Essential SEO strategies for Google’s AI update

AI overviews appear in about 30% of tracked searches, with a click-through rate of approximately 15%. During the initial phase, it was observed that these overviews generated significant engagement, highlighting their potential impact on search behaviour and SEO strategies. 

AI overviews are designed to handle complex and lengthy queries by understanding the context rather than just keywords. This allows the AI to provide more accurate and relevant responses. However, the accuracy of these overviews has been a concern, with early examples sometimes offering incorrect or nonsensical answers. Google is actively working on improving these issues to enhance the reliability of AI-generated responses. 

Content creation: 

• Expertise and authority: Ensure content demonstrates expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). This includes citing authoritative sources, adding expert quotes, and using reliable statistics.

• Thorough coverage: Write comprehensive content that covers topics thoroughly. Avoid superficial treatment of subjects; instead, delve deeply into relevant aspects.

• User-centric approach: Create content with the end-user in mind. Focus on solving their problems and answering their questions effectively.

Content formatting: 

• Readable and skimmable: Make content easily digestible. Use bullet points, subheadings, and concise paragraphs. Provide key takeaways at the beginning of articles.

• Logical structure: Organise content logically with a clear hierarchy. Use proper header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure the content for both users and search engines.

 Technical SEO: 

• Structured data: Implement structured data (schema markup) to help search engines understand the content. Use appropriate schema types to mark up different types of content.

• Site speed and performance: Ensure the website loads quickly and is technically sound. This includes optimising images, using efficient coding practices, and leveraging browser caching.

• Mobile optimisation: Ensure the website is fully optimised for mobile devices. Google's mobile-first indexing makes mobile optimisation crucial.

Engagement and interaction: 

• Improve click-through rates (CTR): Focus on engaging titles and meta descriptions to improve CTR. A higher CTR can positively influence rankings.

• User engagement: Enhance user engagement metrics such as time on page and bounce rate. Create interactive content like videos, quizzes, and infographics to keep users engaged.

A key insight from a resent Neil Patel webinar emphasises the importance of human-generated content over AI-generated content. Many businesses have compromised their content quality by relying entirely on AI-generated copy. The data reveals that while AI can produce content quickly, it often lacks the depth, engagement, and nuanced understanding that human writers bring to the table. The statistics indicate that human-generated articles consistently outperform AI-generated ones in terms of traffic and reader engagement. This trend suggests that businesses should prioritise human touch in their content creation to maintain quality and achieve better results. Betting on humans, while others bet on AI, proves to be a winning strategy in digital marketing. 

Rather than solely focusing on increasing traffic volume, businesses should aim to enhance the conversion rates of their existing traffic. This can significantly boost the overall value derived from their traffic. The 80/20 rule recommends that businesses prioritise optimisation efforts on the top 20% of pages that generate 80% of the traffic. By focusing on these high-performing pages, companies can achieve more substantial improvements in conversion rates, thereby increasing the overall effectiveness of their digital marketing strategies. 

The update impacts ad placements, as Google experiments with integrating ads within AI responses. This integration may affect ad performance, necessitating close monitoring and adjustment by businesses to ensure their ads are effectively displayed and engaged with. 

AI technology will continue to evolve, with improvements in multi-step reasoning and better understanding of complex queries. Businesses should stay adaptable and continuously optimise their strategies to keep up with these changes. The evolution of AI in search will likely lead to more intuitive and seamless search experiences, providing users with highly relevant information quickly. 

• Monitor keyword performance: Regularly check the performance of important keywords and whether they trigger AI overviews.
• Optimise for AI overviews: Focus on creating content that is likely to be featured in AI overviews. This includes providing clear, authoritative answers to common queries.
• Leverage multiple content formats: Use various content formats like videos, infographics, and custom images to enhance visibility and engagement.
• Structured data and website hierarchy: Implement structured data and maintain a clear, logical website hierarchy to help search engines understand and index your content better.