The Evolution of Search: Understanding the Shift
The search landscape is undergoing its biggest shift in a generation. If you’ve been in the SEO game long enough, you’ll remember the good old days of all-organic search engine results pages (SERPs). However, those days are behind us now. The rise of paid ads, first-party products, and rich snippets has taken over a significant portion of the search real estate.
The Dawn of the Zero-Click Era
We’ve been reading about the rise of zero-click searches for some time now, but this "takeover" has been much more noticeable over the past 12 months. A simple search query like "how to teach my child to tell the time" returns a plethora of paid product ads, Google-owned assets, and AI Overview summaries. You have to scroll a good three pages down the SERP to find some organic results. Google and other search and discovery platforms want to keep users in their ecosystems, making traditional metrics like click-through rate (CTR) less valuable by the day.
From Answer Engines to Assistant Engines
Large language models (LLMs) have changed the way results are displayed to users and the traditional search flow. The research process is collapsing into a single, seamless exchange. LLMs parse, consume, understand, and synthesize content, deciding what to mention to whom or what they interact with. Structured data is still crucial, as context, transparency, and sentiment matter more than ever.
The Impact of LLMs on Search
LLMs are the new gatekeepers between content and the person discovering it. They are changing the way we search and interact with information. As technology accelerates, our curiosity and research skills are at risk of declining or disappearing completely. Assistant engines and wider LLMs are becoming the norm, and we need to adapt to this new reality.
Challenges in the New Search Landscape
As an SEO, the challenges with this new behavior affect the way we do and report on our jobs. Attribution is a mess, with AI Overviews and LLMs synthesizing content, making it harder to see where traffic comes from. Traffic is fragmenting, and budgets are under scrutiny due to fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). The native SERP is changing too much, making some assume there’s less value in doing SEO.
Overcoming the Challenges
To overcome these challenges, we need to rethink our approach to SEO. We need to focus on discoverability, not just ranking. We need to create content that is helpful, unique, and provides value to users. We need to experiment with new formats, like video, and ensure that our content is optimized for LLMs.
The Shift of Success Metrics
The days of traditional success metrics like CTR and rankings are dwindling. We need to redefine success metrics to include context, sentiment, and intent. We need to focus on brand presence, discoverability, and mentions across various channels.
New Metrics for Success
The new metrics for success include:
- Context + sentiment
- Intent
- Brand + sentiment
- Mentions
- Citations across various channels
- Share of voice
- Entities, knowledge graph, and vector embeds
- Assisting, not just answering
What Can You Do About It?
To adapt to the changing search landscape, we need to:
- Stick to the fundamentals of SEO
- Embrace structured data
- Educate stakeholders about the importance of discoverability and brand presence
- Experiment with new content formats
- Create helpful, unique content
- Keep an eye on emerging standards like llms.txt
Conclusion: Embracing Discoverability and New Metrics
SEO is not dead; it’s expanding at a rate we haven’t experienced before. Discoverability is the new go-to success metric, but it’s not without flaws. We need to adapt to the changes and focus on being understood, surfaced, trusted, and discovered across every platform and assistant that matters. By embracing the new search landscape and redefining our approach to SEO, we can stay ahead of the curve and achieve success in the ever-changing world of search.