The year 2023 has brought a very radical change in the digital world – Generative AI has seen a sudden boom in adoption post ChatGPT’s release. Search engines have also joined the trend with their own products. This has the potential to transform how users interact with search engines as well as how brands look at their SEO strategy.
Through various algorithm updates, Google has tried to reward helpful and original content and the same trend is expected to continue in 2024.
Here’s a list of five major trends that have impacted SEO in 2023 and are expected to continue doing so in 2024:
Generative AI’s impact on SEO
With the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, conversational search has become the most talked about topic in the SEO space. Search engines like Google and Bing have also come up with their own Generative AI products like Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Bing Chat which is going to change the way users interact with search engines.
In 2024, SGE is expected to be released worldwide, and with it, users will be engaging with Google conversationally, looking for instant and comprehensive answers to their queries. While the existing SERP layout shows a list of individual websites, SGE is going to present a chat window to the users, providing them with detailed answers to their queries and allowing them to ask follow-up questions. This will most likely lead to a surge in Zero Click Searches, wherein users won’t have to click on listed websites for their answers. Naturally, the click through rate (CTR) of organically listed results is going to take a hit. Upper funnel searches are expected to be the most affected but that does not mean lower funnel searches won’t see an impact.
However, there is a silver lining. From what we know so far, SGE answers would include links to relevant websites and cited sources. Websites can optimise their content for such answers, sometimes referred to as answer engine optimisation (AEO). Organic results would also continue to feature on the search engine results page (SERP), only below the SGE section.
How to prepare?
Brands will have to relook at their content strategy to optimise for Generative AI. When the user search behaviour will get conversational, the website content will have to reflect the same. Targeting long tail queries, question queries, even queries with zero search demand would be helpful. Structuring the content in the form of questions and answers can be another step. Addition of FAQs as part of the content is also expected to help appear in SGE answers.
However, the target audience for your content should be your customers/readers and not the search engine.
Building topical authority is now more important than ever
If there is one takeaway from all the algorithm updates Google rolled out in 2023, it is that original, well-researched and helpful content is being rewarded while rephrased, thin and copied content is being downgraded. Google has been trying to enhance user experience by serving helpful results and websites should also aim for the same.
In December 2022, Google added experience to its existing EAT (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) guidelines. What it meant was that first hand knowledge of the topic you are writing about would be rewarded over gathered content. Your website’s content should demonstrate depth, comprehensiveness, originality and trustworthiness around the topics you write on. A lot of websites not demonstrating these qualities have been negatively affected by algorithm updates in 2023, especially in the health and finance industry.
How to prepare?
Brands will have to focus on topical authority – which means becoming the go-to source for information about a certain topic in the industry. The content should demonstrate first-hand knowledge apart from depth in coverage. The aim should be to answer all the questions your readers might have. And these answers should be original and trustworthy. So, if you can put up some primary research, it will help you get rewarded. In fact, websites with a niche authority on topics are more likely to be cited by SGE.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is author authority – the reputation of authors of your content in the industry. If they are seen as a subject matter expert, it would add to the credibility of your website.
In essence, building topical authority by following the EAT guidelines should be your content strategy for 2024.
Rise of voice search
While voice search is not a new concept, its adoption is continuously increasing. As per Statista, ‘the total worldwide transaction value of e-commerce purchases made through voice assistants is expected to rise from 4.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 19.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This is more than 400% growth in just two years, caused by the increasing opportunities for voice assistants to purchase items, especially through smartphones and smart devices in the home.’
Investing in voice search optimisation will open up a new sales avenue for brands. The goal here should be to optimise your content in a way that it gets picked up by voice assistants like Alexa, Cortana and Siri.
Voice search optimisation is slightly different from traditional search optimisation. It’s simply because the way you speak is different from the way you write.
How to prepare?
Brands should focus on long-tail, question-related keywords to optimise their content for voice search. Each voice assistant picks up content from a different search engine. For example, Siri takes content from Google while Cortana takes it from Bing. Hence, performing a deep-dive analysis of the respective search engines for question-related searches will give a direction to any brand’s voice search optimisation strategy.
SERP has become more visual and competitive
The way Google displays results on SERP has been continuously changing every year. In 2023, it followed the same trend as the years prior to it – results have become more visual. It means that images and videos have appeared more frequently and the SERP real estate occupied by plain text results has gone down.
Videos, Carousels and Images are among the top five appearing SERP features in 2023, as reported by Getstat. Even Google Map results are now ‘photo-first’. For e-commerce related searches, Google Shopping has started occupying more SERP layout. Including images and videos as part of your SEO strategy may lead to improved traffic as rich results have traditionally seen higher CTR than normal results on SERP.
How to prepare?
Brands will have to focus on image and video SEO in 2024. The images you choose for your website will have to be relevant to your business and should be optimised for your target audience through use of Alt attributes, structured data etc. Videos would also have to be optimised for the target audience through inclusion of transcripts, chapters, meta elements, structured data etc.
Page experience is evolving
In 2020, Google had released a list of core web vital metrics which measured the technical experience of any website on desktop as well as mobile devices. There were three metrics: Largest contentful paint (LCP, for Loading), first input delay (FID, for interactivity) and cumulative layout shift (CLS, for visual stability). These three metrics together signaled the technical health of any page.
March 2024 onwards, one of the metrics – FID will be replaced by another metric interaction to next paint (INP). FID measured the interactivity or how responsive the webpage is to user inputs. For example, how quickly does the webpage respond when you click on any of the buttons on the page. FID is just measured for taps and key presses, for the first user interaction. INP, on the other hand, measures the responsiveness of the webpage for all user interactions and not just the first interaction. The final INP value is generally the longest interaction observed.
This shows that page experience is continuously evolving and it is critical to improve the page experience for your website.
How to prepare?
Optimising your website for user experience should be a top priority for you. Focusing on the core web vitals, in general, would give your SEO strategy direction. Specifically for INP, brands would have to use field or lab data to identify slow interactions, and then optimise it for a better user experience.
Key takeaways
2024 appears to be a year where major changes could be seen in the SEO space, especially with the adoption of Generative AI in SERP. User behavior with the search engine is expected to become more conversational and hence the content strategy for brands will have to follow suit. Emphasis on long-tail keywords may help websites perform better on traditional search as well as voice search. SERP is expected to be more visual. Page experience is evolving, and hence websites will have to be quick and responsive to all devices.
(The author is senior vice president – SME and startup, HiveMinds)
