AI has become a hot topic recently, and its impact is particularly pronounced in the realm of search engines. We’ve witnessed the rise of Bing Chat and Chat GPT, both of which have garnered significant attention and praise. It is no wonder that search engines are evolving to become more intuitive, delivering more accurate and personalised responses than ever before.
In this rapidly advancing landscape, Google has taken a giant leap forward with its latest AI-powered search tools, introducing the Google Search Generative Experiences (SGE). Google is testing and rolling out SGE to people signed up for their Search Labs program.
In this blog, we will explore how SERPs are adapting and delving into their features, benefits, and potential for the future of search. Get ready to embark on a journey where AI takes centre stage, paving the way for a new era of intelligent and dynamic search.
Introducing the Generative AI Knowledge Panel
Typically, when you prompt Google with a question, it will give you either a featured snippet answer or an article along with a side panel and the ‘People also ask’ section. Let’s use the example below for the query ‘What is SEO?’ as an example.
However, with the introduction of Google’s generative AI search experience or SGE, there is a new and exciting addition to the search results—the knowledge panel. The knowledge panel appears after the generative AI response and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic, incorporating information from various sources. It offers a quick glance at the key details, related topics, and even interactive features, all within a compact and easily accessible format.
This enhancement enhances the search experience by providing users with more in-depth and relevant information sourced from reliable companies, publishers and industry experts.
Generative AI for Local SEO
Google’s generative AI also offers powerful features that can benefit businesses on the local level. Whether you’re looking for a good barber in your area or an Auckland SEO services agency, Google’s local search functionality currently shows limited information.
However, with the introduction of Search Generative Experience (SGE), users are now provided with more comprehensive and detailed information at their fingertips, allowing them to make more informed decisions. For instance, when searching for sneakers, SGE goes beyond the traditional local pack feature and provides AI-generated overviews that slightly differ from the results shown on the desktop browser.
On mobile, the generative AI response aligns with the local pack, ensuring consistency across platforms. This enhanced local search experience powered by generative AI opens up new possibilities for users to explore and discover businesses in their vicinity.
AI-Powered Shopping Results
Google shopping is one area that will see some great improvements with SGE (Search Generative Experience) once it’s fully launched to the public. With the aim of enhancing user experiences and providing valuable information, Google will begin capturing reviews, testimonials, and perspectives from people who have used the shopping products in question. This means consumers can make more informed purchasing decisions when browsing search results.
For instance, if you’re looking for a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, SGE will display shopping results with reviews and advice on what to look for in a Bluetooth speaker. This highly personalised approach ensures that users find the right product and gain insights from real users to choose their needs. The new Google shopping experiences will bring convenience and confidence to shoppers, changing how we navigate the online shopping world.
News, Events, Images and Video
Some other potentially less impactful areas of SGE that will change include news, events, businesses, images, and videos. When it comes to news, SGE pulls from the five most recent sources to provide users with the latest AI news.
When searching for helpful videos or images for whatever purpose, SGE offers advice from three sources for specific needs, while the current Google results provide a range of videos that are less personalised towards you as an individual.
Lastly, for events, SGE offers a long list of suggestions from five sources for upcoming events in a specific area. At the same time, Google search results commonly present events in a calendar format. These changes in SGE aim to enhance the search experience across various areas, providing users with more relevant and diverse information.
Conclusion
SEO and search engines are seeing some slight upheaval of what you could call the ‘status quo’ and the team at Clickthrough is welcoming the change. Search engines are there to help you find information and make decisions; with SGE, Google’s ability to do so will greatly improve. Our team recently launched generative AI training courses to help your businesses embrace and adapt to this new era of business operation.
Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) represents an exciting leap forward in search engine technology. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Google is revolutionising how we interact with search results. SGE goes beyond providing a list of relevant links; it aims to understand the user’s intent and generate personalised information relevant to you.
Check out Google’s announcement video for Search Generative Experience below!
FAQs
How are search engines changing with AI and machine learning?
Search engines are transforming with the power of AI and machine learning, delivering personalised and visually savvy search experiences that understand users better and provide more accurate results.
What is Google Search Generative Experience?
Search Generative Experience or SGE is one way that Google is integrating machine learning and AI into their search functionality. Powered by generative AI, SGE provides more in-depth, relevant and accurate information for people searching on Google.
