As Google improves its AI capabilities, it becomes imperative for SEO strategies to evolve accordingly. This article provides a summary of essential trends and practical tips to help improve your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) in the future.
The New SERPs are Here
Currently, search engine results pages (SERPs) are predominantly influenced by rich results, images, videos, social references, and AI-generated snapshots. The prevalence of zero-click results is on the rise as users increasingly find answers to their queries directly within the search results. This trend is expected to escalate with the further integration of the Search Generative Experience (SGE) into primary SERPs, as it combines content from various sources.
According to a recent study by Moz.com, out of 100 SGE SERPs, 41% displayed no links from the top 10 organic results, and 46% featured only partial links from the top 10 results. This shows that SGE is drawing in more long-tail content characterized by higher relevance and lower volume, leveraging AI’s contextual understanding to better serve niche content.
Having a content rich in topical entities is now a competitive advantage for any brand. Google has phased out FAQ and How-To listings from search results and no longer provides visibility reports on them in the Search Console.
Nevertheless, FAQ content continues to play an important role in showing SGE content. The “People Also Ask” (PAA) feature has emerged as the primary rich result on SERPs, surpassing even the once-dominant featured snippet.
These changes underscore the evolving landscape of user queries and the growing importance of addressing specific, long-tailed questions in your content. Looking ahead, comprehending and adjusting to these dynamic changes in SERPs will be essential for achieving future organic growth.
Start Preparing for the SGE result
The complete implementation of SGE is anticipated to significantly impact the way users engage with search engines.
SGE intensifies the importance of delivering informative responses validated by credible sources, needing a corresponding change of strategies and success metrics. According to Dixon Jones, CEO of Inlinks, SERPs will increasingly become distinct, reaching a point where no two searches yield identical results.
To maintain a consistent presence in search results, improve your product, understand your target audience, and ensure your content effectively addresses their needs.
The Focus on Long-tail and Mid-tail Searches
The decline in traffic is anticipated to be more pronounced for broad, high-volume searches (head terms), whereas traffic stemming from precise, niche, and long-tail queries—demanding specialized and comprehensive content—is expected to be less affected.
In response to users’ growing preference for specific and personalized information, marketers and content creators need to integrate more focused and niche content into their strategies.
The use of personalized, topical, and hyper-local content is instrumental in securing rich snippets and prominence on SERPs
SGE’s proficiency in comprehending context and delivering personalized outcomes is poised to usher in an era of hyper-local and niche content. The introduction of context windows is expected to yield more tailored results, addressing the specific needs and preferences of individual users.
This change underscores the heightened significance of creating content that is not only relevant but also resonant with distinct audience segments, emphasizing the importance of hyper-local and community-focused content.
Essential Requirement: Validating Facts and Using Authoritative Sources
Factual verification becomes imperative when using large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. The growing dependence on AI for content creation emphasizes the critical need to ensure that information is factual and originates from reliable, authoritative sources.
Establishing credibility and affirming the accuracy of information is paramount to maintaining trust and authority within your industry. The inclusion of citations and mentions from authoritative sources significantly contributes to factual verification. Collect and display reviews, and ensure your website is equipped with high-quality links and citations.
Effective SEO Strategy For The Age of AI-Powered Search
As the digital terrain transforms with technologies such as SGE, it is imperative to align your SEO and content strategies accordingly.
To gain a competitive edge, the initial step involves comprehending the predominant elements in SGE results and determining primary focus areas based on that understanding.
Bill Hunt, President of Back Azimuth Consulting, advises brands to prioritize building a website for user experience rather than pursuing accolades. The future paradigm centers around possessing real estate on SERPs as opposed to achieving ranks through various touchpoints.
Concentrate on these important areas to fortify the resilience of your SERPs in 2024.
How to Increase SERP visibility through Structured Data and Schema Validation
Diversified Approach Across Channels
Tailoring your content according to various customer touchpoints has become more crucial than ever. Use a range of content types and formats to elevate engagement, improve visibility in SERPs, and implement a comprehensive strategy. This involves the integration of:
- Interactive Elements: Promote user interaction through video and web story consumption, aiming to boost pages per visit. Use compelling video content to capture user interest, and tools like VidIQ can assist in measuring video keyword effectiveness.
- Images and Infographics: Visual elements play a significant role in improving the attractiveness and comprehensibility of your content.
- Visual Storytelling Formats: Experiment with visual storytelling formats to amplify engagement and user experience.
Brands are advised by Patrick Reinhart, VP of Services and Thought Leadership at Conductor, to consider their entire digital presence beyond just their .com. Questions such as optimizing your YouTube channel, having a Wikipedia page, and active social media engagement should be addressed.
Given Google’s evolution and experimentation with new experiences to appeal to younger generations, these distinct closed environments will become more prominent. Therefore, brands must establish a presence on all these platforms.
Relevance in Content
Ensure that your content aligns closely with the search query and bears in mind the principles of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Strive to create content that sparks meaningful discussions.
Follow these steps to generate high-quality content that can lead to robust SERPs:
- Performance Audit: Evaluate whether your content aligns with business objectives and earns rich snippets. Integrate business goals, content performance, and the audience journey into your content strategy.
- Optimizing Chat Experience: Foresee and address not only your users’ current inquiries but also those they may not have realized they need answers to. Predict their informational needs and provide timely responses.
- Helpful Content: Use advanced content strategies using tools that provide data intelligence, scoring, creation, and measurement capabilities to produce high-quality, pertinent content.
- Transitioning from SERPs to CHERPs: Prepare for interactive and visual Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and Chat Experience Results Pages (CHERPs).
- In-Depth, Expert Content: Establish authority on your topic by creating detailed, long-form content that resonates with the right audience at the appropriate stage of the funnel.
- Authorship: Emphasize the expertise of the content author to enhance credibility.
- Topical and Entity Gaps: Identify and address gaps in your content, focusing on topical relevance and specific entities.
Enhanced User Experience
Enhancing the overall site experience across all touchpoints and the entire user journey, consisting of various channels, is key to boosting conversions. Give precedence to user experience and meticulously attend to the technical aspects of your domain, encompassing indexing, crawling, speed, and interactive elements.
The quicker your site loads, the more seamlessly SGE can interpret your content and generate AI-powered snapshots. Regularly test and enhance your website’s user experience.
Concentrate on aspects like security, mobile-friendliness, page speed, and adherence to Core Web Vitals (CWV). Ensure your site is accessible, integrating best practices for user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
Comprehensive Schema Markup for Discovery and Clarity
Leverage schema markup to elevate the visibility of your content. When marking your content, dig deeply, encompassing various assets like images, videos, menus, and more.
Jones also suggests persisting in marking up everything with schema. It’s important to note that the way search engines use this data may vary. While your “clicks” from search might decrease, the “sales” derived from the search could potentially increase, especially as search engines and SGE guide users further down the purchase funnel.
Engagement and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Use tools such as VWO or Crazy Egg to conduct tests and improve the engagement and conversion rate of your website. Monitor conversions across various metrics such as calls, leads, transactions, and form submissions.
What To Measure in SERP Performance
In the face of considerable changes, how do you gauge success? Expect a substantial decrease in both traffic and click-through rates (CTR) with the advent of SGE.
As SGE diminishes the prominence of organic search results on the SERP, conventional website listings will experience reduced visibility. Users are more likely to obtain information directly from the SERP, leading to a decline in clicks on individual website links.
The complexity introduced by AI-generated responses poses challenges in tracking and measuring keyword rankings. Adaptation is crucial, necessitating the use of alternative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess success.
Visibility Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Data regarding SGE visibility is unavailable in the Google Search Console. As traditional keyword rankings lose their reliability, it becomes crucial to shift focus towards alternative visibility metrics such as share of search, impressions, and the visibility of rich results to assess the visibility of your content to searchers.
Ray Greiselhuber from Demand Sphere suggests integrating new metrics like visual rank, pixel depth, pixel height, fold depth, and fold opportunities to measure visual KPIs.
Conversion Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
While there might be a decline in overall traffic targeting information at the top of the funnel, you can anticipate a rise in more targeted and qualified visitors with a heightened intent to convert. Consequently, there should be an enhancement in your conversion rates.
Important success metrics will revolve around conversion indicators such as calls, driving directions, transactions, form fills, and any other soft- and hard-conversion KPIs tailored to the business.
Engagement KPIs
With an increasing amount of content directly accessible in search results, there’s a decline in the number of searchers clicking on links to visit websites. As traffic decreases, it becomes imperative for businesses to actively engage every visitor to their site.
Engagement metrics such as bounce rate, session duration, time spent on site, scrolls and clicks on your page, and the average number of pages visited per session can no longer be overlooked. These metrics are essential in evaluating and improving user engagement.
Future-proofing SEO for 2024’s dynamic SERPs
With the imminent emergence of AI-powered innovations like SGE, it’s anticipated that 2024 will usher in substantial transformations in SERPs and organic search visibility.
By prioritizing optimization for engagement, conversions, and the overall user experience—beyond solely relying on traditional keyword rankings—you can position your brand to flourish amidst the evolving landscape of search.
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