The SEO Evolution: Expert Insights into the Future Landscape of Search
At HubSpot, we are optimistic about the future of SEO — but we’re also preparing for many major shifts over the next year.
For one, Google’s integration of generative AI into search will drastically change how users’ find information, and will require companies to shift their entire end-to-end SEO strategy.
For another, many web analysts, SEO strategists, and writers are learning how to leverage AI to create stronger websites and more effective content. This will greatly alter how your competitors’ approach content creation — and it should alter how you approach it, too.
Along with AI, Google’s introduced a change to its search ranking factor from E-A-T to E-E-A-T. With that extra “E”, your expertise matters more than ever for ensuring your website shows up on search.
To figure out how to combat these challenges, we’ve reached out to experts at Semrush, Search Engine Journal, and HubSpot. Here, learn from SEO strategists and web analysts on how you should prepare for SEO in 2023 and beyond.
(Editor’s note: The data in this post comes from HubSpot’s State of Web and SEO 2023 Data Report, which surveyed 400+ web analysts in June 2023.)
Predictions on the Future of SEO, and How You Should Prepare [Data + Expert Insights]
Click-through rates will drop drastically once Google’s AI-powered snapshot is released.
It can be difficult to predict what will happen once AI is integrated into search engines. Most likely, similar to the release of featured snippets, you’ll see a drop in click-through rates as users’ obtain answers to their questions via the generative AI search results page itself.
As Aja Frost, HubSpot’s Director of SEO Global Growth, puts it, “Some folks on the HubSpot SEO team — myself included — have access to the new AI-powered snapshot beta. For nearly every query, the snapshot takes up a big percentage of the page pre-scroll and is designed to be highly interactive to facilitate searchers getting their answers without ever clicking through to a webpage.”
She continues, “We anticipate that the AI-powered snapshot, much like featured snippets, will significantly depress click-through rates for the queries that it appears on.”
For instance, let’s say you search “best hikes near me” and your first response — which takes up the entirety of the screen above-the-fold — is from Google’s generative AI feature. From there, you can click “Ask a follow up” to get additional information on trail lengths, mountain conditions, etc.
Which means any blog posts that might’ve supplied hiker’s with local information will be used to generate the information a user sees in the AI snapshot, but those websites won’t receive the traffic.
Search engines will hit new peaks when it comes to users.
And yet, despite all of that, roughly 70% of web analysts predict their blogs will get more traffic than before when AI is integrated into search engines, while …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
