In this episode, let's peep into the world of Generative Search. An application of Generative AI, Generative Search is fast becoming a hot topic in the world of marketing. Everyone has heard and quite many have tried out ChatGPT as well. In all the ChatGPT, MidJourney and Stable Diffusion frenzy, people lost sight of Bard, the Pathways Language Model or PaLM. Partly because when it was launched earlier this year, it had major bugs and got a major push back from Google's own employees. While Bard is available for experimental purposes, Google is now pushing its Generative AI aggressively.
In addition to sharing my experience of using Google's Search Generative Experience or SGE, I will also talk about a few pertinent marketing questions it has raised.
What is Google's SGE?
In the past year, we all have been witnessing generative AI technology bringing in a new way of how people search for information through a chatbot interface. But, the online search experience has barely changed. It's not that search engines have not changed, the changes have remained largely iterative. It was about time technology like AI changed that.
Enter Google's generative AI for search known as Search Generative Experience which is a part of Google's Search Labs. Currently, it remains as an opt-in for users and only supports US English and a few regional languages.
SGE provides a layer of generative AI on your existing search experience, doing away with the need for a chatbot like Bard or ChatGPT UI.
According to Google, SGE provides AI-powered quick gist of a topic with factors to consider and pointers to explore more. It allows to ask follow up questions in a conversational way, and access high-quality results and perspectives.
The official SGE website lists 4 use cases for users right now:
Easily getting up to speed on things you are curious about
Quick pointers on specific questions or situations
Know what people think that can help you make a decision
View range of products and things to consider while shopping
The SGE experience so far…
SGE toggle is available to users who use Google Search on the Chrome web browser or an updated Google Search on Android or iOS devices. I got my notification on the Chrome browser about a month back and decided to give it a go.
When you open the Chrome browser window, you are greeted with the same UI with big Google logo with the search box and 8 shortcut icons below. There is a subtle change on the top right menu where the Search Labs icon in the shape of a beaker appears after Gmail and Google Images, right before the hamburger menu icon.
SGE appears when you make a search on Google. The query appears in the search box up top. If you look closely, a new option 'Converse' appears after the usual 'All' option. Right below that a bar with slightly lighter color background with curved edges on both sides with the question 'Get an AI-powered overview for this search?' and a button with the text 'Generate'. On clicking the 'Generate' button, a cool multi-line progress bar animation appears that conveys that Google's PaLM 2 and MUM models are in action. In a fraction of a second, an overview text becomes visible with a big 'Show More' button, which, on clicking shows the expanded AI-generated summary.
Right above the overview text sits a disclaimer clearly stating 'Generative AI is experimental. Info quality may vary.'. Next to it is a language toggle button between English (which is set by default) and local language supported by Google which it autodetects based on your IP address. Right next to it is the text-to-speech button that will read out the entire summary text for you. Experimental SGE comes with accessibility support, very cool!
At suitable locations, overview text is accompanied by a down arrow icon that shows web links from where the summary has been curated. The user will have the power to further evaluate the information provided. On the opposite end of the summary text, SGE shows the high quality reference links that have been used as a source. At the bottom of the SGE section 4 links are available - Ask a follow up along with 3 suggested follow up questions relevant to search query. Beyond that it is the usual Google Search results page with top ranking links, Knowledge Panel on the right, and relevant FAQ and Video links.
If you click the 'Converse' link right under the search box at the top of the page or 'Ask a follow up' button, SGE overtakes the entire browser real estate showcasing the same overview text and the high quality reference web links on the right. The search term that you have searched for appears on the top right in a curved box. A big text input box is available at the bottom where you can type your follow up query and a reset button on the left. On the top left there is rectangular box with rounded corners containing link to go back to the normal Google search.
Distinct features of Search Generative Experience (as compared to other AI platforms)
After a nearly month's usage, here's my take on Google's generative search experience:
The UI is very minimalistic - quintessentially Google.
I found SGE interface to be very user-friendly and intuitive as compared to ChatGPT, MidJourney or Stable Diffusion which require time to get used to.
Google's focus on transparency by giving the user access to web links that were used to curate the overview, is awesome. Google chose to allow the user to validate and decide whether the generated summary is useful or needs further inquiry. While other Generative AI platforms have not given priority to this crucial aspect.
Placement of SGE is very well thought out. If a user does not find the generated search useful, it will take a maximum of two scrolls to access the normal search results that we are used to.
SGE complies with Google's privacy policies and may not show any results for certain queries that require precise domain knowledge like finance and health.
SGE leaves many unanswered questions and things to consider for marketers
Re-thinking SEO strategies
In its current state, SGE sits as a layer above the normal search results. Does that mean the fight for ranking high on the first page of Google SERPs is going to get more fierce? Are we looking at a page 0 ranking?
Currently, if you search a query ending in 'near me', it shows the usual search results. For businesses offering location-based services, what kind of results will SGE show?
Backlinks have always been a premium source of quality traffic. Marketers would kill to get high quality backlinks for their website. Does SGE factor in backlinks in its results? Even if it does, do backlinks command similar weightage as normal search? Will social signals like user sharing pages on social media carry weightage?
A significant amount of time and effort is invested in creating relevant title and meta descriptions for each website page. They have a direct bearing on appearing in search features like rich snippets and featured snippets. These features have over the years become very important for marketers to get the much-needed early attention of the users and convey trustworthiness. Same applies to image and video optimizations for ranking high on search results. It is unclear whether SGE relies on this information and to what extent.
Over the past few years Google My Business has gained a lot of importance and Google has been pushing companies to keep their business profiles updated. In my searches for branded keywords for major brands like Microsoft and EY, SGE did not generate any overview. On searching for fast growing brands like Venmo, it showed an overview but most of the reference web links were from recruitment or media websites. Does this mean Google My Business will hold less significance in Google's generative search?
User experience
Google has been pushing for better user journeys on websites and making them mobile-friendly. They have been promoting better user experience through Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP framework and Core Web Vitals update to the search algorithm. Will it still remain critical for marketers to rank their pages in SGE results?
Lead generation
Appearance of the SGE layer at the top has pushed the entire search results page out of the first portion of the user's page view. It seems that the sponsored ads may get pushed down with the search results too. I'm sure Google has figured out a solution because Google Ads contributed 58% of its total revenues in 2022. Will the CPC for keywords go up if there is a premium real estate available as part of the SGE interface?
SGE is an experimental project that is still a work-in-progress. While marketers will continue with the strategies that have worked for them, and re-think the ones that didn't, it is imperative that they keep an eye on SGE and its subsequent versions. If the current avatar of SGE is anything to go by, marketers will need to:
quickly re-think their SEO strategies to win the Page 0 ranking war;
re-calibrate their current website UI to enhance user experience; and
focus on the relevance and quality of their content.
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