How to Evolve your SEO Strategy to Account for AI Overview and Other Search Functions Ahrefs Evolve Oct 2024 Amanda King, FLOQ

What’s what 1. The current state of AI in Google Search 2. How Google got to that point 3. Semantic Search & Entities 4. AI Overviews 5. How to approach it all 6. Takeaways 7. Me

Google says they have been an AI first company since 2016. h/t Marie Haynes, https://blog.google/intl/en-africa/company-news/google-io-2023-making-ai-more-helpful-for-everyone/

How do we come to grips with the AI overviews and other yet-unknown AI features? Future-proofing for this can answer two big questions How do we provide value and move the needle when Google is well beyond the standard 10 blue links?

Everything is still evolving…and Danny’s Nov 2023 buckle up may not have yet come to pass…

Australia only just got AI overviews! Let’s dive in.

Source: Brightedge, https://www.brightedge.com/ai-overviews

Source: Brightedge, https://www.brightedge.com/ai-overviews

Source: Brightedge, https://www.brightedge.com/ai-overviews

Source: Search Engine Land, https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-visibility-new-low-444048

How Google Got Here

Google is at the point where they can care more about the intangibles of your business Because entity recognition via Knowledge Graph is essentially Google’s personal Wikipedia, they’re building a corpus of information about the company that likely includes things like: ● Brand sentiment ● What the company has been in the news for ● The quality of the products

Inherently, it makes less sense to think of SEO in silos, only limited to the text and HTML on a website property, because Google doesn’t, and hasn’t for a long time.

“Rather than simply searching for content that matches individual words , BERT comprehends how a combination of words expresses a complex idea.” Source: https://blog.google/products/search/how-ai-powers-great-search-results/

Ranking in Google is also no longer as easy to disseminate Because Google is looking at the perceived intent of the user, we know they will show results that are informed by more than what has the highest PageRank for a particular query, that looks at things like: ● Topical relevance ● Expertise ● “User generated content signals” ● Information gain ● Co-occurrence thresholds

Google also includes a lot of ways to answer the query at-a-glance ● Snippet-ed information ● Video previews ● Suggestions for query refinements ● Content aggregation in carousels ● Facilitating comparisons ● Everything about generative search

A few more conservative ways to break old habits. ● FAQ on product pages ● Consolidate super-granularly targeted blog articles ● Think outside of the blog folder — the semantic relationship can carry through to the directory order of the website as well ● Internal linking can be a secret weapon ● Fit content to purpose: not everything needs a 3,000 word in-depth article

Semantic Search & Entities

Embrace the fragmentation of Google and search results, because you may reach folks you wouldn’t’ve otherwise.

Your (client’s) website isn’t the product. The content is.

No content

Google is much more than a search engine. Google Home Google Groups Google Discover Google Lens Google Arts & Culture Google News Google Assistant Google Play Google Images Google Videos Google Maps Google Shopping Google For Jobs Podcasts Google Travel Buy on Google Google Finance Google Books Google Classroom Google Search Bard AI

So if your brand isn’t consistent across those channels, it matters.

This is the kind of entity recognition we want But it takes work: ● They have a Wikipedia page ● They use organisation schema on their about page ● They have thorough product details in Schema markup (and use Merchant Centre) ● …to start.

AI Overviews

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So why even have a website at all? Because the GSE, AI Overviews and Large Language Models need somewhere to get new information from, as do all of Google’s other surfaces, only some of which have native admin platforms. Otherwise, LLM’s could end up like an ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail, because there are no new injections of creativity, and words are just bouncing around in an endless echo chamber of Internet-published mediocrity. Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/01/artificial-intelligence-ai-chatgpt-dall-e-2-learning/672754/; https://hbr.org/2023/04/how-generative-ai-could-disrupt-creative-work

Think of the information Google can curate but not create themselves: rich media experiences.

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How to approach actually doing things now

Measure what really matters to the business — traffic and revenue from organic.

These are the things that don’t change, or the things that change more slowly. Like: ● Underpinning your recommendations to the mid-long term business strategy ● Doing the work to make sure your business is a recognised entity (Generative Search Optimisation) ● Validate which surfaces to test the waters with by what the SERPs look like today Planning in shifting sands is about finding linchpins.

…and go back to the basics with Quality Rater Guidelines and what Google has shared about what it defines as quality content. Find ‘em here: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9281931?hl=en; https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

“You cannot produce original, insightful content that truly demonstrates experience and trustworthiness by outsourcing all of your writing to a copywriter and publishing with minimal editing and no added insight. But for years, many businesses thrived on this model! You can’t add truly helpful graphics, unique images and video without extensive effort and extra cost, even if that cost is your time. You cannot create the type of content that people find worthy of bookmarking or sharing with others without significant effort.” Source: SEO in the Gemini Era, Dr. Marie Hynes

It’s a lot like… would I even do this if Google didn’t exist?

It’s about reality, not theory. ● Do the actual search and see what the SERP genuinely looks like. Have multiple folks do that and come back with what they’re seeing ● Talk to the customer service teams and sales reps ● Use journey tracking tools like Fullstory or Microsoft Clarity or HotJar ● Do analysis in their Analytics solution and see what trends you’re finding in other channels and their visibility ● Write more useful content (this can be a difficult conversation)

It’s also about making sure everyone is on the same page. Consider requiring training on the current state of search for everyone you directly interact with, including: ● Your main point of contact ● The person who signs the checks ● The senior-level sponsor ● Execution teams This should include real-life examples of search results (think: I want you to take out your phone and search for x)

It’s a lot like Online Reputation Management (ORM). At a glance, it’s a lot like owning the SERP. It’s amplification on ADHD meds. Because in order to get those 30 encounters, you will likely need to think beyond the bounds of your (client’s) website, with things like: ● Podcasts ● YouTube ● An app ● Interviews & press

It’s a lot like local search. Name, Address, Phone (NAP) for entity optimisation is doing everything possible to facilitate those 30 encounters and making sure the information is consistent… …and then linking it all back through one of Google’s native languages, Schema markup.

It’s a lot like brand building. ● Evidence of reputation: user engagement, popularity, user reviews on-site ● Links and mentions: from authoritative places and topic experts ● Popularity: Social media involvement, mentions in forums, comments around the web

It’s a lot like voice search and rich snippet optimisation. ● You have one result, rather than ten ● The result presented may be incomplete, changed, or taken out of context ● HTML formatting can matter if or in what way the information is presented

So what can we do for semantic search & AI overviews? 1. Update your stakeholders on the current state of SEO. 2. Talk to your in-house subject matter experts first when creating new content. 3. Audit your online profiles for consistency and accuracy. 4. Think like you’re in branding and work with other online channels. Advocate for them if they don’t already exist. 5. Audit your HTML and Schema foundations to confirm everything is as perfect as it can be. Even the 1% changes.

3 takeaways To move forward with the new search experience in step with the business 1. Google is now at a point where it can deliver on it’s promise and actually understand a business’ authority. 2. SEO is no longer simply your clients website. It’s all SERP verticals. 3. Success in modern SEO requires a return to a traditional model: the brand.

Who tf am I?

Amanda King is a human ● Fifteen years in the SEO industry ● Traveled to 40+ countries ● Business- and product-focussed ● Knows CRO, Data, UX ● Always open to learning something new ● Slightly obsessed with tea

Thank you Amanda King t. @amandaecking i. @floq.co / @amandaecking w. floq.co