Google found fame and fortune as the Internet's great directory, the place you go to find out where to go. However, in recent years, its position as a destination rather than a guidepost has been changing.
In the early days, Google's search results returned a ranked list of websites most likely to answer a user's query.
Google is increasingly aiming to be the only site you need.
You no longer need to browse different sites to find a particular image. I was able to quickly find the image on Google Image Search (until a copyright claim somewhat hampered its usefulness).
Instead of having to go from store to store to find the best price, you can compare prices right inside Google Shopping.
If you want to discover restaurants, explore menus, read reviews, see photos, and book a table, you can do so through Google Maps and your small business profile.
All of this is possible without leaving google.com, and Google SGE is the next step in this direction.
What is Google SGE?
Google recently launched “Featured Snippets,” which extract text from websites to answer users' questions. You'll see one or two sentences that appear to answer your question, along with a link to a website that provides further explanation if needed.
However, in most cases, a more detailed answer is not needed and users can find everything they want to know without having to click on the site that provides the answer.
This is known as no-click or zero-click search results, and it creates problems for businesses. I will discuss this issue in more detail later in this blog.
Google is currently taking the first tentative steps to stop displaying a list of websites that might answer your queries. Instead, it mines those websites for information and crafts detailed responses that leave the user completely satisfied, in as human-like prose as possible.
Not only does this mean users don't have to click back to the website that provided the information, but it also means they can see which website was used as a source.
This is a Google Search Generative Experience (SGE), and the negative impact on businesses can be significant.
Latest SEO trends: What is no-click search? What does this mean for your business?
Latest SEO Trends: No-click search, or zero-click search, is when a user goes to Google to look for something and gets the answer without clicking to go to another website.
This includes, but is not limited to, any information such as weather forecasts, product prices, user reviews, and map locations.
The benefit for the wider public is that this system is very easy to use and any company that participates in a comprehensive search engine optimization campaign can participate and use this system to increase their visibility.
You can add your business to the map, list your products in your shopping inventory, and meet new customers.
The downside is that it's done on Google's terms. Most importantly, potential viewers may be able to access the information you provide without having to visit you.
How SGE affects website traffic
Businesses often rely on click-throughs to their websites to build an audience. When a potential customer visits your website, you can uniquely present the information in the way you want to brand it.
You can build a website to optimize your sales funnel. You can capture and analyze the necessary user information and make necessary adjustments.
You can also collect customer information and add it to your CRM database.
But you can't do this without users visiting your website. If you do so, you will rely on the information Google chooses to provide.
SGE is still being tested and evolving. But one thing is for sure: click-throughs to other websites will become less and less important to Google's user experience. As a result, these websites may experience reduced traffic volumes and engagement.
How should companies respond to SGE?
Google says it will continue to “send valuable traffic to publishers and support a healthy and open internet.” However, the company also said that advertising plays a large role in SGE's performance. Of course, this multi-billion dollar rollout will be paid for by advertising.
Therefore, it's safe to say that many businesses will experience a decrease in traffic to their websites as a result of SGE deployment.
It's too early to know the exact details, but in recent years the advantage has been for early adopters – those who understand the situation and are willing to act quickly.
This could mean investing in advertising to ensure performance alongside generated AI content.
That might mean adapting your site to appeal to the information-seeking AI within Google. This may include adding useful, quotable content to your website. Google ranks each source's experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, so you can follow our guidelines to improve your score and become a trusted source in your results.
You'll also need to code your site properly and employ the correct markup for your text, images, and video content so Google can recognize and interpret your content.
Then you need to test, analyze, and improve. Use Google to search for products and services, and to find competitors. Note your results, identify areas where you can improve your site, make any necessary changes, and repeat.
Google's checkered history with AI
Although AI is relatively new and rapidly evolving, the journey to date has been rocky and its future direction difficult to predict.
Google itself has a poor track record when it comes to deploying AI products. Recently, the company's generative AI tool Gemini came under fire for having built-in bias.
When asked to write a job description for a job in the fossil fuel industry, he instead responded with an argument for why fossil fuels are bad for the planet. When he was asked to draw pictures of people, he couldn't seem to draw people with white skin, even if they were real people.
As of this writing, Google is reducing Gemini's functionality while it investigates. This shows that AI is imperfect, and it remains to be seen how long it will take for AI to become a trusted source of information for the general public.
On the other hand, these days, it seems that wherever Google goes, people follow, even if it fails.
So if Google decides to replace search lists with AI-generated answers, it will quickly become the norm and businesses had better be prepared to accept it. Otherwise, you risk losing out to companies that adapt.