Search engines have seen a lot of changes over the years. Google, in particular, has invested a significant amount of resources in regularly updating and improving the accuracy of the results it provides to users, while also introducing several new features that enhance the search experience.
One of these features has been the introduction of AI Overviews. These AI-powered summaries now answer users’ inquiries directly above the fold without requiring users to manually click through a list of site links. This, in addition to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, has created quicker, more convenient ways for individuals to gather the helpful information they need.
However, while these improvements may be beneficial for end users, they have created certain challenges for businesses seeking to enhance their online visibility. With fewer people needing to click through links on SERPs since they’re being given answers directly, the risks of “zero-click” searches and reduced organic web traffic can present a real problem for brands unless they follow certain best practices.
If you’ve been using Google’s search features as of late, you probably would have noticed significant changes in the user experience. While traditional formats for searching information haven’t changed significantly, the way results are populated has been greatly improved with the inclusion of AI-powered features.
One of the largest changes to happen in the last couple of years has been the introduction of Google’s AI Overviews. These appear above the fold on the first page of SERPs and provide a direct, summarized response tailored to the type of query entered. For example, when asked a question, AI Overviews will attempt to answer it concisely using information collected from a variety of high-authority web references.
For Google searchers, this is incredibly convenient and can make sourcing information much more engaging and accurate. However, for businesses that rely heavily on their keyword rankings and organic web traffic, it can present challenges when adapting site content and structure so that it’s more referencable by AI-powered answer engines.
As search engines and AI answer engines evolve, it’s important that you evolve your SEO strategies along with them. This ensures that even if your traditional web traffic sources start to become less impactful, your website will still be formatted optimally to be included in AI-generated summaries and responses.
Below are some essential steps you should take to start future-proofing your online visibility:
AI search algorithms are designed to do more than just match keywords and phrases with the content on your site. Instead, they utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to identify the user’s search intent and deliver highly personalized, accurate results.
From a business standpoint, this means placing a greater focus on developing in-depth knowledge coverage on applicable topics, rather than just providing surface-level information. Another essential element when creating content is to focus on answering specific questions clearly and as close to the beginning of headers as possible.
When you create content that’s truly valuable for readers, it sends positive signals to Google that your site can be trusted as an authority on various subject matters. For example, if you owned a therapy office and you were trying to grow your local online presence, the more related topics you cover, the higher the likelihood that search engines assume you’d be able to answer a wide range of therapy-related questions.
When you think about all the different ways you can search for information online, there’s really no end to the types of formats you can use. One person might use questions while another person just lists off several keywords and strings them together. However, today’s search engines are still advanced enough to recognize the information being searched for and provide similar, if not the exact same, results.
The reason for this has to do with the advanced reasoning capabilities that many AI-powered search tools now have. They’re able to extract the context surrounding search queries and can provide relevant answers regardless of how they’re phrased.
To ensure that the content on your site aligns well with this type of technology, it’s important to make it easier to understand, index, and reference. This means trying to incorporate more natural language throughout your content. An effective way to do this is by incorporating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section in any of your blogs and articles. This gives you a more natural way to answer questions directly.
By making the structure and purpose of your content easier for search engine crawlers to understand, it improve the chances of it being used more often in answer engines or even displayed in Google’s rich snippets on the first page of SERPs.
To achieve this, it’s important to make use of structured data on all your articles and blog posts. This essentially adds categorized labels to every piece of content you publish, such as articles, products, FAQ pages, events, or step-by-step guides. When you structure your data in this way, it lets crawlers move through your content faster and identify quicker matches between the content you’re providing and what users are asking for.
These snippets can then appear above the fold if users search for information that closely resembles how your content is structured. This significantly improves your site’s visibility, increases click-through rates, and provides a helpful reference for AI answer engines when preparing lists or guides for their users.
For many years now, Google has made it clear that it values and rewards websites that place a high focus on improving user experiences. Tactics like keyword stuffing or shady link-building practices not only don’t work, but can actually harm your ability to gain more site exposure on search engines and AI-powered search tools.
While incorporating certain keywords or phrases into your content still has a certain amount of value, your primary goal should be to create a seamless browsing experience for your users. This includes asking yourself questions like:
Answering all of these questions can help you ensure you’re maintaining the right balance between publishing new content and creating a memorable experience for your users.
Part of improving your SEO strategies involves establishing your site as a credible authority worth referencing in SERPs and AI-powered search tools. Topical authority is an important aspect of this approach and involves publishing deep, thought leadership content on a variety of main and supplementary topics.
A good way of achieving this is to create pillar content. This is where you create one large, comprehensive page on a main topic or idea and then branch out your content to multiple supporting content clusters. These branching subtopics can dive deeper into related ideas that help to add more substance to the information you’re providing.
The result is that AI tools and search engines have multiple sources they can cite that all lead to your own website. This helps to establish your website as a highly referable resource that can answer multiple follow-up questions when users engage in chat sessions with AI tools.
AI-powered search is reshaping the digital marketing landscape and changing how businesses prioritize their marketing efforts. However, by embracing the changes and following the guidelines discussed, you’ll ensure that your online visibility remains future-proof while keeping your site content highly relevant and searchable.