Move over, traditional SEO! We need to make room for AI-powered search results. Do you remember back in the day (like 2 months ago) when SEO was all about stuffing keywords into your site like you were stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey and all you had to worry about was not showing up on page 2 of Google? Those days are coming to an end. With products like Perplexity AI, and OpenAI launching their AI-powered search product, how users find and interact with your website and content is about to change drastically. It’s not going to be enough to have “industry” near me hidden on every page of your site so web crawlers know what your site is about. So, let’s dive into AI-powered search results and see just what you need to do to stay relevant and get your content seen.
First, you need to know what AI-powered search is. Doesn’t Google already use AI to generate search results? Well, yes and no. While Google has used AI to fix things like spelling in their search results, they haven’t really used it to this degree. However, their new Google SGE, which was just launched to everyone in the US, is very similar to what we’re talking about. Most AI models use data that is already input into their system to provide outlines or other content the users ask for. For example, you might put into ChatGPT, “As a digital marketer, write a social media caption for a blog about AI.” And you would get a response and could even ask for different versions. However, these new products engage in human-like dialogue to interpret what you’re actually asking. So you would ask it a question like “How does AI work?” It will actually read websites and pull out the most relevant pieces of information to give you an answer that is clear, and concise like it’s having a conversation with you instead of giving you a bunch of links that you have to decipher. It also cites its sources and you can ask it follow-up questions. But, what does that have to do with your brand? Well, the type of content you share, how informational it is, and how it ranks will determine if you’ll show up as one of the citations.
One way to do that is to stay up to date. Have you ever typed in a search and found an article from 2014 as one of the top results, but it wasn’t relevant any longer but it had all the right keywords so it showed up? These new search engines no longer show old information. These AI search engines are constantly scanning and analyzing the web so they only provide the latest information. They also scan academic journals, social media, and industry reports, so the more places you have valuable and relevant information, the better.
This innovation in search results will push for authoritative high-quality content that ranks well on sites like Google. You also want to improve your domain authority. You can do this through links, content, and branding. Creating valuable content that others share and link back to your site is a great way to build your domain authority. Research has shown that most of Perplexity’s citations overlap with the top 10 organic Google results meaning the user is getting similar responses if they were to search on Google, but it’s given to the user in a summarized and conversational format so they don’t have to read all 10 sources to get the information they were looking for.
So, while AI-powered search engines aren’t kicking Google out of the top spot just yet, it’s important that businesses start to adapt content and the way information is shared accordingly. Mastering the art of multiple search platforms is the newest challenge in the marketing world. It might sound like a daunting task, but think about how the marketing world adapted to different social media platforms. Having a strategic plan, and knowing that there will be ups and downs will help you in your efforts to tackle AI-powered search. Working with a partner, like Hexcode Marketing, can also help you. Our experts are constantly learning, reading, testing, and using the latest trends, software, and even search engines to ensure our clients are getting the best results possible. If you want to work with a team of research-driven marketing experts, reach out to us today. We’d love to chat!
