In November 2024, Google’s core update was significant for bringing us all closer to a more A.I.-laden search experience. Some of the update’s features have been consequential for ushering in a smooth transition from traditional search to the new way of doing things. Search Engine Journal reported on some of the notable trends.
The Five Most Key Takeaways from This Blog Post
- Alignment is one of the key themes of that update. An example is ensuring that what AI Overviews ranks highly is what regular organic search results ranks highly. Though there are inconsistencies, it is clear that the goal is to preserve certain aspects of traditional search.
- Prioritizing educational content is a major concern for Google, as AI Overviews will directly deliver detailed gestalts of information. In other words, it needs to prioritize content that is likely to contain the right or widely supportable answer to a given query.
- An area that will likely see change is shopping-related queries. AI Overviews will allow for a much more information- and stimuli-dense shopping experience. YouTube videos of the product, summaries of key features, and the like will be seen in gen-A.I. search engines like AI Overviews.
- In general, it seems safe to say that transitioning traditional search to generative A.I. in search will be the increasing focus of updates to search engines.
- Business owners should be aware that many of the changes to core updates will likely cause more volatility than usual because of the drive by Google to reinvent search with generative A.I.
Aligning With and Diverging From the Different Kinds of Search
So, the significant push by Google is to create a search experience that offers what feels like more-comprehensive answers to queries.
Laundry lists of relevant links, thumbnails of selected YouTube videos, bullet-point collations of key takeaways from a query’s answer, etc., oh my!
The significant question for anyone in S.E.O., and of course the business owners that rely on S.E.O. to drive online business, is just how much of traditional search will be relevant in the new gen-A.I.-search sphere.
What Is Gen-A.I. Search?
Generative A.I. refers to a mere subset of A.I. applications. Specifically, gen A.I. tools will create content, sometimes quite involuted and sophisticated, from prompts that are easy to give.
So, typing “Generate a picture of an elephant riding a unicycle across a tightrope” takes only as long as it takes you to write such a sentence. (Or just copy-and-paste it from this blog to your image-generating A.I. of choice.)
Such little effort, yet it will create the image for you, lickety-split.
Now, imagine instead of just an image, a generative-A.I. tool could create an entire search-engine-results page (S.E.R.P.) based on a single prompt.
What that would resemble is inclusive of many different forms of media, from text to video to audio.
The goal here is to generate pages that are absolutely fraught with information related to a subject. This can be an important avenue for Google to attract search traffic back away from platforms like Reddit and TikTok or other social-media platforms where people, especially younger searchers, have been flocking for info.
The Outlook of Gen-A.I. Search for Business Owners
If search results suddenly look much more comprehensive with ready answers, then users will likely continue to use it.
Important to realize here is that Google will likely stay strongly committed to keeping businesses, especially advertisers, happy with Google’s AI Overviews.
As such, ads and links to business’ websites will continue to be prominent in search results. The important thing to realize is that the look of the S.E.R.P.s will change significantly. However, much of the usual content will still be there.
Other Great GO AI Blog Posts
GO AI the blog offers a combination of information about, analysis of, and editorializing on A.I. technologies of interest to business owners, with especial focus on the impact this tech will have on commerce as a whole.
On a usual week, there are multiple GO AI blog posts going out. Here are some notable recent articles:
For Businesses and Other Organizations, What Makes a Successful Chatbot?
IBM Watson vs. ChatGPT vs. Gemini: How Will Each Affect Search Engines?
Using A.I. to Find Resources for Business Owners
How Would Restricting Open-Source A.I. Affect Business Owners?
The EU’s A.I. Act Has Become Law: The Implications for Business Owners (Especially American)
In addition to our GO AI blog, we also have a blog that offers important updates in the world of search engine optimization (SEO), with blog posts like “Google Ends Its Plan to End Third-Party Cookies”.
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