In jumping on the AI-generated train, Google is about to change search engine optimization forever with its new search generative experience.
Current SGE trends are shaping up to impact your organic traffic in a massive, not-necessarily good way — which means seasoned SEOs, website owners, and digital marketing managers alike all need to pay close attention.
But there is hope.
Here at Inflow, our SEO team has been evaluating the effects of Google’s generative search experience on our eCommerce clients since its initial beta launch. Today, we’ll share our findings, as well as our recommendations for successful SEO initiatives in the SGE future that lies ahead.
The video below is hosted on YouTube. If you need assistance with viewing the video, please contact [email protected].
Keep reading to learn how we’re prepping our clients for success — or reach out to us anytime for a custom plan of attack for your online business.
What SGE Is & What It Means for Your Website
The Search Generative Experience is an AI experiment from Google’s Search Labs, designed to anticipate and address a searcher’s needs on the homepage of the search engine result pages (SERPs).
When a user searches Google, SGE displays an AI-generated snapshot of key information before any other organic results. When you click on the top response, Google will produce additional responses below, including additional related webpages, product links and descriptions, and more.
Its “ask a follow-up question” conversational mode allows searchers to add more context to their original queries to generate more helpful responses.
(You can read more about SGE’s features in this guide from Search Engine Land.)
The video below is hosted on YouTube. If you need assistance with viewing the video, please contact [email protected].
While SGE does improve upon Bard by including website links and sources in its AI-generated responses, the feature takes up most of the space at the top of the SERPs — which will mean bad news for most websites’ SEO initiatives.
Why?
- SGE will likely cause a drop in traffic for all organic listings. On the eCommerce front, we expect to see a decrease in organic traffic for category pages. However, based on current SGE trends, we do expect to see an increase in organic traffic to well-optimized product pages (more on that below).
- Retailers will face more competition in the SERPs. If your products are branded and sold elsewhere, those resellers are likely to appear in the new SGE SERP features. They’ll take up valuable real estate, and you will likely lose out on some website traffic.
- Customers may get AI fatigue and leave the Google SERPs. In its current iteration, SGE requires many more steps before customers reach an actual product listing page. With more clicks involved before the final purchase, browsers may get frustrated — and choose to order directly from marketplaces like Amazon, where they know they can buy quickly and easily.
- Optimizing for all SGE boxes will be impossible. Due to the ever-changing nature of SGE, SEO teams will only be able to optimize for a handful of SGE boxes at a time (if at all). In most cases, this strategy will be the wrong approach for modern SEO.
It’s important to note that we don’t know what the final version of SGE will look like. Previous iterations prioritized strategic content and branded queries; others showed links in the text.
Because SGE is still in beta testing, it will continue to evolve until (and likely after) its full launch. Planning your optimization strategy based on the latest iteration will be a waste of time and energy.
Building Your SGE Strategy
So, what should you do instead?
Below, we’ve outlined a few key perspectives to consider as you update your site’s SEO strategy for the Search Generative Experience.
While we’ve built these strategies based on our eCommerce clients, much of what we detail below can apply to a wide range of industries. (We’re happy to build a custom strategy for your vertical whenever you ask.)
Step 1: Throw away keyword research as you know it.
If you’re using keyword research as the foundation for your content creation, it’s time for a new approach.
With these zero-click updates, keyword research is becoming less valuable in terms of driving organic traffic to your site. In fact, many research tools are already missing important keywords — and, by the time the tools receive the data, it’s already too old (or too over-saturated) to be accurate.
If you must use search engines for content creation, consider using Google’s “People Also Ask” feature for a more current, accurate look at what users are searching for.
Otherwise, we recommend ideating your site content the old-fashioned way — through audience research and discussions with your real customers.
Step 2: Prioritize middle- and bottom-funnel content.
Because top-of-funnel queries will now be easily answered by the Search Generative Experience, we recommend prioritizing content for customers further down in the purchase funnel. Those will have a higher chance of actually viewing your website content, not to mention converting into revenue for your online business.
For example, a user who searches for “things to do in Athens” will likely browse their options within Google’s SGE answers.
More specific searches (like “cheap things to do in Athens with kids”) will give your content a better chance to shine, because there will be less competition and more opportunity for individualization — if the SGE even populates at all!
From an eCommerce perspective, we’re recommending that our clients focus on their top product pages (by revenue) to maintain any organic rankings, traffic, and revenue they’re currently receiving. Our client roadmaps now include a list of optimizations for valuable product pages to preserve their performance during the SGE rollout.
Step 3: Enhance your revenue reporting.
At Inflow, we’ve always stressed the importance of “real” SEO metrics like revenue over vanity metrics like clicks and impressions. SGE makes that even more crucial.
We anticipate organic traffic, clicks, click-through rates, and impressions to decrease with the launch of the Search Generative Experience. Google Search Console likely won’t be able to collect this data correctly (or even at all!).
If your reports are solely built on these KPIs, you’ll be in for a rude awakening.
Take the time you have now to build out better, revenue-based reporting for your SEO efforts. (If you need help making that happen within the new GA4 platform, our experts are here to help.)
How to Optimize Your eCommerce Site for SGE
With all that said, there are certain ways that you can optimize your eCommerce site for Google’s Search Generative Experience.
We’ve listed a few of our recommendations below to get you started — but remember: SGE is always evolving, and these strategies may not always result in the best performance.
That’s why we highly recommend partnering with an agency like Inflow that can keep your team abreast of the latest SGE developments and adjust your strategy accordingly in the months to come.
1. Optimize your product pages.
As mentioned above, category pages will no longer be the workhorses when it comes to eCommerce SEO efforts. Instead, it will be time to give your product pages a facelift.
At this time, SGE seems to reward those product pages with descriptive, helpful content. It pulls these details into “tags” used to compare products against each other in the generated response.
You can optimize your eCommerce product page SEO by:
- Using comprehensive schema markup (reviews, pricing, descriptions, rankings, etc.)
- Creating well-written product pages with detailed descriptions and product specifications
- Creating supporting, related content, such as buying guides, product comparisons, etc.
- Gathering product reviews from customers, which SGE will pull into its AI-generated responses to set your offerings apart from competitors
Remember: SGE will generate content snippets based on the specific phrases that people are searching for or clicking on. The more detailed you can get with your product pages, the more likely your content will pop up in the SERPs.
2. Focus on your topical authority and E.E.A.T. principles.
Google still needs high-quality content to feed its artificial intelligence machine, so your team must focus on creating blog and website content that establishes topical authority in your industry.
While Google’s SGE is taking away valuable real estate in the SERPs, it will still attribute your site if it uses your content in the generated responses.
We recommend investing in high-quality content marketing that raises your brand awareness and thought leadership in your space by adhering to E.E.A.T principles:
- Expertise
- Experience
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
The video below is hosted on YouTube. If you need assistance with viewing the video, please contact [email protected].
Read how we used E.E.A.T. principles for one medical client to increase their organic revenue by 300% in this Search-Engine-Land-Award winning case study!
3. Improve your linking strategy.
Links and other external authority signals will help Google decide which sources to trust and use in its generated responses. For this reason, we recommend doubling down on your link-building efforts.
Of course, make sure to use white-hat methods only, such as:
- Partnering with influencers for product giveaways or reviews
- Working with local online communities (like local governments or non-profits)
- Using programs like Help a Reporter Out (HARO) to share your brand’s expertise
Don’t forget about your internal linking, too.
4. Set up your Google Merchant Center data feeds.
Google Merchant Center feeds may not be the typical domain of SEO teams, but because of these pages’ importance when it comes to SGE, we’re making sure to include them in this list.
By optimizing your GMC data feeds with as much relevant product information as possible, you’ll give Google more data to work with when generating responses in the SERPs.You should also optimize for the Shopping Graph by adding relevant product descriptions, up-to-**** reviews, ratings, prices, product images, and links to your products.
For more guidance on optimizing your GMC product data feed, check out our complete guide now.
SEO: Only One Piece of the SGE Puzzle
There’s no doubt that Google’s Search Generative Experience will throw a wrench in many an SEO team’s strategy, especially as the feature evolves before (and after) its initial rollout.
Patience will be a virtue here; don’t attempt to change your entire SEO plan to meet SGE where it’s at right now.
Instead, continue with the path of search engine optimization best practices: Create detailed, high-quality content, and don’t simply chase organic rankings.
We also recommend looping in your paid search advertising team. Ads are (and will continue to be) placed above the SGE feature to prioritize Google’s revenue sources. By working with your PPC team, you can attack the SERPs from two angles and increase the likelihood of shoppers clicking through to your site.
Whether you need help coordinating your paid search and SEO efforts, or you simply want an expert to review your latter strategy to prep for SGE, remember that Inflow is always here to help. Contact us anytime for a free strategy consultation, or check out our other helpful SEO guides below:
