Let me begin by saying, WOW! What a 12 months?! So many AI headlines in our website positioning digital rags. So many tea, popcorn, and alligator emojis used over Verge articles and Board conferences gone improper. We most likely don’t even recall all of the failed makes an attempt at Twitter X replacements and Yandex leaks.
So, as we strategy 2024, what do I see in my proverbial crystal ball? Many quick and lean corporations that don’t have website positioning/content material groups creating noise with AI content material, Google and Bing discovering inventive methods to floor issues not written by a bot, and SEOs working towards adapting to the brand new actuality.
However what does that seem like? How will we, as SEOs and entrepreneurs, be capable to create and optimize content material in a sea of AI-generated textual content?
Extra genuine movies all over the place
There’s a rising cohort of customers who depend on video for discovery, analysis, and making buy choices. However not any sort of video will do. Genuine tales, suggestions from consultants, critiques/unboxing from customers, and, in fact, leisure.
I see extra of this being surfaced by Google in SERPs, video search, purchasing, YouTube, and AI-generated outcomes. Not solely to push the AI content material out of sight but additionally to construct belief and appeal to a youthful viewers that could be extra inclined to go looking on TikTok or Instagram.
How one can prepare: Take into consideration methods to convey your video content material to life with E-E-A-T. Concentrate on creating bite-sized movies to inform actual tales and reply viewers questions, encourage prospects to create helpful movies about merchandise, accomplice with micro or nano-influencers. Present creators with instruments and guides to assist them with on-brand productions. Leverage this content material in blogs, on social media, and on product pages when it is sensible. The thought is to create as soon as and share many occasions on a number of surfaces and platforms.
Extra UGC and community-style content material
Google introduced in November that they’d be surfacing extra private insights and experiences from social media, blogs, and boards, and likewise adjusted their rater pointers to offer steering round content material for these “hidden gems.”
With this in thoughts, I see growth-minded entrepreneurs discovering nimble methods to check, be taught, and optimize by surfacing content material from current communities or occasions.
How one can prepare: Take the time to check earlier than diving in. Search for low-effort, high-impact alternatives. To start out, is there an current group the place your viewers lives already? Might you leverage content material from there? Might you accomplice with them ultimately? Alternatively, for those who host webinars or occasions, are you able to seize consumer suggestions or movies there? In case you run an e-commerce store, are you able to incentivize prospects to go away video critiques, share explainer movies, or at the very least a photograph with their suggestions? Getting prospects and viewers members to share their experiences is a unbelievable approach to construct model belief and advocacy and doubtlessly get extra publicity in search outcomes.
Steady shifts in SERP options
We’ve seen lots of change during the last decade, and with SGE and Bing surfacing AI-generated outcomes, it doesn’t seem that it’s going to decelerate anytime quickly. This 12 months, anticipate to see lots of testing within the SERPs. Google and Bing will likely be discovering methods to serve up higher outcomes and experiences to learn searchers, manufacturers, website homeowners, and advertisers.
Anticipate to see the next proportion of no-click outcomes with sources for informational searches, extra experiential outcomes like augmented actuality for schooling and e-commerce, simplified paths to conversion by surfacing much more product info straight within the SERPs for transactional queries in each conventional and AI-generated outcomes, and new promoting alternatives within the chat outcomes.
If I take it a step additional, I might see Google surfacing AI-generated search options straight of their Android cellular message app to assist their customers get solutions and make purchases straight in-app.
How one can prepare: Keep watch over MozCast to see how SERP options evolve over time. As issues evolve, take into account the place to include Schema markup in your website to maximise inclusion in featured snippets, different SERP options, and doubtlessly in AI-generated responses. For e-commerce, benefit from the Google Service provider Middle integration and ensure your feed is up-to-date. With no-click outcomes, take into consideration methods to measure success. Web site site visitors might decline, however with the appropriate technique, structured information arrange, and a clean path to buy, conversions straight from search have the potential to rise.