How to Stop the Potential Loss of Traffic in the Era of AI-Powered Search

Google has seen more changes in the last year than in the last decade. From the widely discussed Helpful Content Update (HCU) to the Search Generative Experience (SGE), 2022 was not the year for rest nor relaxation for most SEOs and content professionals.

I recently shared my experience of using Search Generative Experience (SGE) for the first time. And how the AI overviews differ for different keywords and queries.

I have also been ringing the bells around Google’s visibly changing SERPs, and how it’s killing organic reach.

A visual summary below 👀

Source

Notice how ‘above the fold’ now comprises an AI overview, a couple of organic links, and a whole bunch of SERP elements (knowledge panels, People Also Ask, etc.).

This is the beginning of a new Googleverse and a potential loss of your organic traffic. The antidote? I have five.

5 Ways to Stop the Potential Loss of Traffic to SGE and Grow Your Audience

Like every other content professional, while I’m excited about SGE, I can’t help but wonder how SEO will change as SGE evolves.

I’m sure you’re brimming with questions too. But at the moment, it will be a waste of time to worry about that. After all, SGE is still in the infancy stage. Over time, there are going to be many iterations and improvements to the model.

So, what can you do? Other than creating valuable content, here are five ways your organic content can shine without SEO:

• Create content for native consumption

• Produce content with original research

• Build and document a distribution strategy

• Use executive branding for audience building

• Experiment with content formats (video, interactive product tours, webinars, podcasts, and more)

  
  

Let’s explore each one in detail below.

Build and document a distribution strategy

Google has been cannibalizing clicks even before SGE was a thing. This happened in the form of a zero-click search. However, such zero-click responses were only relegated to straightforward queries like ‘What is content marketing?’.

But with SGE in the picture, it’s different. You’re not just competing against the SERP elements like featured snippets or knowledge panels, but with the comprehensive AI overviews as well.

This is why having a distribution strategy pays off. Instead of trying to optimize for SGE/SEO and waiting to be discovered, build a distribution system that lets you share and promote content in places where your target audience hangs out.

• Published a research report? Promote it via newsletter sponsorship.
• Released a new podcast episode? Share short clips on YouTube and Instagram.
• Wrote a new blog post? Share the juicy bits with a link on LinkedIn.

You get the drift.

Create content for native consumption

Speaking of a distribution strategy, I have to mention the most abused content distribution and promotion practice: link dumping.

Back when Facebook was in its prime, you could dump a blog post link and get a steady stream of traffic. Today? You’ll be happy to get a CTR of at least 1%. That’s because nobody likes moving away from the platform they’re engaged with. If someone is scrolling through LinkedIn, they want to read and engage with the content on LinkedIn instead of clicking away.

By creating content for native consumption, you can keep your audience engaged and interested in learning more. And if you want to promote your content on social sites, be a little more creative. Rather than dumping the link as is, you should:

• Share the juiciest bit of information to compel the readers into clicking.

• Turn the key takeaways from the eBook to create a carousel.

• Visualize the data with graphs and charts. Ask the readers how they relate to the numbers.

• Pick a controversial or thought-provoking excerpt and get the conversation going in the comments.

  
  

The key to a good content distribution (promotion) strategy is having a good repurposing strategy.

Source original research and data

When you think “Inbound Marketing”, you think HubSpot. When you think “zero-click search”, you think SparkToro. And when you think “sales intelligence”, you think of Gong. This is the power of brand recall.

When you produce original, data-driven content, you get to shine in a sea of sameness (including SGE’s blandness) and build a loyal fanbase.

One of my favorite examples of brands using content as a differentiating factor is Gong. Despite having roughly 1000+ sales tech solutions as competitors, they have managed to build a higher brand recall thanks to the original content.

You’ll rarely find their company blog ranking high on SERPs, but ask any sales professional and they’ll tell you that Gong has the best sales content. These are a few reasons why.

• They use data sourced from real sales conversations to craft blog posts. You won’t find the information they provide elsewhere.

  
  

Source: Gong Blog

• All their content is created for a clearly defined audience: sales leaders, AEs, and managers in tech companies.

  
  

• They write in a conversational, non-boring tone while providing actionable advice.

Use executive branding for audience building

Mark Schaefer, best-selling author and renowned marketer, shares in his blog post why personal branding is essential in a post-SEO era:

“The ability to benefit from SEO depends on a special set of circumstances, and increasingly SEO isn’t going to create a return. The other option is to create content that establishes authority through thought leadership. In this way, you can earn attention and an audience without depending on search engines and ads.”

Even great content gets buried between the many SERP folds. But if you’ve managed to build a trustworthy personal brand, you will have people waiting (eagerly) and going back to your opinions, values, and content. This is something SGE cannot replace.

Here are a few ways to get started with executive branding.

• Build a following on social media. It costs nothing to get on platforms like LinkedIn, X, or Medium and share your entrepreneurial journey, what you’re building, or validate the idea for your next launch.

  
  

• Invest in digital PR to boost your digital footprint. It will also help shape your public image, and by extension, your brand’s. This could mean giving interviews, joining podcasts, guesting on webinars, or writing guest posts. The last tactic was how Buffer’s Co-founder Leo Widrich grew the number of app users from 0 to 100000 initially.

  
  

• Connect with journalists and content professionals through Help a B2B Writer (HaBw) and Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Share responses and quotes occasionally. This is a simple method of getting a mention on authoritative websites and scoring a backlink free of cost.

Experiment with content formats

Is a majority of your content efforts concentrated around blogging? Does your audience want or like reading the blog posts? Think about it.

It makes sense for a company like Zapier or Scribe to publish 50+ blog posts every month. Since they sell a horizontal product catering to varying personas, Search is one of the best content marketing channels for them to target.

This, however, would make zero sense for a company like Freshpaint, a healthcare data privacy platform, which sells to busy healthcare professionals and organizations. As their Head of Content, Mark Rogers, explains in the Content, Briefly podcast, SEO isn’t a priority for his team because their customers take advice from peers, not Google.

Another example is Ahrefs. They created a ‘Blogging for Business’ video course to promote Ahrefs and managed to snatch 500k+ views while bringing mid-five figures in revenue, as Tim Soulo shares in his blog post.

There’s no dearth of content formats to try – from podcasts, and webinars to seminars and more, you can dip your toes into a variety of’em. It gives you the benefit of meeting your audience where they hang out (perhaps on Instagram?) and provides the experience and content SGE cannot.

So, find out what resonates with your audience and stick to it.

Final Thoughts

SEO has never been a passive strategy. While it’s too soon to conclusively say anything about the impact SGE will have on organic traffic, there are ways to win beyond SEO.

As outlined above, methods like personal branding or doubling down on content distribution can ensure your content is consumed by the right people at the right time.

Once we have more data about SGE and its impact, we’ll be able to devise better ways for sure.