Will AI Overviews Kill SEO

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@RyanJones @RyanJones @RyanJones

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@RyanJones 1 @RyanJones Ryan Jones SVP @WeAreRazorfish Stable Genius – WTFSEO.com @RyanJones Linkedin.com/in/jonesy www.RyanMJones.com Also the guy behind: WTFSEO.com SEODataViz.com ServerHeaders.com & SEOnews.pro Razorfish

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@RyanJones @RyanJones SGE IS NOW CALLED AI OVERVIEWS!

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@RyanJones 3 @RyanJones This is a much better name than SGE… But it also spoils several jokes I had planned…

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@RyanJones @RyanJones What are AI Overviews?

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Who Can See Them? (at the time of this recording. May 2024) • USA Only (at the time of this recording) • Must be ”Logged In” on Chrome, FF, or Safari. • Won’t show for “incognito mode” • Users who opted into Labs (indicated by the beaker) may see different or more AI overviews

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@RyanJones @RyanJones There are multiple AI search enhancements

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@RyanJones @RyanJones

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Inverted Index Next Token Prediction

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@RyanJones 9 @RyanJones Examples: it’s not doing logic/math. It’s giving most likely completion.

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@RyanJones 10 @RyanJones It’s all Just Probability. Go Read This Article: https://ig.ft.com/generative-ai/ Example: next word prediction Example: beam seach

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Let’s talk about: Retrieval Augmented Generation & Factual Grounding

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@RyanJones 12 @RyanJones People who searched this, also searched these things.

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@RyanJones 13 @RyanJones AI Overviews are summarizing results, but not just the results for your query. Opportunity: you can get cited in a popular query by ranking for a related query!

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@RyanJones 14 @RyanJones How are websites cited?

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@RyanJones 15 @RyanJones You have to rank for the summary Takeaway: Even though it might be summarizing one document, it’s citing the one that ranks for that summary

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@RyanJones 16 @RyanJones Example: WebMD is cited here, but the text in this citation doesn’t appear on the WebMD page

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@RyanJones 17 @RyanJones Example 2: Answer says “according to stadium-maps.com” However that’s not one of the sites cited. Thanks @njmott for screenshot

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@RyanJones 18 @RyanJones Proof: Google is telling us what text it “searched” to find a citation in the URL Hat tip @kevindoory for noticing this

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@RyanJones 19 @RyanJones Proof: Guess what ranks #1 for that snippet of text……

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Almost ½ of sites “cited” by AI Overviews don’t rank in Google. Source: Brightedge May, 2024

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@RyanJones @RyanJones

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@RyanJones 22 @RyanJones An Example of AI SPAM Hat tip: @lilyray for the example

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@RyanJones 23 @RyanJones Google Getting It Wrong Isn’t New

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@RyanJones 24 @RyanJones Opportunities for Misinformation might increase Hat tip: @rustybrick for the example

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@RyanJones 25 @RyanJones This one is interesting

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@RyanJones 26 @RyanJones This One is my Favorite

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@RyanJones @RyanJones

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@RyanJones 28 @RyanJones Google Wants to Build the Star Trek Computer

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@RyanJones 29 @RyanJones What Is Google Saying? AI Improves search – doesn’t replace it. - Sundar Pichai

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@RyanJones 30 @RyanJones What Is Google Saying? - Sundar Pichai

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@RyanJones @RyanJones What Queries are AI Overviews Showing Up For? Source: @bart_goralewicz

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@RyanJones @RyanJones What Queries are AI Overviews Showing Up For?

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@RyanJones 33 @RyanJones Woo Hoo! Where’s My Clicks? There Might Be an Effect on Clicks

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@RyanJones 34 @RyanJones Affiliate sites are going to feel this. Remember, Google has a review platform that they can easily use AI to summarize.

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Is SEO Dead?

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@RyanJones 36 @RyanJones But they’ve already started reducing AI answers

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@RyanJones @RyanJones The total number of searches on Google has increased every year since its inception People are just searching more – and search is built into more things

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@RyanJones @RyanJones

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@RyanJones @RyanJones I JUST WANT THE NUMBER. Accept that not all users want websites

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@RyanJones 40 @RyanJones NOT THIS

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@RyanJones 41 @RyanJones Be Like Bill: Focus on the VERBS For some queries – users never wanted a website. Focus on the ones where they do.

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@RyanJones 42 @RyanJones I’M NOT WORRIED Retrieval Augmented Generation (the step before the AI answer is generated) is no different than a Search Engine. • Still based on a user query • Still links to websites • It’s still looking for relevant passages on relevant pages. • There’s (hopefully) still spam algoritms. • It still needs to crawl, index, and retrieve.

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@RyanJones 43 @RyanJones WHICH MEANS… • We still need to understand user intent and do keyword research • We still need to meet our user’s needs and create helpful, authoritative content. • We still need to make our sites crawlable, accessible, and indexable. • We still need to do SEO, but it’s becoming real marketing!

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@RyanJones @RyanJones Let’s Get The Common Questions Out Of The Way

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@RyanJones @RyanJones You CAN opt-out with the nosnippet attribute.

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@RyanJones @RyanJones You CAN measure AI Overview Traffic in Search Console … But it’s just included in the numbers, not broken out separately

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@RyanJones 47 @RyanJones Ryan Jones SVP @WeAreRazorfish Stable Genius – WTFSEO.com @RyanJones Linkedin.com/in/jonesy www.RyanMJones.com Also the guy behind: WTFSEO.com SEODataViz.com ServerHeaders.com & SEOnews.pro THANK YOU Launching later this month Visit SERPrecon.com now to sign up for early access Razorfish