Corporate search in the age of AI
SEO expert Tim Cameron-Kitchen, founder of Exposure Ninja and author of "How to Get to the Top of Google” explained the new Google AI Overviews at our June 2024 Bowen Craggs Club meeting
AI Overviews are currently being rolled out by Google to around 8% of searches in the US, most typically in response to more obscure “Long tail” searches and for “What, Where, How, Why” types of questions.
Moving from providing links to websites to providing answers
AI Overviews provide a summary paragraph, with a set of “corroborating links”, which Tim and his team suggest are actually sources, and an additional “Featured Snippet”. These sit in a panel above the organic search results, pushing the conventional listing off the visible page in many cases.
These summaries present a potential reputational challenge for corporates as they can amplify the voices of critics if companies do not respond to the new approach.
Other search engines work similarly to Google AI overviews, so if you optimise your content for Google, the same principles should apply for BingChat and Perplexity, for example.
When will we see a wider rollout?
Google’s stated aim is to make these available to a billion people by the end of 2024, with Europe and the UK likely to be in the second wave after North America. However, Tim noted that there is an open question whether this may be delayed by EU views on the privacy, copyright and data protection implications of the current tool.
What can I do to prepare?
Tim recommends some basic steps to get ahead of the rollout:
- Make sure that your site is ranking well in “traditional” Google searches.
- Make sure that you are providing content in convenient bite-sized paragraphs that the tool can easily rewrite and showcase in the search results.
- Use the language of your audiences.
This may mean using words you would prefer to avoid, such as “greenwashing” or “sweatshops”, but addressing these topics directly and appropriately maximises the chance that your voice will not be drowned out by those of your critics in AI Overviews.
He also recommends:
- If you are not based in the US, get a VPN so you can test what sort of results are showing up in the US. There is no rule against this.
- While you've got your US VPN on (again, assuming you are not already based in the US) go to Google and type in "Search labs". This will enable you to sign up for Google's Search Labs program, which means that you get access to the more advanced features whilst they're still in testing. Note: you may need to use a personal account to do this.
One reassuring final point: authoritativeness is a key aspect of Google rankings. Your corporate digital estate – and particularly your corporate site – is the authority on your company. It makes sense to use it.
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