The State of Paid Search and SEO with GenAI
GenAI is changing the game for search results in both the paid and organic space in a big way. Organizations with an online presense need to act quickly to come up with a new search strategy to get up to speed and stay ahead of changes underway. We will cover: 1) the larger implications of GenAI on search, 2) how GenAI is impacting SEO, 3) how GenAI is impacting paid search, 4) what your organization can begin to do about these impacts.
Larger Implication of GenAI on Search
GenAI is changing search as we know it. Using GenAI has cut down on the amount of searches needed to find an answer to a typical question and has changed the way in which we research and discover information. People are leveraging GenAI to get quicker and more comprehensive answers. This behavioral change in discovering information has implications for the end consumer, but also for the organizations and the digital presence of the organizations.
How GenAI is Impacting SEO
GenAI can use multiple sources to find a comprehensive answer versus the normal behavior of the search engine putting the top result of a website that matches mostly closely to the answer at the top. Organic search is changed, for the consumer, perhaps for the better. Consumers can get the information they want all combined in a thorough answer.
For organizations there is quite a difference. GenAI tends to give a complete answer within the search results that oftentimes takes out the necessity of going to the website where the information originated to learn more. For organizations this means that less consumers may visit their website and consumers may not even recognize the source of the information. This can have steep financial implications if an organization relies heavily on getting consumers to its website to learn more about specific products and offerings, collect information about website visitors for future advertising purposes, and/or obtain a sale from a consumer.
How GenAI is Impacting Paid Search
In the context of paid search there are also large implications of GenAI. The first of which is that GenAI may give an answer in the form of a paid advertisement in combination with organic results. From a consumers perspective this is confusing as organizations are paying to have content prioritized over potentially more relevant results that may come organically. It brings up an ethical concern that is always looming with paid search which is: do consumers understand that some content may not actually be relevant, but that organizations are paying to have their information presented.
Secondarily, GenAI is improving paid search with tools leveraged to make more relevant and personalized ads. These ads can work towards giving consumers more relevant search results.
What Your Organization Can Do
Organizations need to first recognize there is a shift happening in search that is truly impacting businesses. Search strategies need to change to incorporate ways in which organic content can be more rich and relevant. Organic strategies could look to give information in a way that encourages the end consumer to go to the the organization’s website for more information so the organization is not at risk for losing website traffic. As well, the paid search strategies can be successful when complementary to the organic strategies, but a heavier emphasis on this than before as the tie-in between organic and paid is becoming more important in algorithms and the manner in which paid ads are favored. Organizations should evaluate their paid strategy as it relates to placing ads in GenAI searches and determine if and when that may be a good fit. Lastly, organizations more than ever need to lean into GenAI in the creation, personalization and optimization of ads to stay competitive.
At Stone Transformation, we are here to talk through your marketing strategies and how we can help your organization make transformations in this space to get ahead and stay ahead of your competition.
