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The news about IT in 2023 has been intensely dominated by the theme of Artificial Intelligence and in particular about the “new Bing”. They talk about almost everything related and mainly how surprising it is, the successes and also about the mistakes, the possibilities for the future and how many and which giants in the sector also want to invest to have their own solutions based on AI.
But what few people have dared to talk about is what the future of SEO will be in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
It is understandable that this is the case, after all it is still premature to make projections in this sense, since we are just living in the dawn of new times.
However, it is already possible to imagine possible developments and that is today’s approach.
Why should SEO change in the age of Artificial Intelligence?
For those who already have good experience with SEO, it is certain that important changes must happen as Artificial Intelligence is increasingly integrated into search engines.
But anyone who has a blog or any type of website and only knows the main fundamentals to apply in its administration and in the production of the respective content, may not envision the extent of the impact or influence that the news will have.
Going straight to the point, all the indications that Google’s announcement of the Bard was anticipated and done in a hurry, contrary to the company’s philosophy of only launching new products when they are “mature” enough, reveals its fear for a turnaround in the segment that is its flagship and which was responsible for raising the company to its condition.
On the other hand, the promise of more massive investments (10 billion dollars!) by Microsoft in ChatGPT and in integrating it more and more into the “new Bing”, reinforces that they do not see only small improvements, but are betting heavily on a radical change.
Similar actions and initiatives have been seen and confirmed by Goal (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), by the Chinese giant Baidu and also by several other companies, even outside the Internet.
All this movement will not be for things to continue as they have been since Google dominated the segment of search engines.
But not only that. As we mentioned in the post about ChatGPT, more specifically in the section where we inquired about the future of the segment, the paradigms associated with how we got used to searching the Web can and must be overcome.
For some – or many – searches that we normally do, we will no longer have to click on the links that a results page traditionally presents.
But calm down! It is not yet time to despair.
“Traditional” searches are still going strong, even if Bing’s download rate has increased more than 10 times since the announcement of the incorporation of ChatGPT to the search engine and the adhesion to the same company’s web browser, Edge, has taken off in a way never seen before.
According to Microsoft announced on its blog, its search tool reached 100 million daily active users and the user rate of its mobile application grew 6 times. They are still far from the numbers of the rival and leader, but since 2009 when it was launched, it had never come close to that despite the most diverse strategies.
Incidentally, this threat – for the time being – was what triggered the alarm at the Googleplex in Mountain View, after all, it must be remembered that a not inconsiderable portion of their revenue comes from online advertising on these sites which, without clicks, also do not produce clicks on their websites. ads displayed on them. Added to the mere possibility of seeing the hegemony of searches diminished, it is the same as seeing your revenue go downhill.
Well, at this point it should be clear that it is highly likely that what was done so far in terms of SEO will need to be done under new approaches.
What will change in SEO with artificial intelligence?
We will not be emphatic in the affirmations of what will change, as some few have done and many others try, but they are vague and shallow. It should be noted that at this moment, any projection is a mere exercise of imagination and assumptions, no matter how much we try to base ourselves on reliable indicators and consistent trends, but which are very few for the time being.
Furthermore, the only certainty is that things can change very quickly in this sector and the once leader can fall by the wayside in a matter of months.
It is also necessary to consider that not even the protagonists of this story should have 100% certainty, but only reasonably well-founded convictions and expectations about the possibilities.
In other words, whoever came out ahead – Microsoft – must be analyzing mountains of data, to decide the next steps, the improvements, the new implementations and that are already on the way as soon as ChatGPT in its version 4, is ready.
Okay, but let’s get down to business, starting with the content.
1. Content
Content won’t run out, although we imagine some sites will.
In fact, content gains even more prominence, but with even greater emphasis on aspects that we have always defended here in the posts we publish:
- Content originality – in the article that addressed the issue, we highlighted not only the importance of producing 100% original content, but that does not seem more of the same or pasteurized, without identity and identification with the reader. It is to be assumed that generative AIs – which generate content – prioritize original content over similar ones, in the learning process (machine learning) and, consequently, in the ranking for organic searches;
- Scarcity of content – it is human nature to do what everyone else does, but in terms of content, following alternative paths when it comes to content, can bring visitors that are not served by the majority. For reasons similar to sites that contain original content, AIs tend to give one more point to those viewing sparse content. Google itself has already revealed that 15% of queries are new, which reinforces the importance of this factor, as well as the previous one;
- Content for laypeople – laypeople will possibly be an important portion of those who will use the conversational resource of artificial intelligences, which is why learning based on content aimed at this type of audience, which is more detailed and explanatory, should also produce positive scores;
- Content for people – how many of the websites clicked on the results pages (SERPs) have texts that are boring, monotonous, impersonal and even confuse more than they clarify? They are mostly texts written for search engine robots and not for people! But among everything that characterizes these new AIs, there is natural language and, therefore, the contents with style, with identity, with appropriate language, which communicate effectively with their audience, tend to be “recognized” and valued by the algorithms now under influence of a “smarter robot”;
- Fake news and misinformation – the need for Bing Chat and others to provide accurate and reliable answers should automatically make fake and misinforming content even more penalized.
There are other aspects related to content that gain relevance insofar as their production is carried out with effective concern and, above all, for the Internet user.
2. Voice search
Optimizing your site for voice search, even before the implementation of AI, was already a necessary measure, but it is reinforced by the even more common use of natural language.
Recent data indicate that it represents about 50% of all searches on mobile devices and is increasing. Added to this fact, another. According to Google, 40% of users search daily on their smartphones. Therefore, mobile sites are essential, which need to watch out for excessive advertising.
It’s something smart virtual assistants like Siri, Google Now, Alexa and Cortana have been doing for a long time. There are even plans by Microsoft to replace Cortana or “turbine” it with ChatGPT, making the standard Windows search more powerful and that would be another hard blow to Google, after all if users get used to it, we are talking about the operating system for the most used desktop in the world.
This type of news makes a lot of sense, also due to the fact that Bing Chat is also “conversational”.
3. Long tail keywords
The greater specificity conferred by long tail keywords is something that should gain more weight and that means that content needs to be less generalist and more specialist.
In this sense, specialized sites stand out, which achieve more depth in the subjects they address, than those that intend to cover broader topics. It tends to be like this in almost all areas of knowledge, that is, knowing a little about a lot or knowing everything about one or a few things.
Others who benefit from this are sites that invest in a content structure based on pillar posts and satellites.
In other words, instead of having a great content that tries to embrace everything about it, unfolding it among several smaller posts, but more specific (the satellites) and that orbit around a central and macro theme (the pillar), it meets of the concept.
In addition to the above aspects, titles and subtitles of your content need to be even more aligned to answer the questions that users ask, also privileging more natural language.
4. Focus on the target audience X persona
Target audience and persona are not the same thing. However, depending on your wishes, one or the other can serve.
Whatever your choice, you need focus and not wanting to shoot everywhere. But what does this have to do with SEO in the age of Artificial Intelligence?
It has a lot to do!
More particularly with the differences between generations and the way they deal with the Internet and how they consume content.
New generations are much more likely to quickly adhere to the proposed new model. They want answers that are quick, practical and straight to the point. Unlike a Baby Boomer or even an X, most Zs and Alphas don’t have the interest, let alone the patience, to read an entire article like this one.
For them, if necessary, it is enough for the artificial intelligence to list it in topics, which will change. If it can be consumed in 10 seconds, even better!
It means, on the other hand, that if you have a blog that tells everything about “70s” Rock, for example, the chances of surviving this paradigm shift and continuing to receive clicks instead of having your content re-elaborated by a robot and delivered in short, without style and romanticism, they are good!
Knowing your audience and their motivations as well as possible, more than ever, can make all the difference.
5. Dynamism
Anyone who chooses or is obliged to know and practice the principles of SEO is also obliged to know that this is a very dynamic area and that means that new things happen all the time.
It’s been like this for a long time, and Google’s algorithm is said to change frequently daily or more significantly in implementations like Bert, MUM It is RankBrain.
But now the pace promises to be even more frantic. Both because of the mad rush of several Big Techs to launch their own AIs and which should produce important changes, and because as the results are being observed, more news and changes should happen.
The watchword is: update!
As has been said in the past, however outdated and incongruous it may sound on this topic, if you don’t want to “miss the boat”, keep up to date as much as possible. Material on this is not lacking.
But be careful, because there are many people surfing this wave and taking advantage of the interest that the subject has generated, just in search of clicks.
As we mentioned, it’s still too early to nail anything, so be cautious in everything you do, especially when it’s proposed by those who proclaim themselves “gurus” in the thing, after all, even Google itself is banging its head in this new venture!
Conclusion
The future of SEO in the age of artificial intelligence promises to change a lot and amid many uncertainties, it is already possible to imagine some changes.
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