AI search is about to change the SEO industry

[Shopclicks]

Bing already has the Chat (AI) alternative to search in place and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the default. Google's new search model, Search Generative Experience (SGE) is currently in test mode. When SGE is introduced the appearance of search results pages will change. The AI search will take over the fold, in the same way as the Bing model does. The Bing AI search is far more advanced than either Bard or ChatGPT and it's knowledge base goes much deeper into specific site content.

The Bing AI search prompt isn't just for general prompts like 'write a 500 word blog post about seo'. It now works for product searches and shows websites which offer whatever you search for. I'd be very surprised if the Google model doesn't follow suit.

Google introduced the extra 'E' to the 'EEAT' (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness). The extra 'E' is for Experience. EEAT will play a big part in the AI search model as a ranking factor. If you're not already following the EEAT guidelines, it's time to get serious about your unique content. The quality and quantity of your content will determine if you feature in AI responses to prompts. The AI product search results are a very different set of results we normally see on a search results page. Ranking is based on how well the page answers the prompt rather than the most relevant product category (category title, description, product title relevance, load speed, etc.)

Another change is coming in March 2024. INP (Interaction to next paint) replaces FID (First input delay) as a Core Web Vitals performance standard. Pass or fail will be determined by LCP, INP & CLS. So if your site currently passes FID (below 100ms) but you fail INP (above 200ms), your passing page experience percentage will drop. It's time to speed up your on-page interactions and page transitions.

 

[ctrlbrk]

The Bing AI search is far more advanced than either Bard or ChatGPT

Does that mean that Bing is going to overtake Google as the top search engine?

 

[Shopclicks]

Does that mean that Bing is going to overtake Google as the top search engine?

I think Google will always be the go to search engine (Bing only has a 3% market share). But Google will need to keep up with the benchmark standard Bing is setting. Both search engines are heading in the same direction.

 

[Novevan]

I believe that AI has the potential to revolutionize not only the SEO industry but also the entire world.

Just as machines have replaced some people's hands and feet, AI will replace some people's brains, I think!

 

[MOIC]

The naysayers will be on here soon @Shopclicks

Starting with @fisicx

Should be fun!

 

[Shopclicks]

@MOIC I'm braced

 

[japancool]

AI caramba.

I think Google will always be the go to search engine (Bing only has a 3% market share). But Google will need to keep up with the benchmark standard Bing is setting. Both search engines are heading in the same direction.

Don't say that. I remember when Yahoo and Altavista were the in-things.

 

[MBE2017]

I believe that AI has the potential to revolutionize not only the SEO industry but also the entire world.

Just as machines have replaced some people's hands and feet, AI will replace some people's brains, I think!

Not replace their brains, but make people even more lazy than they currently are. The majority of the Western populations are being seriously dumbed down, for all these supposed improvements life continues to get worse.

Our society has been replaced by txt speaking 30 second maximum attention span Instagram reel type people, most people could not put together a coherent argument today, certainly not one where they actually listen to the debate and contribute to it.

Yelling has become the new norm, shutting down debate and free speech even in Universities, where people once went to be educated in how to think for themselves, we now have a generation being told what to think, we even have the BBC fact checking stories to tell you they are honest and independent.

 

[Shopclicks]

Don't say that. I remember when Yahoo and Altavista were the in-things.

I think Yahoo always hoped to get snapped up by Google. It's very ordinary by comparison. Different for the sake of being different.

 

[Shopclicks]

@japancool You're doing well on Bing's AI searches for some popular search terms (prompts). One of my searches describes your store as 'This is the UK’s favourite Gundam model kit retailer.'

This is what I mean by a deeper knowledge base. Bard & ChatGPT don't name and link to websites organically.

 

[japancool]

One of my searches describes your store as 'This is the UK’s favourite Gundam model kit retailer.'

Hah! It's clearly read our Facebook ad (ok, we're being a bit hyperbolic but hey, everyone else does it).

 

[Shopclicks]

Hah! It's clearly read our Facebook ad (ok, we're being a bit hyperbolic but hey, everyone else does it).

The entry links to your website and is first of the three website links shown. Keep it up

 

[fisicx]

Remember when everyone said video was going to make SEO redundant? What happened to that?

What AI is going to do is make many websites redundant. You won’t need to visit a website to find out how to prune roses, Google will tell you how with pictures.

Want legal help? Google will provide the answers without reference or links to legal websites.

What you won’t be sure of is the accuracy of the AI generated answer. But as people already believe the junk on Facebook I doubt they will be skeptical of an AI generated answer.

 

[japancool]

Remember when everyone said video was going to make SEO redundant? What happened to that?

Remember when video was going to kill the radio star?

 

[Shopclicks]

What AI is going to do is make many websites redundant. You won’t need to visit a website to find out how to prune roses, Google will tell you how with pictures.

I'm very much focusing my attention on my client's product and service type websites. From what I see so far, the more AI the better.

One client who sits behind Amazon on a standard Google search for a high volume search term, now sits as the first website displayed in an AI prompt response for the same search term. Amazon doesn't get a mention.

Another client who provides a particular accreditation and is the only provider in the UK, is named and linked to by AI. Google search puts 9 results for the accreditor above my client's site and Bard & ChatGPT don't mention the business at all.

Bing have got this right and if Google's model follows suit informative websites selling products and services win.

 

[fisicx]

A lot depends on your business but it all comes back to content. It always has.

For local and niche services not really sure much is going to change. E-commerce might see some shifting but it won’t take long for the likes of Amazon to regain any lost ranking.

Alexa was going to change everything. Never happened.

AI is happening but if you are an emergency locksmith in Clapton things will carry on much as they do now. GBP will still predominate.

 

[Shopclicks]

AI is happening but if you are an emergency locksmith in Clapton things will carry on much as they do now. GBP will still predominate.

Bing includes their version of the Local Pack in location based AI responses to prompts like that. Yet to see what Google does with GBP in AI responses. Bard doesn't appear to integrate GBP at all for business name searches.

Bard prompts for ecommerce business names is awful. They tell you what the business is known for but fill the responses with display Ads for Amazon & eBay selling the same thing.

Supercharging Search with generative AI

We’re starting with an experiment in Search Labs called SGE, Search Generative Experience, which uses generative AI.

blog.google

 

[fisicx]

All AI will mean is you won’t need to visit the website to do whatever. You will do a search, get the answer and order, call or buy all within Google. The website itself will become redundant except as a feed for Google or Bing.

Did this today, found a pub and booked a table and got the route without leaving Google. Didn’t need to visit the pub website.

In future the website may just need to be blocks of content. No need for any styling, animations, checkouts etc.

 

[Shopclicks]

The website itself will become redundant.

Redundant but the source of AI responses. That's where EEAT comes into play. I know you know this. I say it for others reading this.

 

[Novevan]

Not replace their brains, but make people even more lazy than they currently are. The majority of the Western populations are being seriously dumbed down, for all these supposed improvements life continues to get worse.

Our society has been replaced by txt speaking 30 second maximum attention span Instagram reel type people, most people could not put together a coherent argument today, certainly not one where they actually listen to the debate and contribute to it.

Yelling has become the new norm, shutting down debate and free speech even in Universities, where people once went to be educated in how to think for themselves, we now have a generation being told what to think, we even have the BBC fact checking stories to tell you they are honest and independent.

Yeah, a friend I know shares the same perspective and concerns. It seems like the world is completely consumed by the craze 30-second video - TikTok in the US and Douyin in China.

However, luckily, there are always still some of us like you are focused on our future and prospects.

With the rise of machines, we're seeing lazy people becoming even lazier, but on the flip side, hardworking individuals are able to achieve even greater efficiency.

AI works in a similar way - it can make people who don't like to think more dependent on it. But at the same time, it greatly expands and assists those who enjoy utilizing their thinking skills.

 

[antropy]

AI will change the world but it's taking longer than I expected.

All LLMs (ChatGPT, Bing, etc.) suffer from hallucinations which is what the AI researchers call it when it makes stuff up and consequently you can't trust anything it says.

The original point of site speed being very important still stands of course, even if AI doesn't change search, which I think it will eventually.

I did expect to see a lot more progress by this point though.

Paul.

 

[Shopclicks]

All LLMs (ChatGPT, Bing, etc.) suffer from hallucinations which is what the AI researchers call it when it makes stuff up and consequently you can't trust anything it says.

Have you tried Bing AI Chat search? It's far more advanced than ChatGPT and the responses link directly to relevant websites. Ideal if you're looking for a product or service.

 

[antropy]

Have you tried Bing AI Chat search? It's far more advanced than ChatGPT and the responses link directly to relevant websites. Ideal if you're looking for a product or service.

I tried it a few months ago and it was awful, is it better now?

I also installed Windows Copilot on a Windows 11 laptop I have:

Bringing the power of AI to Windows 11 – unlocking a new era of productivity for customers and developers with Windows Copilot and Dev Home

The team and I are pumped to be back at Build with the developer community this year. Over the last year, Windows has continued to see incredible growth fueled by Windows 11 adoption. In fact, one of the mo

blogs.windows.com

It's absolutely useless. You can't ask it to do anything like open a program, write in a document etc. etc.

All it can do is search the web ?‍

Don't get me wrong, the latest breakthroughs are world changing, but they haven't really been implemented anywhere useful yet.

Paul.

 

[Shopclicks]

I tried it a few months ago and it was awful, is it better now?

It's as I described in my previous post. There's far more information about the websites it links to (unlike the Google meta description). This is how search will change and shows how important EEAT is if you want to be found by Ai tools.

 

[UKSBD]

I've been saying for years that it would make far more sense if google split the index.

They already do it, but just don't enphasise or promote different search functions enough.

If I'm searching for a product, why do I use the main search rather than product search?

If I'm searching for a local service provider, why do I use the main search rather than maps/business search?

If I'm searching for a book, why do I use the main search rather than books search?

If I'm searching for latest news, why do I use the main search rather than news search?

etc., etc.

The separate search functions are far better than the general index, they just aren't promoted enough

I did a blog post well over a decade ago - https://www.uksbd.co.uk/multiple-search-boxes-on-google-homepage/

All the search functions still exist (except blog search, which was scrapped)

The thing is though, even though they are so much better, I still use general search 95% of the time

 

[Shopclicks]

If I'm searching for a product, why do I use the main search rather than product search?

I'm sure Google thinks they know your intent before you start typing

But for the use of your suggested search categories, those options would need to be on the pristine white Google homepage. Not the results pages.

That Google homepage, I've always considered to be the most valuable real estate in the world. But they've never sold it to Nike or CocaCola or Amazon. I mean it's not like they don't want to annoy us with ads anywhere else.

 

[UKSBD]

But for the use of your suggested search categories, those options would need to be on the pristine white Google homepage. Not the results pages.

Yes, that's what I said in my blog post.

They could add multiple search boxes on the homepage, even if only 3 (general search, product search, local search)

I probably put this demo up over 15 years ago - https://www.uksbd.co.uk/g-demo.php

Even if they didn't add search boxes to their homepage, you would have thought they would have promoted the other search options more.

When I say product search, I don't mean shopping where people have to add to it, but you would think by now Google could provide a tag so webmasters could emphasise it is a product page and Google rates it accordingly in a product search system rather than an information search system.

 

[Shopclicks]

They could add multiple search boxes on the homepage, even if only 3 (general search, product search, local search)

I get it. But I think Google expects people to be more long-tail with their search terms.

For example, there's no similarity in the search results for 'camping' & 'camping gear'. And developers, seo practitioners, etc need to get on board with that. I couldn't count the number of times I've seen product category titles like 'Ladies' or 'Camping' or 'Kids'. Kids...what???

But Google still falls over all on its own sometimes. If you search for 'web designer', how many web designers do you see in the top ten organic results. For me it's zero. The saving grace for web designers is the Local Pack. But that's not good enough.

 

[Fagin2021]

I'm wondering if the title of this thread shouldn't read...

"AI search is about to kill the SEO industry". Reasons...

For a long time Google has been pursuing a 'zero-click' policy (giving users the information they want without making them click on any search result) through things like instant answers and knowledge graphs. How long will it be (it's already happening with Search Generative Experience) before the answers you get from BARD are incorporated into the first page of any search query rather than links out to third party sites ? Traditional results are then, at best, pushed way below the fold or onto a back page.

Answers to search queries generated by BARD are a composite of content derived from the web so it's not possible for Google (even if they wanted) to link out to a third party. At best, content providers might receive a citation - but who's going to click on a citation when they already have the answer to their query?

So what's the point of SEO, or producing great content, if all it does is feed the AI machine ? In short, Google will own the first page, forcing anyone wishing to share it, to use Google Ads.

Turning to Google Ads, Google is continuing it's march towards removing control from advertisers with automated bidding, machine learning, performance max and so on. Focusing on 'user intent' and 'similar audiences' it may not be too long before activities like keyword analysis and demographic or geographical targeting become things of the past. Just tell Google your budget and what you want to achieve and they'll do the rest!

So not just SEO but also the PPC industry (not social media) is down the pan. Now Google has complete control of first page search results and advertising and the only time a searcher needs to leave a Google property is when they want to buy something.

Think this is all far-fetched? We'll see.

 

[Shopclicks]

I'm wondering if the title of this thread shouldn't read...

"AI search is about to kill the SEO industry". Reasons...

Perhaps we just need a new acronym .. AIO or AIEO

Answers to search queries generated by BARD are a composite of content derived from the web so it's not possible for Google (even if they wanted) to link out to a third party. At best, content providers might receive a citation - but who's going to click on a citation when they already have the answer to their query?

If Bing can link out to sites in in the Chat iteration of AI, I'm sure Google can. Bard is just the testing ground for SGE. The Search Generative Experience, I hope, will follow the Bing Chat search model. If you haven't tried it for a product or service search, I suggest you give it a whirl.

So what's the point of SEO, or producing great content, if all it does is feed the AI machine ? In short, Google will own the first page, forcing anyone wishing to share it, to use Google Ads.

Feeding the AI machine is the future of SEO. More experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness in website content will improve your chances of getting into the top 3-4 linked-to featured sites in the AI response. I see this happening now with Bing Chat search.

 

[fisicx]

All good, but if nobody then visits your site to buy your stuff there is no point in feeding the AI machine.

If I want a widget and Google has a big chunk of ai stuff at the top of the page with suggestion for the best offers from megacorp then your little shop will lose out. google doesn’t want you to get sales from free search. They don’t make any money that way. What they want is deals with people paying for the referrals from the search results.

If you don’t want to lose out look for alternate channels to market your goods and services. I did this years ago, Google now accounts for a fraction of my leads.

 

[Shopclicks]

If I want a widget and Google has a big chunk of ai stuff at the top of the page with suggestion for the best offers from megacorp then your little shop will lose out. google doesn’t want you to get sales from free search. They don’t make any money that way. What they want is deals with people paying for the referrals from the search results.

Have you tried Bing Chat for a product or service search? Nobody can say for sure but it looks as though SGE will be similar. If you want to appear in the AI responses, add more quality content to the pages you want included.

 

[UKSBD]

Have you tried Bing Chat for a product or service search?

Does anyone actually use search engines when at the buying stage?

Looking through my Online purchases this year

Some plants from Thompson and Morgan (I already know them from ny Mothers recommendation)

A dress from https://joanieclothing.com/ (because of Twitter)

PC and Accessories from Scan (already no them, so just go straight there)

Over 40 orders from Amazon (over 60 last year)

I might have done a bit of resarch on Google, but 99% of the time I will just go straight to Amazon

 

[Shopclicks]

Does anyone actually use search engines when at the buying stage?

Enough people that hundreds of billions are spent every year on Google Ads and trending upwards year on year. The vast majority of that would be on products & services.

Everybody has the find Thompson and Morgan the first time. (and yes, they run Google Ads)

 

[fisicx]

Have you tried Bing Chat for a product or service search? Nobody can say for sure but it looks as though SGE will be similar. If you want to appear in the AI responses, add more quality content to the pages you want included.

Tried it but just didn’t find it useful.

It’s quite clear AI is being pushed hard but the content mills are also churning out millions of pages of generated junk everyday. As you say, search is going to change but adding content to your site isn’t going to have much effect if your niche is being swamped with AI generated crud.

 

[Shopclicks]

It’s quite clear AI is being pushed hard but the content mills are also churning out millions of pages of generated junk everyday. As you say, search is going to change but adding content to your site isn’t going to have much effect if your niche is being swamped with AI generated crud.

I'm seeing client's eCommerce sites in the AI responses and in particular those who have spent time adding helpful content (instructions, descriptions, uses, etc.). I'm searching for the same keywords these sites rank on Google search for.

 

[fisicx]

I'm seeing client's eCommerce sites in the AI responses and in particular those who have spent time adding helpful content (instructions, descriptions, uses, etc.). I'm searching for the same keywords these sites rank on Google search for.

Yes, but it won't take long before the AI content mills swamp the efforts of your clients. The same as every other SEO technique since forever. Except this time there is no easy fix.

 

[Shopclicks]

Yes, but it won't take long before the AI content mills swamp the efforts of your clients. The same as every other SEO technique since forever. Except this time there is no easy fix.

Well I wouldn't give up on it just yet

We've all seen the crud that AI churns out and the lack of real world specifics, experience and expertise. I think there's still a place for unique quality content.

 

[Fagin2021]

Well I wouldn't give up on it just yet

We've all seen the crud that AI churns out and the lack of real world specifics, experience and expertise. I think there's still a place for unique quality content.

I tend to think about these questions through this lens...

1. Google isn't a search engine. Google is an advertising platform that has search engine functionality.
2. Google isn't interested in providing the best search results. Google only cares about providing results that are good enough to keep people searching on Google.

So to repeat the question... What motivation has Google to link to unique, quality content when that content is already incorporated in its own AI generated results ?

I look forward to the first class-action lawsuit against Google because people were misled into doing something stupid by an AI generated result. Someone in the States is suing Google because her husband drove off a bridge while following Google Maps. Apparently the Darwin Award wasn't adequate compensation.

 

[Shopclicks]

1. Google isn't a search engine. Google is an advertising platform that has search engine functionality.
2. Google isn't interested in providing the best search results. Google only cares about providing results that are good enough to keep people searching on Google.

I'm not trying to defend Google here. But it's hard to imagine a better advertising and organic reach platform and what that would look like (and how it would compete). We all have a choice in how we use Google to advertise. Organic reach still exists and if you use it well, my opinion is, that this will carry over to the AI model. I'm already seeing this on the Bing model.

Bard is already flooded with paid Ads and useless information for product searches but I don't think SGE will be the same and exclusively Ad driven. I hope it ends up following the Bing model (which also displays paid Ads and the Bing version of Local Pack).

So to repeat the question... What motivation has Google to link to unique, quality content when that content is already incorporated in its own AI generated results ?

I'm not sure why they wouldn't keep the ability to find both paid and organic AI search results. It seems to be working for them just fine on the legacy search platform. Pretty sure they know they need organic results.