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Google is set to release its AI-powered search generative experience. This system is set to transform how users interact with browsers, impacting everything from Google ads campaigns to SEO campaigns and user engagement/conversions.
But, while Google’s SGE is still a work in progress, the challenge for CMOs is to maximize their business’s visibility and prepare for the eventual shift if they are to remain relevant in today’s cut-throat environment.
Since SGE integrates and aggregates what different sources say on the internet, users will use fewer queries to get answers to their questions. Rich Hernandez, brand strategy director at Hoth, says, “Customers won’t need to scroll down the SERPs to get additional insights from other websites.”
Once customers (especially the Gen Z) get the hang of consuming condensed information through generative search solutions, they won’t revert to standard search solutions. The age of AI will be copiously upon us, and marketers will be forced to shape up or ship out.
Clearly, page views and clickthrough rates will bear the brunt of this new trend. Still, luckily for advertisers and marketers, summarizations are limited to seeking answers rather than locating products or services.
Chat interfaces and Gen AI are changing how users interact with search and how it’s presented to them. Although chat interfaces will chip into the dominance of search, they won’t replace it. Search easily integrates with different types of ads, including Google discovery ads, is more compatible with most intents, better than text responses, and is easier to serve.
When you imagine that SGE will devalue low-authority and low-relevance links and that an AI block will occupy almost 75% of precious screen real estate with a few brand links, you’ll do everything to be one of those links.
As a CMO, you must prioritize facilitating digital PR initiatives such as reviews, brand mentions, and web opportunities that will enable your site's inclusion in the AI SERPs.
Moving forward, Google's new updates will reward high-quality EEAT content (whether AI or human-generated). But you'll need a system to guarantee reliable output and maintain the quality of AI-generated content, especially in sensitive areas such as YMYL.
Ryan Rottman, CEO of a professional sports portal, says that Gen I has leveled the playing field for creating content. However, it won’t take long for similarities to appear since AI uses the same information, which is often outdated, and Google will start to factor this into its ranking algorithms.
As a CMO, it will serve you well to source content from sources other than what’s available to everyone and speak to industry specialists to have any chance of your content appearing in the organic links, let alone the SGE summarizations.
John Faris, president of Red Door Interactive, opines that capturing people's attention at the top of the funnel will be more difficult unless brands use their expertise to deliver unique, premium, and proprietary content because anyone can use ChatGPT prompts to create generic content.
In the long haul, SGE promises to impact SEO, advertising, marketing, and our dependence on technology. Marketers should continuously hone their strategies to maximize their brands' visibility and adaptability and outpace bigger, more sluggish competitors.
