takes like:
Myth 1: SGE will only affect informational searches – This is very much false. SGE examples above show that it affects all types of search queries.
Myth 2: Long tail keywords are not affected – This is very much false. Many of the searches above are long tail, Gemini is not shy.
Conclusion
A sound SEO approach looks at the overall user/visitor & customer experience of your content, website, and products or services (yes, that’s why reviews are a ranking factor).
Create useful content that will answer important questions posed by potential customers. Set up your website to be easy for potential customers to use, navigate, and trust. Ensure customers are satisfied with your products or services.
Then make it easy for Google to understand that you’ve done all the above through technical SEO.
Google will evaluate your website and digital assets, see the results of your efforts, and will rank your website accordingly.
So keep having a solid SEO and overall digital marketing strategy, then it will be easier to move smoothly even with Google’s updates.
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