In 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) broke into the mainstream and was no longer just a buzzword or something you’d hear watching a movie where robots take over the world. AI rapidly evolved and became integrated into our everyday lives more than ever before.
The impact continues to be felt across industries, with digital marketing being no exception. AI has already begun to shape a new age of search engines, with even more changes expected throughout 2024. Let's take a look at how AI is impacting search engines, changes that are already taking place, and what we know so far about the future impacts.
What Is Generative AI?
To understand how search engines are evolving, we first need to understand the forces behind these changes. There are many different types of AI, but the one we are focusing on in search is generative AI. Generative AI is the umbrella term for the use of machine learning models to create new content, like text, images, music, audio, and videos. Generative AI models use the vast amounts of data they’ve been given to learn and recognize patterns in that data. They can then use the learned patterns to generate new content.
Large Language Models (LLMs): One subset of generative AI, and the one we most commonly think of when it comes to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, is large language models (LLMs). LLMs deal with text specifically and use natural language processing (NLP) to understand the nuances of human language and provide coherent and relevant responses. LLM chatbots are able to reply with personalized and contextually relevant responses in real time. Generative AI leverages LLMs as a key component of its content output.
Multimodal Machine Learning Models: Another subset of generative AI is multimodal models. These machine learning models are capable of processing information from different “modalities,” including images, videos, and text. While LLMs primarily excel at tasks related to language and text data, multimodal models focus on understanding and manipulating information across various forms. For example, a multimodal model can receive a photo of a plate of cookies and generate a written recipe as a response and vice versa.
These technologies, and the combination of various types of models being utilized within generative AI, are revolutionizing how users are able to get information. They take a step beyond basic keyword matching to understand context, intent, and even conversational nuances.
How Will Generative AI Be Used in Search Engines?
As 2023 progressed, it became clear that the future of search results was going to be a combination of traditional results and a chatbot. The first look came in February 2023 when Microsoft launched the new AI-powered Bing. Using generative AI powered by OpenAI’s model (the creators behind ChatGPT), the search engine now offers several new AI features, including Copilot (formerly Bing Chat), improved search features, and Bing Image Creator. These features help users search more effectively: providing comprehensive answers via LLM chatbot, generating new images, synthesizing information from various linked sources, providing prompt recommendations for conversational follow-ups, and more. Today, Copilot is readily available to most users.
Also announced in 2023 was Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE). Released for testing via Google Labs, this new search experience is set to provide features similar to Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing. This may include AI-powered summaries for certain topics, image generation, integration with Google’s multimodal large language model Gemini (formerly Bard), and new paid placement options. Despite originally being set to expire as a Google Labs experiment at the end of 2023, SGE’s time as an experiment has been extended with its official release date unclear.
Even after Bing’s quick AI-powered search engine launch, its market share remains almost unchanged. Google continues to be the search engine leader, garnering over 91% of the global market share. This may be a factor in the delay of an SGE official release. While AI-powered tools can provide a more valuable experience, there are still concerns and limitations within search. Problems such as generative AI providing incorrect facts, delays in information retrieval, potential bias in presented data, and concerns with credibility in information presented all point to the need for technology to be further tested and developed. Google is no longer feeling pressured to rush the technology, which gives them more time to ethically and responsibly continue testing SGE before its release to the general public.
How Will AI Change SEO?
For search engines, providing the best user experience has always been the main priority. With generative AI integrated into the search experience, users have the option to get faster and more personalized answers to their questions. However, this means that search results will no longer look or be presented in the same way. While we don’t know yet exactly how this will affect search engine optimization (SEO), there are speculations that should be top of mind.
No longer will every query require clicking on a link to get an answer. While this has already been changing throughout the years via features such as Google Snippets, this may change even more so with LLMs providing summarized information.
On the other hand, this may offer a unique opportunity for links to referenced sources to be presented within the responses. This means that while we may see decreases in organic search traffic for some topics, it may actually be the opposite for others. And a major reason why generative AI won’t be replacing traditional search results completely is that chat responses may not be the best output for certain queries, or may not be available at all for higher-stakes “Your Money Your Life” (YMYL) topics.
How To Prepare
Based on what we know so far, there are some considerations for marketers to take into account in 2024 and beyond:
Continue to integrate SEO best practices into your content.
We don’t yet know how referenced sources will be decided within chat features, but following Google’s Helpful Content guidelines and demonstrating E-E-A-T signals to Google that you are a reliable source.
Diversify your content topics and utilize more long-tail keywords to increase your chances of being sourced for a variety of potential search queries.
Incorporate more content types beyond basic text, such as video, imagery, and even audio to appeal to multimodal AI models.
Use AI tools to your advantage to assist with content optimization by brainstorming topic ideas, structuring content, generating keyword ideas, and more.
Evolving SEO Best Practices
For digital marketers, it will be paramount to keep up as search engines and SEO best practices evolve so that your website doesn't fall behind in the new age of AI.
At 2RM, we’re exploring how to use AI tools to enhance our existing capabilities, including copywriting and design. Need help navigating AI tools and trends? Connect with our experts to discover how to use AI across your marketing strategies.
By Hillary Ferry
By Patrick McGill
By Two Rivers Marketing