It’s been almost two years since OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT on the world. Now it’s everywhere, powering both the impactful and kind of weird.
Among many things, it’s changed how we look for information online.
The search engines got onboard with some fanfare (not all of it good) and have steadily rolled out upgrades with AI.
While search traffic on ChatGPT and Perplexity is rising, Google still dominates. The takeaway? Search engine optimization still matters.
So, what does this mean for marketers? How do we keep our brand and stories front and center with the audiences that matter most? How has GenAI changed the equation? How weighted is earned media? What does SEO look like when LLMs are involved?
We turned to Jeff Jensen, director of growth marketing at our Orchestra sister agency Message Lab, for insight into the race to own AI search.
Jeff shared four takeaways:
- AI Overviews have their place but won’t be the end-all.
Just as they learned to skim past promoted results, more savvy users will search past the AI Overview at the top of a Google search page, past even the cited links provided, if they need more research to understand a big topic. AI Overviews are great for surface-level queries, but searchers will still have to dive deeper for in-depth understanding of certain topics.
- Don’t recreate something that already works well.
The top articles referenced in AI Overviews appear in the top 10 search engine page results (SERPs). So, how do you get into AI Overviews? The same way you rank high on Google pages. Traditional SEO tactics still matter.
- Winners will anticipate search intent and double down on content utility.
LLMs use internet data to predict words in a sentence. GenAI is getting better at understanding the intent behind a search; ensure your content does, too. You should focus on answering your audiences’ most likely questions and bringing something new to the table. Lean on expertise, the human experience, and quality.
- It’s still the early days.
Limited data exists on optimizing for AI search, so it’s still hard to predict what Google AI Overview prioritizes. Intelligent marketers must stay on top of AI SEO analytics to stay ahead.
The good news is that high-quality, original content matters more than ever, and earned media gains further importance as a credible source that influences search.
Read more from Jeff on Message Lab as he explores using AI for SEO Success.
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