Did Google just destroy SEO as we know it?

Welcome to the Prompt. I'm Jim Carter. This show guarantees tech news and updates that shape your life and future. Since it's essential now to stay on top of AI, we'll figure it out together so you don't fall behind. I'm here to explain it, offer some deep insights and spark a little curiosity along the way. If you're a techie like me or just AI curious, hit that follow button for the advantage you deserve. Let's dive in. Hey there. Welcome back to the Prompt. I'm Jim Carter and today we're diving into some major news from Google that's sending shockwaves through the SEO world. As someone who's been doing SEO for over a decade, I'm telling you the update Google just made is going to change everything. I've been talking about how GSE generative search experience when rolled out is going to make a massive difference. We're already starting to feel the effects of it now that they've added AI generated answers right at the top of search results. Picture this, you search for something on Google and instead of just seeing the usual list of blue links, there's now an AI overview that directly answers your question. Powered by Google's Gemini AI Tech. No need to even click through to a website. Google's betting big on this, saying over a billion users worldwide will see these AI answers by the end of 2024. Now from an SEO perspective, this raises some concerns. A lot of websites rely on that search traffic for ad revenue gaming. If people can get their answer right on the results page, will they even bother clicking on a website anymore? But it's not just AI overviews. Google's doubling down on AI across search with features like using uploaded videos to ask questions, AI organized results pages, and AI tools for things like trip planning. They're feeling the heat from AI startups in the search space and going all in. So what does this mean for SEO? In my opinion, a few key things are going to change. The first is that SEO will need to focus way more on the quality and depth of content, not just chasing keywords. We'll need to create comprehensive expert level content that directly answers people's questions to have a shot at showing up in those AI summaries. Traditional SEO metrics may not cut it anymore. Rankings and traffic could become less important than overall business results and user engagement. SEO will need to align with broader company goals. Top of funnel traffic from broad keywords could take a hit. As AI provides instant answers, the focus may shift more to bottom of funnel conversion. Focused content to attract high intent searchers. Also, we know that brand is going to be huge to be seen as a trustworthy source. Worth quoting in those AI snippets. Building authority and expertise both on and off site will be critical. Finally, we'll all need to get good at understanding the conversational, question based way people search when using AI. It's less about keywords and more about mapping content to topics and natural language queries. Now the list goes on, but the TLDR is SEO isn't dead, but it's definitely evolving and it's evolving fast. The fundamentals of great content, brand authority, user experience, those will always be important. But how we approach and measure SEO success? That's going to change in some big ways with Google's AI push. For anyone else geeking out about this stuff like I am, come join my Fast Foundation Slack community and@fastfoundations.com Slack, where we dive into the latest in AI, SEO and all things digital. It's my spot to share all the cool tools and strategies I'm seeing in the space and to help AI enthusiasts navigate all the changes. I would love to have you be a part of the conversation over there, so grab a spot on the waitlist and you'll be first to know when I open enrollment again. I know it's a lot of change to SEO, but I really think these AI updates with Google are something every business and marketer needs to be paying attention to. As always, thank you for tuning in. Let's keep exploring this incredible new world of AI together. I'll see you next time.