The Future of SEO

Summary

Nathan Gotch, an experienced SEO professional, discusses the impact of Google's AI overviews on the SEO industry and offers strategies to adapt. He emphasizes optimizing websites for conversions, using reverse SEO to target brand-related keywords, creating content for organic discovery across platforms, leveraging NLP technology for content relevance, and building a strong backlink profile for better rankings. The summary calls for a multifaceted approach to SEO that includes Google, YouTube, and other platforms, along with intelligent link building to enhance online visibility and conversions.

Takeaways

• 🧠 AI Overviews by Google are impacting SEO, with about 7% of search results featuring them, mainly for informational intent keywords.
• 🔍 Almost 37% of Google searches end without a click, a trend likely to increase due to AI Overviews, but also influenced by other search features.
• 🤖 The rise of chatbots and large language models like Chat GBT and Perplexity is changing search behavior, with many users favoring these over traditional Google searches.
• 🏆 Despite challenges, SEO remains a crucial strategy with Google holding over 90% of the search market share and SEO being a high-demand marketing channel.
• 🛑 Prioritize conversions by optimizing your website to ensure that traffic from SEO efforts effectively converts, using tools like Mouseflow and Google Analytics 4 for insights.
• ☎️ Make contact information easily accessible and clickable to reduce friction for mobile users and improve the chances of conversion.
• 🔗 Remove distractions like social media icons from above the fold to keep users focused on the conversion process.
• 🔑 Use contrast and clear calls to action to guide users effectively through the conversion process and avoid confusion.
• 🔑 Adopt a reverse SEO strategy by focusing on branded keywords first to dominate search results for your brand before expanding to non-branded queries.
• 🌐 Create content for organic discovery across multiple platforms, not just Google, to increase visibility and leverage the SEO principles that apply to different platforms.
• 🔄 Use intelligent link building to strengthen your site's authority, which is essential for higher and more sustainable search rankings.

Q & A

What is the current impact of Google's AI overviews on the SEO industry?

Google's AI overviews are disrupting the SEO industry by providing direct answers to informational queries, which may reduce the need for users to click through to other sites. This requires a change in SEO strategy to adapt to the new AI-driven search landscape.

What percentage of search results currently trigger Google's AI overviews?

About 7% of search results have begun rolling out AI overviews, and 99% of keywords that trigger an overview have informational intent.

Why are AI overviews not showing up for e-commerce or affiliate-driven keywords?

AI overviews have not been observed for e-commerce keywords like Hawaiian lays or tree toppers, nor for affiliate-driven keywords such as 'best air fryer' or 'best whitening toothpaste'. This suggests that Google's AI overviews are specifically targeting informational queries rather than commercial ones.

How does the presence of AI overviews affect the behavior of Google search users?

Almost 37% of Google searches end without clicking on any search results due to AI overviews and other features, indicating a trend where users are finding answers directly on the search page rather than visiting external sites.

What is the significance of user conversion optimization in the context of SEO?

Optimizing for conversions is crucial before engaging in SEO efforts to ensure that the traffic driven to the site is effectively converted. This is important because user behavior on the site, such as not navigating to a second page or not engaging with the site, can indirectly affect search rankings through Google Chrome data.

Why is it recommended to remove social media icons above the fold on a website?

Social media icons above the fold can distract users and disrupt the conversion cycle by sending them off the website, reducing the chances of conversion.

What is the 'reverse SEO strategy' and how does it differ from traditional keyword research?

The 'reverse SEO strategy' involves starting with the bottom of the funnel and working upwards, focusing on keywords where the website can win the easiest. This is different from traditional keyword research which often targets high-volume, competitive keywords at the top of the funnel.

How can creating content for organic discovery beyond Google help in SEO?

Creating content for organic discovery on platforms beyond Google, such as YouTube and LinkedIn, can help in SEO by increasing the brand's visibility and presence across the web, which can indirectly improve its standing in Google's eyes due to the interconnected nature of online content.

What role does NLP technology play in optimizing content for search engines?

NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology is used to understand the context and relevance of content. By creating content that is rich in NLP keywords, it can be optimized for search engines like Google and YouTube, improving the chances of ranking higher in search results.

Why is building a strong backlink profile important for SEO?

A strong backlink profile is crucial for SEO because it provides credibility and authority to a website, which search engines use as a ranking signal. Without a robust backlink profile, even the most relevant and original content may struggle to rank well in search results.

How can the visibility in large language models be improved through SEO strategies?

By optimizing content for Google and other search engines, brands can increase their visibility in large language models since these models are often trained on the data available in search engines. Positive reviews and authoritative content can train these models to associate the brand with quality, leading to better representation in AI-generated responses.