Search Generative Experience (SGE) has entered the chat
In a landscape increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, Google's generative AI entities—Bard, Search Generative Experience, Gemini, and Vertex—each serve unique purposes in revolutionizing our interaction with data and search. While Bard has been the belle of the ball so far, Search Generative Experience will likely be next to have its big moment in the limelight.
SGE is a groundbreaking new SERP feature in many ways, perhaps most notably in the *huge* amount of real estate it will take up. In many iterations, SGE results rival the real estate Google Ads currently holds. It remains to be seen how this will shift upon full rollout. The more technologically impressive aspect of SGE is the fact that it produces text to answer queries via Generative AI. While zero click results aren’t anything new, to date they’ve always been pulled directly from a source on the web. Now, Google will take a stab at writing its own content to answer our questions.
Currently, Search Generative Experience (SGE) is available only to those who opt in via Search Labs. This will change in the coming months and the obvious question on many marketers minds is: How will this impact my website? There are a wide range of opinions being shared on the topic. Some are warning marketers to brace for a 25% loss in traffic. Others are dismissing SGE in its current form.
Manage SGE with Scenario & Contingency Planning
At Seer, we recommend managing these uncertain circumstances with scenario planning and contingency planning. In other words, let’s think through what could happen, and what we’ll do about it.
Setting expectations is critical, but setting the wrong expectations can be fatal to the trust between a consultant and their client.
In order to kick off scenario planning and contingency planning, it’s helpful to start by grounding ourselves in the facts we know to be true about SGE:
- Most SGE results that we’ve observed include text, a link carousel (largely with links different than those found ranking in organic search results below SGE), links to cited source, and other related questions (largely with different questions than what’s found in People Also Ask results).
- SGE results also commonly feature ecommerce results or local results, fueled by Google’s Shopping Feed and Google Business Profiles, respectively.
- Google has stated that users 18-24 have found the SGE experience to be especially useful (Google).
- SGE data cannot be tracked at scale yet like other SERP features due to the opt-in requirement, which limits the data we can use to draw conclusions on what influences these results.
- SGE results are rapidly changing, presenting slightly different text and layouts daily.
Ultimately, we are confident that the rollout of SGE will require measurement, stakeholder education, and a proactive communication strategy.
While we can’t predict the future, we can share hypotheses and hot takes from our most senior SEOs. For each hypothesis we are sharing, we are also offering our thoughts on what we’ll measure to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Lastly, we’ll include some thoughts on what we may do if our hypothesis proves true. We hope these ideas are helpful to anyone who is facing difficult questions about this rollout that simply can’t be answered yet.
7 SGE Hypotheses from Seer's SEO Team
What do we believe is more likely than not to happen when Search Generative Experience (SGE) fully rolls out?
Rebecca Krause - Team Lead, SEO
1. SGE’s impact on YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) queries will be minimal or nonexistent.
Measurement
"We’ll use an LLM like GPT-4 to review all of our tracked keywords at scale and categorize the YMYL queries. Once tagged appropriately, we could see at scale what the impact is for these queries."
Action needed now
"Communicate this as a working theory to project stakeholders, especially those in the YMYL space."
What we’ll do if this is true
"We already know there are different techniques and considerations for optimizing for YMYL queries (largely focused on E-E-A-T principles). This change will make those approaches more critical and potentially force us to expand into more broad topic opportunities to make up for less SERP real estate to rank within."
2. SERPs are going to get more simplified to (cognitively) make room for the SGE results. The trend we’re seeing with the reduction of rich snippets is the first sign of this.
Measurement
"Collect baseline data on presence of rich snippets across all tracked keywords. When SGE launches, segment keywords by those that generate SGE results vs those that do not, and evaluate the presence of rich snippets."
Action needed now
"Ensure you’re tracking SERP features across all of your keywords. At Seer, we use our data platform for this. These features are also available via tools like Stat."
What we’ll do if this is true
"Monitor the impact of this change by evaluating metrics that matter: CTR, Traffic, Conversion Rate, and Conversions. If this change leads to less opportunity due to more attention staying on the SGE result in the SERP, proactively communicate implications to stakeholders."
Kim Dougherty - Lead (People), SEO
3. Mobile CTR will decrease more sharply than desktop CTR for queries where SGE is present
Measurement
"We will segment our tracked keywords by device type (mobile vs. desktop) and monitor the CTR changes post-SGE implementation."
Action needed now
"Ensure there are no issues with your Google Search Console setup that would prevent you from accurately measuring Mobile vs Desktop CTR. Additionally, if you aren’t already, consider tracking keywords on both desktop and mobile to ensure you’ve got a good benchmark of the current state of your mobile rankings. Lastly, set expectations with project stakeholders that this is a risk."
What we’ll do if this is true
"If the data confirms a steeper decline in mobile CTR, it may indicate a shift in user behavior on mobile SERPs with SGE. We should then optimize our content strategy to engage users more effectively, explore alternative avenues for mobile user acquisition, and update stakeholders on potential shifts in mobile traffic and the strategies being employed to mitigate any negative impact."
Kim Dougherty - Lead (People), SEO
4. Industries catering to younger audiences will see a higher rate of SGE results for their targeted queries than industries catering to an older audience.
Measurement
"We'll tag our tracked keywords for clients where we feel highly confident about the demographic of the target audience. For Clients with a mixed or uncertain target audience, we’ll avoid tagging. We’ll leverage insights via GA4 to validate our confidence. Once all tracked keywords are tagged in this manner and SGE fully rolls out, we’ll evaluate the presence of SGE as a SERP feature for each cohort."
Action Needed Now
"Communicate this as a working theory to project stakeholders, especially those with largely younger or largely older audiences."
What we’ll do if this is true
"Businesses catering to younger demographics might need to adjust their SEO strategies to leverage these SGE results, such as optimizing for the SGE link carousel. On the other hand, those targeting older audiences might focus on more traditional areas of optimization. It will be pivotal to keep stakeholders informed, as such insights can influence future marketing campaigns and resource allocation."
Thanh Duong - Sr. Lead, Technical SEORebecca Krause - Team Lead, SEO
5. Top funnel content traffic that is generically educational in nature will decline. This includes affiliate comparison sites.
Measurement
"Monitor the traffic metrics for top-funnel content that is broadly educational, separating them from mid and bottom-funnel content. If relevant, closely monitor the referral traffic driven from affiliates."
Action needed now
"Ensure that analytics tools are properly set up to segment and track top-funnel content distinctly. For businesses with a significant amount of educational or affiliate content, it might be useful to create a dedicated dashboard to observe these trends in real-time. Also, assess the current traffic sources for this type of content to determine if any significant channels could be affected."
What we’ll do if this is true
"If there's a noticeable decline in traffic for top-funnel educational content and affiliate comparison sites, it might be a sign to pivot the content strategy. This could involve focusing more on niche or specialized content, enhancing the user experience, or diversifying traffic sources. It's also essential to assess the quality and relevance of the existing content. Stakeholders, especially those invested in content marketing and affiliate partnerships, should be kept in the loop regarding these findings and the subsequent strategic adjustments."
6. Brand safety and reputation management within organic search becomes a higher value discipline than ever before. Monitoring branded SGE results will be critical, and due to the nuance of how these results are generated, this can also open the door for a need for new / different tracking tools.
Measurement
"We’ll want to track these results as best we can. This becomes more complex than tracking rankings, as brands will want to understand what all is being said about them in search results."
Action needed now
"Discuss with your internal engineering team or rank tracking provider. They likely don’t have this solved yet, but it is something they should be thinking about."
What we’ll do if this is true
"Providing value to our clients is a critical element of our success. As such, we’ll prioritize a way to solve this problem internally or partner with a 3rd party to ensure our clients continue to have as much insight in their branded queries as possible."
Thanh Duong - Sr. Lead, Technical SEO
7. As SGE seeks to provide detailed answers to queries, the value of detailed schema (such as product schema) becomes even more important.
Measurement
"Observe the correlation between the use of detailed schemas on web pages and the frequency of their appearance or prominence in SGE results. By comparing websites with and without comprehensive schema implementations, we can gauge the impact of such schema on SGE's preference for showcasing content."
Action needed now
"Audit the current schema markup on your website, especially focusing on areas like products, FAQs, and other detailed content. If schema implementation is lacking or outdated, prioritize its update. Consider leveraging LLMs like GPT-4 to speed up the creation and validation of schema."
What we’ll do if this is true
"If data confirms that detailed schema enhances visibility within SGE results, it becomes crucial to invest more in schema optimization. This could involve not only ensuring that existing content has the right schema but also creating content with schema in mind. Inform stakeholders of the increasing significance of schema markup in the age of SGE, and potentially allocate resources or training to ensure best practices are consistently applied."
Where do we go from here?
The emergence of Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) underscores the dynamic evolution of the digital landscape and the importance of staying ahead of these shifts. As we've explored various hypotheses regarding SGE's potential impact on different facets of search, one common thread emerges: the imperative to be proactive, agile, and continuously adaptive. The insights and advice shared by our SEO Leads at Seer highlight the need for marketers to actively monitor, evaluate, and refine their SEO approaches. As the search ecosystem continues to evolve, staying informed, prepared, and responsive will be the key to navigating the future with confidence and success.
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