How Could AI Search Change The Future of Search Engines?

What Is AI-Powered Search?

Just as the seasons change, so do popular trends. But once in a while, a trend decides to stick around. In our world today, AI is the trend that’s here to stay.

However, it’s continuously evolving and if you don’t stay up-to-date with the latest changes, you’ll fall behind when it comes to your digital marketing efforts.

Its power is quite incredible, and how AI will affect Google search is unfolding right before us.

Let’s explore how AI could revolutionize search engines and what implications it might have for marketers, users, and the digital landscape.

Traditional Search Engines

For about three decades now, search engines have been an integral part of our digital lives—helping us find information, products, and services with just a few keystrokes. We even turn to them when it comes to pressing questions, curiosities, and concerns, or looking for immediate answers. But as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, search engines are facing significant transformations.

Traditional search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo rely on algorithms that analyze keywords, backlinks, and user behavior to deliver relevant search results.

There are three essential components when it comes to understanding how search engines work:

1. Crawling: the initial step in a search engine’s journey

• ‍Discovery: Digital crawlers traverse the internet by following links. They start from a few known web pages and then hop along the interconnected web, discovering new content. Whether it’s a webpage, image, video, or PDF, crawlers find it through these links.‍
• Googlebot: Google’s crawler, known as Googlebot, fetches web pages and explores the links on those pages. Google’s web crawling process has evolved significantly, and most recently with the March 2024 core update that brought seismic shifts to the SEO industry.‍

2. Indexing: involves storing, analyzing, and organizing the content discovered during crawling

• Database: The index contains URLs, metadata, and snippets of content. Think of it like a vast library catalog where search engines organize and store the content they’ve found.
• Searchable content: Indexed pages are eligible to appear in search results. If your content isn’t in the index, it won’t show up when users search.
• Relevance: Indexing doesn’t guarantee visibility—it’s just the first step. The content must be relevant to specific searches to appear.

3. Ranking: the search engine scours its index for relevant content when a user searches for something. Here’s where ranking comes into play.

• Ordering results: Search engines rank content based on its relevance. The more relevant it is to the search query, the higher a website ranks.
• Algorithm magic: Algorithms analyze factors like keyword relevance, user intent, backlinks, and content quality. The algorithms determine the order of search results.
• SERPs: The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) displays the top-ranked results. Appearing on the first page of SERPs significantly impacts visibility.

This leads us to the importance of search engine optimization (SEO). Without SEO, your site might not appear in search results. When SEO is properly utilized it increases the site’s visibility.

The higher your website's ranking, the more clicks you receive. If you want to increase user traffic to your site organically, you need to appear in the top-ranked results. And a higher ranking means more leads and potential customers.

Whether you’re selling products, offering services, or sharing information—SEO directly impacts your company.

Generative AI Search: How Things May Change

While traditional search engines have served us well, they do have their limitations. For instance, they struggle with understanding context, handling ambiguous queries, and personalizing results effectively.

Enter generative AI search. Imagine a search engine powered by advanced language models like GPT-4. The capabilities of these models far exceeds what traditional search engines can do on their own. AI-powered search comprehends context, generates human-like responses, and even predicts what users are looking for without a complete query.

With generative AI, search engines could provide more accurate, context-aware results—making the search experience smoother and more intuitive.

Reprioritizing with the AI Evolution

As search engines undergo a transformative evolution, we must rethink our SEO strategies. We’re moving away from the sole focus on keyword density. Now, sites that incorporate keyword stuffing aren’t following SEO best practices and won’t see an improvement in ranking.

So how will AI impact Google search? The focus is shifting to user intent. With AI-powered search, there’s a capability of understanding the context behind a user's query.

We must prioritize relevance and creativity over keyword density. This involves tuning into the pain points of users. What are their goals? What do they want to improve or solve? People want to read engaging and compelling content. Aim to create interesting narratives that resonate with your target audience. It’s all about providing value to people.

This reprioritizing of SEO strategies is all about focusing on semantic search–which is the process of how search engines understand and align keywords with user intent. You can think of semantic search as a combination of using analytical data and empathetic writing. This results in more relevant and valuable content for the searcher.

Leveraging AI

AI enhances search engines in several ways. AI search analyzes users’ behavior patterns to personalize results. Additionally, AI-powered search allows users to discover relevant content more efficiently. AI can also offer improvements based on user behavior.

Leveraging AI search for location-based businesses is essential. This produces tailored results that are personalized to the user.

Another way to leverage AI is in content creation. Hello, Artificial Intelligence Optimization, or AIO. However, those who think they can replace writers with AI-generated content are foolishly mistaken.

AIO involves using AI to draft content, incorporate keywords, and align with SERPS (search engine results pages).

Nonetheless, AI by itself is not sufficient. That’s where an experienced writer who knows how to properly utilize AIO and SEO comes in. Think of it like AIO setting the foundation, and a human writer creating the final masterpiece.

Does Google Have AI Search Yet?

Google recently introduced a new feature called Search Generative Experience (SGE), which incorporates AI directly into search results.

Keep in mind that:

• You must have the latest update of Chrome
• Be 13 or over
• Must be using a personal Google Account (not Google Workspace Account)

For more information, you can visit the Google FAQ.

How It Works:

• You type your queries into the basic Google search box
• On the results page, a colorful window pops up with the label “generating”
• After a moment, it provides an AI-generated answer in full sentences, similar to ChatGPT
• Links to the sources of that information appear alongside the answer
• You can continue the conversation by tapping a button and asking follow-up questions
• Initially, SGE is an “experiment” available to users who sign up in the United States
• Eventually, Google plans to make it accessible to all its 4 billion-plus users

 What to Expect:

• SGE integrates generative AI, allowing it to write text like a human
• Unlike a chatbot, it won’t exhibit much personality
• While it’s thoughtful for researching complex topics, it requires learning new Googling techniques and being cautious of potential pitfalls

Significance:

• This marks the most significant change to Google search in at least a decade
• Google’s adoption of AI in search reflects the ongoing AI arms race in Silicon Valley
• SGE aims to provide accurate answers, relying more than ever on Google itself

Adapting the Marketing Strategies to AI-driven Search Engines

With AI-powered search engines constantly evolving, so must your marketing strategies. Being adaptable is crucial to your company’s success. Here are a few key considerations:

1. Stay updated on AI trends: Be in the know when it comes to the latest AI advancements. Subscribe to industry publications and engage in professional conversations about emerging AI trends.
2. Understand AI challenges: Don’t overlook the fact that AI-generated information is often inaccurate or misleading. Leveraging AI isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
3. Find a trustworthy AI consultant: The best route is to leave this all to the professionals. Let us do the work for you.

Not only are we committed to staying on top of the latest AI progressions and understanding the challenges that come with AI, but we know how to effectively adapt our marketing strategies.

Using our human creativity and insight, combined with the power of AI search engines, we create game-changing content.

Fusing AI Search with SEO Experts

With the evolution of AI search constantly changing, it’s challenging to keep up with the latest updates. How AI will affect Google search years from now, no one can really say. But at Rankable, we’re focused on the SEO of today, while anticipating the AI search of tomorrow.

We’re dedicated to staying one step ahead, to ensure any changes in algorithms don’t leave you behind. With us, you get empathetic writers with SEO expertise, who know how to use AI search to create compelling content that helps improve your rank. Become a top-ranking company by choosing Rankable. Schedule your free consultation!