143: AI Search Isn't a Different Animal: Why Your SEO Foundations Still Matter

So there are a few things that have genuinely changed this year.

But the main thing is in how search results are actually delivered to the end user.

So Google's AI mode has now become default.

People are now getting the AI mode as standard.

It is a bit different with local businesses, and I think this is where there's still a real opportunity for location-based businesses to really clean up and to really get some results from the AI recommendations, but also still from Google as well.

So things have been changing and evolving ever since Google first came out.

So when Google was first launched and it was very, very rudimental and the search engines were.

Well, pretty bad, actually.

And over the years, every single update to Google's algorithm has helped people to get a better search result.

So it's helped Google to understand more and more about what people are actually searching for and what they're actually hoping to get from Google.

this kind of search.

And we've just been working more and more towards this over the years anyway.

So whereas we used to get a page full of links and people would then click on those links and look for the thing that they're trying to find, we're much more likely now to see a summary at the top of the results.

So a full conversational answer or just replace the list and it will actually be one result.

And if we can be a business that gets cited in these results, we can actually get a link to our business there.

Depending on the type of search that it is, and this is very much one of the big changes, is a lot of the informational searches that would have maybe been answered by blog posts and things over the years, those answers are now just being generated with AI.

And this, for us as business owners, this means that we need to be a bit more strategic about when we're creating content for our websites.

It means that we can't get away with just creating generic content that any old AI could have written and that anyone could have written using AI.

And we've been talking about this a lot since AI came out.

We've been talking about the fact that what's really important, if we want to be...

Cited as the expert in what we do and as the business that people should trust if they're looking to buy something that we sell is how we can show our human lived experience in that.

So if we can be that business that gets shown in those searches, people are already so much further along the buyer's journey.

So for a lot of websites, this means that they're getting fewer clicks coming through to their actual website, so less visitors to their website for those informational queries in particular.

but for the businesses that are getting those commercial intent searches, they're showing up there, but people who are actually looking to buy something or to find a local business or to solve a problem that they have, if you are the business that then shows up and gets cited in that overview, people coming through to your website are much, much more likely then to take action and to actually become customers.

So it does mean that yes, traffic has dropped off for a lot of businesses, But for those that are still getting the clicks coming through, it's OK.

So there are a few things that have genuinely changed this year.

But the main thing is in how search results are actually delivered to the end user.

So Google's AI mode has now become default.

People are now getting the AI mode as standard.

It is a bit different with local businesses, and I think this is where there's still a real opportunity for location-based businesses to really clean up and to really get some results from the AI recommendations, but also still from Google as well.

So things have been changing and evolving ever since Google first came out.

So when Google was first launched and it was very, very rudimental and the search engines were.

Well, pretty bad, actually.

And over the years, every single update to Google's algorithm has helped people to get a better search result.

So it's helped Google to understand more and more about what people are actually searching for and what they're actually hoping to get from Google.

this kind of search.

And we've just been working more and more towards this over the years anyway.

So whereas we used to get a page full of links and people would then click on those links and look for the thing that they're trying to find, we're much more likely now to see a summary at the top of the results.

So a full conversational answer or just replace the list and it will actually be one result.

And if we can be a business that gets cited in these results, we can actually get a link to our business there.

Depending on the type of search that it is, and this is very much one of the big changes, is a lot of the informational searches that would have maybe been answered by blog posts and things over the years, those answers are now just being generated with AI.

And this, for us as business owners, this means that we need to be a bit more strategic about when we're creating content for our websites.

It means that we can't get away with just creating generic content that any old AI could have written and that anyone could have written using AI.

And we've been talking about this a lot since AI came out.

We've been talking about the fact that what's really important, if we want to be...

Cited as the expert in what we do and as the business that people should trust if they're looking to buy something that we sell is how we can show our human lived experience in that.

So if we can be that business that gets shown in those searches, people are already so much further along the buyer's journey.

So for a lot of websites, this means that they're getting fewer clicks coming through to their actual website, so less visitors to their website for those informational queries in particular.

but for the businesses that are getting those commercial intent searches, they're showing up there, but people who are actually looking to buy something or to find a local business or to solve a problem that they have, if you are the business that then shows up and gets cited in that overview, people coming through to your website are much, much more likely then to take action and to actually become customers.

So it does mean that yes, traffic has dropped off for a lot of businesses, But for those that are still getting the clicks coming through, it's OK.