Let’s face it – search has become messy. People either get carried away with very long queries or get frustrated when their one- or two-word searches don’t bring up exactly what they want. Google’s Gemini aims to untangle this process and deliver better search results using – gulp- AI.
I am not exactly a fan of AI. It doesn’t play fair and that bothers me. I wasn’t happy when I first read that AI Search was going to be the next frontier for search and SEO.
But AI isn’t going away and like millions of other writers and creatives, I have to learn to get along with it. So I signed up for Neil Patel’s free webinar, AI Update for SEO. What I learned is that Gemini just might be AI even (human) writers can live with.
Neil Patel’s AI Experts Tried to Calm the Crowd About AI Search
Neil introduced his two AI experts who led the webinar: Will Kammer, and Chris Hall, who work for his NP Accel company that provides digital marketing services for “SMB’s” as the Google listing shows. (Seeing this made the grammar nerd in me grit my teeth.)
Will and Chris did a good job trying to calm that rather rowdy chat crowd which it’s safe to say were made up of AI opponents.
Gemini was formally launched only about a week earlier. It is not an opt-in tool, and will become, over time, part of the normal search experience on Google.
The point to remember is that AI Search won’t be used universally. It’s going to be used to tame long-tail, wordy search requests and offer suggestions to strengthen short, usually vague, requests.
AI Overviews, which are the recommendations generated by the Gemini tool, will improve responses to very long-tail search terms. Here’s an example from the webinar:
Looking at this search, I think it’s a voice-activated request for information. It’s a little disjointed, like how we sound when we think aloud. I wonder if it was done on the run, perhaps by someone on a business trip that’s going to last a few weeks, or is new to Beacon Hill, or considering a move there. I was intrigued by the last keyword for intro offers.
Voice Search is Growing and is Wordier Than Typed Search
It shouldn’t be a surprise that voice searches feature more words than those typed in. People naturally talk more than they type.
A majority of us do use voice-activated search. NPR and Edison Research reported in October 2023 that 62% of Americans over age 18 use a voice assistant on any device. Personally, I don’t even bother trying to type in a search on my smartphone; I just talk to it and it usually delivers. But if Gemini and similar terms are able to boil down wordy requests and deliver what I’m looking for without a second attempt on my part, that’s ok – as long as I still get what I hope to find.
Gemini AI Search is Expected to Focus on Informational Content
Naturally, the Number One question on everyone’s mind is how will the answers generated by the Gemini AI search tool impact website traffic? Will carefully curated snippets become obsolete?
There are no answers as yet; Gemini is still very young. Will and Chris both thought that AI search will focus on information content, at least initially, before moving on to “transactional content” that supports sales. This does make sense since Google Search pays a lot of attention to content quality. It’s a tall order, and I think an important one, to focus on accuracy and quality and judge what should pass. If Gemini can improve on The Great Misinformation Scandal of 2016, I’m all for it.
How will individual websites fare with AI search tools? The Week One data Will and Chris collected shows it didn’t harm impression numbers and click rates.
How were they ranking in ways they weren’t before? We didn’t get examples but learned that there may be new “fine lines” between organic and paid search results.
In other words, organic content might get a bit of an edge in search results. And as anyone who reads Neil Patel knows, you shouldn’t ignore organic content and rely only on paid ads. This slide celebrates this human-writer focus:
Reports on AI Search Will Be on the Sparse Side
I had been wondering if GA4 will report both original and AI-generated search queries. It won’t.
Google will not report specifically on when, if, how, or for what keywords AI Overviews will populate. Google claims AI Overviews will be used to answer more complex questions where it can add value beyond traditional search results.
NP Accel
AI Search Might Be Necessary for Search Engines to Work Well
As a web content writer, I try to put myself in a searcher’s shoes and the metaphorical shoes of a search engine. I want information, and I want to make sure the information is accurate and reasonably up to date. Readability is nice, too.
Google gets billions of search requests every day – 8.5 billion, or 5.9 million per minute, according to the AI-generated answer I got from a query:
Here’s what I hope AI tools will do for search:
- Identify ways to standardize complicated queries and identify satisfactory answers from the googles of data collected.
- Weed out spammy and (I hope) dull, ChatBot-produced content on complex topics.
What are the Next Steps to Prepare for AI Search?
AI Overview may well help smaller players compete more effectively against conglomerates, the Accel team reported. That’s good news for local businesses competing against big-box stores and the like. Who knows, it might trigger a renewal in bookstores!
Websites that deliver informational content (including those that sell products and services) should double-down on delivering quality content by using human writers – music to my ears, at least. Continue to provide useful information that readers can act on, including making sure your pages load quickly and otherwise “run well technically.”
In addition:
- Cover topics thoroughly – thin content hasn’t cut it for over a decade
- Demonstrate your expertise, authority, experience, and trustworthiness; as Google used to say, don’t be evil
- Update your web content
This is where I come in – I’m a real, human writer and I pay attention to people like Neil Patel and the experts at Search Engine Journal and the Content Marketing Institute. Gemini is the type of AI Search I can work with.
Is your web content holding back your site’s effectiveness? Use the link above to schedule a call with me to talk about it and get a free review of your homepage or landing page.
