AI Search assist
There was much speculation by us all on what the (search generative experience) would look like, how it would affect Search and the SERPs and if you would like to take a look at my predictive article – you can do so here. Written almost exactly a year ago and several months before the UK rollout in August 2024.
How to get the competitive advantage with AI Search?
Content is still the key to search, continuous improvements made on the Google Algorithms are further improving search results, the real danger with AI Search assist is it can harm your clicks and possible visibility if not targeted correctly.
Impact of SGE on UK SMEs
I initially predicted the SME would struggle on the AI Search assist results, this is not so, the content of relevance, answering the question and demonstrating a decent site trust score will return in these results. The key is the Helpful Content structure of the page – those that adhere to these principles return well, however, it tends to favour those that address the further information or detail offering links that are well researched, formatted and providing additional depth of knowledge on the topic.
Successful AI search assist strategy
Technical data, guides, white papers and case studies
- AI search assist is a powerful search tool to aim for if it is strategised appropriately. What is clear is that if the search query is targeted too much in isolation then you are likely to provide all the information in a single view and possibly loose out on traffic.
- The above scenario, possibly indicates that the wrong search and keyword strategy is being utilised anyway and that it is better for that user not to turn into web traffic.
- The power to get extensive, knowledge articles or technical data more visible is extensive and provides much optimism for combating some of the giants such as Amazon, certainly in fields such as technology and to an extent those extensively involved in NPD and product upgrades areas of finance and research.
- White papers, research and scientific searches are also benefiting from this new search tool.
- Associations, marketing boards and similar may also in time adopt a strategy to allow guides and benefits to be more visible and available for download.
- Gated content and industry guides are also particularly well suited to this tool and may well be adopted for publishers and other ‘journalistic’ content more widely.
- Podcasts and creative media are also an excellent format to introduce via AI search assist.
- A cautionary note, these results can also be where people turn when they have no knowledge of where to start their search – this can also produce time wasters or ‘cold traffic’ there are advantages to this type of user – but it should be noted and monitored with appropriate event tracking.
Achieving the search result
On the contrary to what I originally predicted, the SME is in a strong position to benefit from these search snippets and links.
In the process of AI SEO or ASO (AI search optimisation) ensuring the content is well structured and the site is providing useful and logical material supported by individuals qualified or that can demonstrate experience is the essential first step in this search optimisation. Spending time creating Guides and more formal information or presenting white papers and research or specification documents is going to require content budget and an investment of time to either format and update these existing materials or produce as the case may be. Ensuring these guides and downloads are accessible and engaging, the page has the necessary structured data and intuitive topical links will enable these top of the page positions to be mastered, whilst improving traffic quality.
I will try to update this post during the coming weeks-months – please do get in contact if you would like to discuss your SEO strategies.
