Insights
New Signals Matter in Search
I find the current search landscape challenging to grasp. Rationally I understand it: search is evolving to cater to a new generation of users whose behaviors and needs are wildly different from my own, but the change is hard to accept nonetheless. One thing I know for sure however is that SEM and SEO will need to coevolve with search, just like it has the past 30 years.
Gary Illyes wrote the above on LinkedIn in reaction to a Microsoft Bing article about how AI Search is changing the way conversions are measured.
Chasing blue link clicks is declining. It's clear that users are now researching through conversations, asking follow-up questions, and building confidence long before they ever hit a website.
The path to conversion is shorter and more connected.
Microsoft reports that Copilot-assisted customer journeys are 33% shorter on average, and visits are converting at high rates—in some cases, up to three times the rate of traditional channels.
Data from Amsive backs this up. They found that 56% of sites saw higher conversions from AI-driven sessions, with high-traffic sites converting at 7.05% compared to 5.81% for organic
We can't ignore this.
But, it requires us to re-evaluate our KPIs to include monitoring impressions, citations, and placement in AI answers because these signals reveal where interest is forming.
The challenge is that many of these signals are not captured in traditional analytics, yet they influence trust, familiarity, and downstream conversions.
The MS Bing article states:
"For marketers, visibility itself is becoming a form of currency. If your content is surfaced in summaries or comparisons, you’re shaping preference before a click ever happens."
And,
"…content clarity is critical. When information is not easily interpreted by LLMs, key details may be missed, reducing opportunities to appear in influential moments."
While we continue to emphasise SEO best practises, we need to align our strategies and tools to track this new influence.
Yes, the rapid changes in SEO are uncomfortable, but I know we will adapt and survive!
From the Bing Blog: How AI Search Is Changing the Way Conversions are Measured.
The GEO Gold Rush
Last week's Business Insider article on the GEO 'gold rush' made me smile.
Parts of it reinforce what I said on LinkedIn 2 weeks ago:
We're about to see history repeat itself. I've already noticed an increase in the number of “GEO experts” and “AI optimization consultants.” Back in the early days of SEO, self-proclaimed "experts" appeared overnight with the promise to fast track you to the top of the SERPs. Now, we're getting ready for the flood of GEO/AEO certification courses, "guaranteed" placements in AI answers, and consultants promising they've cracked the algorithm.
Business Insider reached out to SEO experts as well as Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity to uncover what content optimization looks like in the age of AI.
The opinions were varied and entertaining.
Kai Spriestersbach, an applied AI researcher and web scientist said, "Everyone is going crazy about becoming the next agency — all the side hustlers and snake oil sellers with their tools already on the train and riding the hype."
Factors like personalization, limited historical data (AI platforms), and model retraining all influence how sites and brands show up in search engines.
Krishna Madhavan (principal product manager for Microsoft) noted, "Similar to SEO, AI systems rely on fresh, highly ranked, and trustworthy content. Be skeptical of shortcuts."
Danny Sullivan shared an example of popular advice from SEO/GEO experts that could soon go stale: that large language models favor bite-sized content.
Models inevitably change and "All that work you did to please the system may not carry through to the long term."
The rest of the story provides additional insights I think you'll relate to.
You might also enjoy the comments on my original post.
AI responses may include mistakes
That's no surprise, but it's interesting to note Google has changed the wording in their documentation on AI Overviews:
"AI Overviews can and will make mistakes. Always check important info in more than one place. Click the links to supporting information from the web and try other Google Search results too."
An X user posted an image from Google Search, repeating the message to double-check important information.
I haven't seen this message yet. Have you?
Related: 4 ways I check up on AI results (because I don't want errors in my content).
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