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Google’s yearly I/O conference is the place to be…or at least…the live stream to watch if you want to be up to date on all the upcoming changes to Google search.
And boy, were there a lot of industry-changing announcements for marketers this year.
We’ve only included the most important sections for marketers, but if you want to watch the whole two-hour conference from Google, you can do so on their YouTube channel.
Let’s jump in with the hot topic of the conference – upcoming AI changes to Google Search.
Revolutionary Changes to Google’s Search Algorithm
It’s not often we see changes in Google that will totally change the way the platform works.
But we saw just that at Google’s 2023 I/O conference.
Google is calling this new way of searching the “Search Generative Experience”, or SGE, which completely changes the way users will see search results.
Goodbye Featured Snippets, Hello Snapshots
The response that will appear for many searchers is a generative AI section at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), replacing featured snippets.
It’s essentially turning all of the thousands of links and graphs (for example, knowledge graphs and shopping graphs) into a really basic and easy-to-read result that Google refers to as a “snapshot”.
This means that searchers will get a more complete answer at the top of the search results, which is totally tailored to their question, without needing to leave Google and visit a website to get their answer.
It’s like Featured Snippets but completely turbocharged.
This snapshot is great for questions with no one right answer (NORA), offering a few different options to searchers, as opposed to a featured snippet pulled from one website.
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How Will AI Change Google’s Search Results?
These snapshots are made up of a main generative AI text response, with three websites on the right-hand side, which the AI has used to corroborate its answer. Searchers can “dig deeper” and see which information was corroborated by which of these sites.
It also suggests common follow-up questions and gives users a chance to ask their own follow-up questions.
These results may include images or Google shopping results based on what the searcher is asking.
Google’s Conversational Mode
There’s an option to enter “Conversational Mode“, similar to Microsoft’s Bing Chat and ChatGPT. You can have more of a conversation with Google’s Bard AI and get conversational answers in response, allowing you to learn more about a topic. This is also triggered if you use a suggested follow-up question or ask your own.
One way Google’s conversational mode differs from Bing Chat is that the conversation happens at the top of the search results window rather than taking searchers to a new page, so they can still easily scroll down to the more traditional search results below the conversation without needing to click back.
How Will Google Avoid Giving Wrong Answers with AI?
Google stated that not all searches would use the AI snapshot, and they highlighted that they’ll be staying away from “your money or your life” (YMYL) terms right now. The example they used was that if a searcher asked how much Tylenol to give a child, they would offer the traditional search results instead to avoid harm from the AI making mistakes.
What is Your Money or Your Life (YMYL)?
Your money or your life refers to website content related to finances or health. This content has to work extra hard to rank in Google Search as it’s more likely to cause harm to readers if the information is wrong.
What These Changes to Google Search Mean for Marketers
If you’re panicking about losing all your traffic — don’t.
We know that’s easier said than done.
It’s difficult to see how you’ll get traffic to your website if Google’s AI gives the searcher the answer in the snapshot.
Google is aware of this concern – after all, if websites stop getting traffic, they’ll stop publishing content, and Google’s AI will have nowhere to get its answers. They need great marketers like you to keep putting out great, well-researched and informative content.
In Google’s own words: “As we bring generative AI into Search, we’re committed to continuing sending valuable traffic to sites across the web.”
They still want to help websites get traffic, but that traffic may be arriving on your site at a different stage in their customer journey.
How to Optimise Your Content for This Type of Search
Google implied that ranking factors are the same, but a few things we predict will help you rank in these new AI-powered snapshot results.
Digital PR
Before we get into that, it’s important to note that there are things you can do outside of search to increase awareness of your brand — the main being digital PR.
Digital PR is one of the areas of digital marketing that we expect to take an even bigger role in the world of AI search.
By getting your brand’s name into publications that your target customers are reading, you’ll be more likely to reach them while they’re searching and at different stages of their journey.
OK — back to SEO.
Based on what the speakers said during Google’s I/O conference, a few things stood out to us.
The first is getting better and more reviews. Google highlighted reviews during the talk, and the products shown had at least four stars.
This could be a coincidence, but Google currently shows products with many good reviews in their shopping graph results, which is much the same. In snapshots, it looks like there will be fewer shopping results than we see in our search results today, so you want to make sure you have lots of great reviews of your products to give them a better chance of appearing.
Another aspect of these results that Google highlighted was the information that appears when you select a product from the snapshot. It will show you retailers, the delivery they offer, their returns window and any discounts. If you provide free or cheap delivery and good product returns, ensure you include that in your Google Shopping listing.
You should also keep targeting common questions with your content. Google’s conversational mode encourages searchers to ask questions and suggests a few common questions people often ask related to the search. Therefore, creating great content that answers your target audience’s questions about your industry and products should help you appear as one of the three results in conversational mode.
If you’re based in the USA, you can join the waitlist to try out this new search version while it’s still in beta.
The final way you can optimise for this new search is Perspectives, an overlooked part of the Google I/O keynote. We thought it was so cool, we’ve given it a whole section later in this blog.
Google’s New AI Tools
Along with the colossal search news, Google announced some AI tools they’ll be integrating with Google Workspace, which will be helpful to any marketers who use Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and more.
Google Sidekick
Google Sidekick is an AI assistant that appears directly in your Google Workspace.
Maybe you’re writing a blog, and you need to ask a question, or you’re unsure how to phrase something — you can ask Google Sidekick.
Or perhaps you’re analysing some audience data in Google Sheets and can’t get an equation to work — Google Sidekick can help with that too.
Sidekick will also offer suggested prompts related to your work and allow you to write your own prompts.
Once you activate Sidekick, this AI assistant will read the document you’re working on and make relevant suggestions based on what you’ve already written. We expect this will not only make the prompts more relevant but also mean that the responses the AI generates are more likely to be in your tone of voice, which is something that other generative AI models like ChatGPT struggle with.
Google Sidekick can also be used in Gmail, Google Sheets, Google Slides and other Google Workspace products and is part of Google’s wider Duet AI project.
It seems like a lot of the external tools — like Jasper, Surfer, and even (maybe) ChatGPT — that marketers are using will be integrated into Google tools within the next few months – meaning the future might be bleak for some of the groundbreaking AI tools we’re using to assist with our day-to-day marketing tasks.
If you’re based in the USA, you can join the waitlist to try out the Google Sidekick beta today.
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Project Tailwind
Project Tailwind is a concept in its early days, and we don’t expect to see it released for a while, but the implications are huge.
Google described it as the future of note-taking, but we see massive potential for marketers.
Tailwind allows you to insert all your notes on a topic. Then Tailwind will pull out key concepts and questions from your notes. In the demonstration, it’s used to create a glossary from the notes and uses citations so you can see where the information came from.
So how does this relate to marketers?
Well, you’ll be able to collect together all your notes about a campaign from your research, calls, and more and easily summarise it or access the information you want.
Google suggested that “writers researching an article, analysts going through earnings calls or lawyers researching a case” can all use Project Tailwind so that you can see the scope of this tool.
Despite it being in the early days of development, you can join the waitlist to try out Project Tailwind if you’re based in the USA.
A More Personal Experience with Google Perspectives
Overshadowed by the rest of the announcements was a new search filter called Perspectives.
Funnily enough, this feels like it could be Google’s answer to generic AI responses.
Searchers can filter by “Perspectives”, which will show them various user-generated content from around the web, such as YouTube videos, short-form videos, answers to questions on forums, reviews and more.
As well as offering a more personal alternative to AI-generated search responses, it could be a bid to get users using platforms like TikTok to search back onto Google.
How Marketers Can Optimise for Google Perspectives
User-generated content has always been a great asset in any digital marketer’s toolkit.
Customers like to see that other people like and use your products or get great results from your service — so much they decided to post about it on social media.
You can encourage your customers to post about you on social media. For example, gaming chair company Secret Lab offers an extended warranty to anyone who uploads a photo of their new chair and tags Secret Labs or uses #secretlabs.
There are 112,000 posts using #secretlab on Instagram
You can also work with influencers and creators to promote your product or services in content that’s likely to appear in Perspectives, such as long or short-form videos. This will give you more creative control over the content produced.
Google’s Ethical and Responsible AI
Google spent significant time talking about ethical and responsible AI at I/O this year.
It’s understandable. The ethics behind AI are a hot topic, and many government agencies are cracking down on generative AI. Some countries have even banned some AI tools from being used by their residents.
The phrase Google used was “bold and responsible AI“. They want to do big things but in the right way.
There are whispers that this could be because Google is behind in the AI race, and they’re trying to cover that up by saying that they’re just taking their time. Others speculate that Google is taking the slow route so that they’re not at as much risk of being penalised by governing bodies further down the line.
Whatever the reason is for Google taking an ethical and responsible approach to AI, it can only be seen as a positive for everyone who uses it.
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What’s Thinkplus’s Stance on AI?
The team at Thinkplus are passionate about AI.
We believe that Expert + AI = Ninja.
Ninja content, ninja PPC, ninja websites…ninja marketing.
We’re using AI in our day-to-day work and offering it on an opt-in basis to clients, and we’re super excited about what the future holds for AI and marketing.
Our Key Takeaways from Google I/O 2023
So what are our key takeaways for marketers from Google’s 2023 I/O conference?
The first is that you don’t need to make rash decisions, but you do need to keep up to date with AI and how it impacts marketers.
Remember: the most important thing is that you’re creating great content for humans first, not just to rank in a search engine. Google has said time and time again they want you to create high-quality content that serves the user — they don’t mind if you choose to use AI to help you write that content.
You should be looking at ways to get more user-generated content, whether by offering incentives or just engaging with your community and encouraging them to share their experiences.
Finally, if you’re working with a marketing agency, make sure you quiz them on how they’re planning to use AI and how they’re keeping up to date with all these changes as a result of AI.
