SGE SEO & How Google Gemini AI Will Affect Your Business

SGE (Search Generative Experience) is how Google is integrating Chat-GPT style information into the search results using their competing Gemini LLM (Large Language Model).

SGE is being tested in a few markets and is Google’s plans for recovering lost market share from Chat-GPT and other LLMs.

SEO for SGE TL;DR

• SGE will be displayed for 90+% of all searches.
• SGE will replace the first 10 organic results as a focus for future SGE SEO campaigns.
• SGE results are being positioned before paid listings which will potentially affect paid CTR and RoAS.
• SGE prefers UGC and curated content sources such as Quora and Wikipedia. These can be mined for insights and included in content
• 62% of SGE links come from URLs outside the organic top 10 results. These can be mined for insights and included in content.
• SGE for brand and brand+product/service searches can be leveraged by competitors i.e. Vs or aggregate comparison content.
• Buying guides and reviews are heavily featured in SGE results. This should be reflected in both onsite and outreached/affiliate content to grow relevancy for these topics.

How SGE Affects the Search Results

A recent study[1] has discovered that SGE affects Google’s search results in some meaningful ways for both organic and paid listings.

SGE and the Organic Results

SGE was displayed for 94% of all search queries[1]. This highlights the importance of SGE in future organic SEO campaigns. SGE penetration was lowest in YMYL (Your Money – Your Life) verticals like Insurance (52%), Finance (71%), Professional Services (83%) and Health & Wellness (87%). SGE featured more for telecoms, office supplies, automotive, technology and electronics, cyber safety, fashion and food and beverage.

Exact brand searches trigger the most SGE results followed by product/service, brand+keyword and brand+product/service. Organic competitor research and content should focus on the brand+keyword segment to discover opportunities for increased organic visibility.

Paid listings are currently being shown below SGE results. This will potentially impact paid CTR and RoAS. Merchant listings are being shown to the right of SGE results potentially making this a more valuable source of information for paid campaigns. Organic campaigns can also take advantage of the ability to display products for free in Merchant listings[3] however the impact will be significantly less than those of paid results.

Quora and Wikpedia are clear winners being some of the most well represented sources of information. These listings should be mined for information to help enrich your content.

SGE information pushes down organic results further than ever before, covering 1200 pixels[2] of vertical space. That’s more than a full 1080p screens worth of information. This will likely impact organic click through rates and organic traffic for pages currently competing on page 1 of Google’s search results.

Google SGE typically cites 10 links[2] along side the answer. This suggests that SGE based citations will become the new focus area for organic SEO.

62% of cited sources[2] within SGE listings come from pages that rank outside the top 10 organic results. This means Google is looking deeper for unique and relevant sources of information. What unique information can you add to your content? Do you have internal or independent research from Twitter/X polls etc?

SGE for branded search can include links from competitor websites. This is a risk for brands, and an opportunity for competitors who can leverage comparisons with competing brands to grow visibility and consideration.

Types of information being shown for products are advice on what factors to consider when purchasing, links to articles, review sites and buying guides. For organic campaigns i would suggest adding buying guides and aggregating reviews info your strategic content. Outreaching to create buying guides and reviews, and affiliates/ Digital PR should be leveraged to give us more coverage for these results.

Are you ready for Google SGE SEO?

If you are interested in SGE SEO then contact me today.

References:
[1]https://www.authoritas.com/blog/research-study-the-impact-of-google-sge-on-brands
[2] https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-sge-study-reveals-potential-disruption-for-brands-seo/512421/
[3] https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/13692890?hl=en-GB