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Strategy July 12, 2024
Google has rolled out AI-generated summaries in search, but AI content is unlikely to rank highly in the new search landscape.
By Theresa Hegel
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Back in May, Google started incorporating AI-generated summaries at the tops of many search results. In a blog post detailing the change, the tech giant said its “custom Gemini model can take the legwork out of searching.”
AI Overviews include a short summary, with the sources shown gallery-style in a drop-down menu below. In fine print at the bottom is the sentence “Generative AI is experimental.” It’s an important disclaimer, given that the search engine’s AI results have recommended combining Italian spices and gasoline to cook pasta and claimed that running with scissors has health benefits.
“You can see this disconnect between human expectations and what AI can actually do,” says Adam Smartschan, chief strategy officer at Altitude Marketing, a B2B agency based in Pennsylvania. “Is it going to occasionally tell you to put glue on pizza or eat rocks? The answer is yes. It doesn’t know any better because it doesn’t know what satire is. It’s just a probabilistic engine.”
Dubious responses aside, the Google updates are ushering in the era of what some have dubbed GEO – or generative engine optimization – noting that the addition of AI summaries “will fundamentally alter how we approach search engine optimization.”
The latest changes – coming on the heels of several years of updates to do things like emphasize helpful content and purge AI spam in results – are part and parcel of recent volatility in SEO and digital marketing.
“What worked for SEO one or two years ago is not the same as what works today,” says Ally Delgado, CEO and co-founder of Merchology (asi/169169). “The landscape is constantly changing, requiring us to stay agile and adapt quickly. New research is being published daily that we’re monitoring and incorporating into our digital strategy. There’s never a dull moment in digital marketing.”
The incorporation of generative AI and other search-related changes have created challenges for content marketers. “What you can’t do right now is chase the algorithm or try to find the ‘15 weird tricks that Google hates,’” Smartschan says. “I can’t tell you how often I’ve been asked how many words should be in a blog post for SEO. Right now, the answer is as many as it takes.”
In order to become a part of the AI-generated search-result summaries Google is pushing out, it’s important to prove you’re a trustworthy authority. That means clear writing that answers the questions or topics laid out in the headline, citation of sources and use of statistics to back up points, Smartschan says.
“You’re having to show that the information you’re providing is credible, that it’s contextualized and that it’s very easy for Google to grab it and use it the way it wants to,” he adds.
The missing piece for content marketers and other online publishers right now is figuring out how to entice searchers away from Google and onto your website for more information, when the AI summarized results might have been all they needed. “How exactly is that going to shake out?” Smartschan asks. “I really don’t know.”
One thing to consider, though, is that more niche content – topics that Google isn’t easily able to digest and synthesize – is less likely to have an AI-generated summary, so traditional SEO tactics, such as creating long-tail key words, getting backlinks from reputable websites and optimizing your site for easy search engine crawling, are still likely to be effective.
In the current online landscape, creating novel content is key, says Bret Bonnet, president and co-founder of Counselor Top 40 distributor Quality Logo Products (asi/302967). “It cracks me up because we’re basically back to the 1990s, with the need for original journalism and content, which almost doesn’t exist anymore on the internet,” he adds.
The irony is that Google “is trying to do every single function on the planet using AI,” but it doesn’t value content that’s crafted using generative AI, Bonnet says.
That’s caused a shift in the way Quality Logo Products looks for content creators, he adds. Two years ago, Bonnet says, he’d likely hire someone with experience writing product descriptions or blog posts online; now, however, he wants to find “that guy who used to work at the Chicago Tribune and took three months to write an amazing piece of investigative journalism.”
Using generative AI to come up with topics and write first drafts of articles is a bad idea because “if you’re doing that, it means the content already exists,” Bonnet says.
“Everything has to be unique, original and add value,” he adds. “So many people write their content by looking for themes and popular search terms and then structuring their content around that. That’s no longer going to fly.”
For years, Google has been the default search tool for internet users – there’s a reason, after all, that its name became synonymous with the verb to search – but there are indications that the stranglehold is loosening, especially among younger people. A recent survey from SOCi, a marketing technology vendor, found that Google was the third-most popular choice among 18- to 24-year-olds.
Two social media apps – Instagram at 67% and TikTok at 62% – topped young people’s lists for search. Google came in third at 61%. (The figures exceeded 100% since most people use multiple platforms for search.)
“We’ve definitely noticed a shift in user behavior, especially among younger demographics,” Delgado says. “Platforms like TikTok are becoming important for discovery and brand engagement, as well as research and entertainment.”
While Google still has value for providing “real-time insights,” social search advocates say that TikTok is often better at providing quick “how-tos” and recommendations for things like recipes and products.
Having a diversified digital marketing strategy and a presence on social media platforms where your target audience is active should be a priority for distributors online, Delgado says.
In its earliest days, Quality Logo Products relied on search engine marketing and paid online advertising to get its name out there. “We were like the scrappy young company that was able to outmaneuver the big, slow, clunky dogs,” Bonnet says. But, he adds, that era seems to be coming to an end, and Quality Logo Products is starting to pivot toward more traditional forms of advertising, like TV commercials and local networking.
Many of the one-time unique benefits of online advertising – targeting, tracking, affordability and data – are being stripped away, according to Bonnet.
It’s bad news for companies reliant on digital marketing, but he adds, “I think it’s great news for the promo industry because it means a return to traditional branding and offline advertising.”
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