Google is moving to an AI generated results ‘snapshot’ that will appear at the top of the Search Engine Results page above the rest of the search results (paid & organic).
Google has called this Search Generative Experience (SGE) and has rolled it out on labs.google.com/search for testing and feedback. It is available in over 120 countries and territories across 7 languages. Google is rolling out SGE thoughtfully as an experiment, using training, human input/evaluation, search quality and policies.
SGE is made up of large language models (LLM’s) such as the Multitask Unified Model (MUM).
With generative AI in Search, people are able to:
• Ask new kinds of more complex and descriptive questions and get better responses
• Understand of the topic faster, with immediate links to relevant results to explore further
• Get started on something you need to do quickly, like writing drafts or generating AI imagery right from your search
• Make progress easily, by asking conversational follow-ups or trying AI-suggested next steps
Known limitations include:
Bias - Despite additional safety and bias prevention guardrails applied, some nuances of data patterns still seep through, and can lead to SGE producing biased results.
Hallucination - SGE may sometimes misrepresent facts or inaccurately identify insights.
Opinionated content implying persona - Output may reflect opinions that exist on the web in some instances.
Duplication or contradiction with existing Search features - It’s possible for the output of SGE to appear to be in contradiction with other information in those results.
This will be in the testing & feedback stage for the foreseeable future with no plans to roll this out until Google has fully tested and received feedback from the community regarding the labs functionality of SGE and removing the known limitations.
What does SGE mean for digital marketing?
Search queries are becoming more conversational
Digital marketers will want to anticipate their audience’s conversational queries, including follow-up questions.
More authoritative content needs to be written
Writing for EEAT - Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness & YMYL - Your Money or Your Life. Google states: “We have very high Page Quality rating standards for YMYL pages because low quality YMYL pages could potentially negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
Diversified Content Is More Likely to Appear in Results
Creating blog posts, videos, case studies, podcasts and infographics can enrich a brand’s content format and increase the chances of their content being picked up by Search Generative AI.
Zero click searches
To minimise the impact of zero-click searches, digital marketers will need to ensure their content is surfacing the information searchers require without having to click-through a link. Writing content that will be picked up by SGE or featured snippets (i.e. FAQ).
Refreshing Existing Content
Content is being produced more quickly and is relevant for less time. Content needs to be updated and refreshed often to stay at the forefront of expertise.
Alternative Search platforms (i.e. TikTok)
Users are utilising alternative search platforms more and more. TikTok & Reddit are both especially suited to this, especially for long-tailed search terms and phrases. UGC and crowd-sourced information thrive.
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If you're doing awesome mahi - let's kōrero about how we might be able to support with your digital marketing.
Ready for a chat? Book a discovery meeting
If you're doing awesome mahi - let's kōrero about how we might be able to support with your digital marketing.
