Some Advertisers Are Rebuilding Their Search Strategies as Google’s AI Search Engine Grows

Google has fundamentally transformed the online search experience with its AI search engine AI Overview, which incorporates videos and images, and encourages users to ask complex and detailed questions. 

While it’s clear that traditional SEO methods will not work with AI-powered search (Max Gomez Montejo, CMO of digital marketing firm Next Net Media, anticipates organic traffic going down by 25%), it is still too early for the ad industry to have best practices around AI-powered search. But more forward-thinking marketers are already scrambling to experiment.

Some marketers are overhauling their sites with videos and images to their websites, which will improve visibility in AI-powered search results. These marketers are, for instance, converting text-based FAQs into videos, so the content will be more visible in this new era of AI-informed search.

“Brands that are able to bring together their video and image assets into the same strategy as their SEO are the ones taking an early lead in AI Overview,” said Jeremy Hull, chief product officer of Brainlabs. “It will mean creating more videos, and that’s a big lift.”

Others are experimenting with trying to make sure their sites show up when people search using long-tail keywords (i.e., phrases above four or five words), such as, “I live in Texas. What are ideal weekend getaways with my family?” As these questions get more detailed, marketers have to make sure their websites contain the right information about their products and services.

Still others are dedicating more resources to appearing organically on sites like Reddit, as Google increasingly surfaces content from that site, said Sam Tomlinson, executive vice president at boutique agency Warschawski.

Even though marketers have to rethink their search strategies due to AI-generated search, Tomlinson is not panicking.

“Lots of people are overblowing this,” he said. “This is just another evolution in search.”

Building content expertise to achieve AI search visibility

Not all keywords prompt an AI Overview response.

For instance, long-tailed queries such as, “I am planning a vacation with my kids, a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. What are some activities I can do?” triggers an AI response. Straightforward searches like “Nike running shoes” do not.

“AI output tends to lean more informational than transactional,” said Joel Swaney, principal SEO at media agency Collective Measures. The agency is conducting brand audits to analyze content gaps so that they will likely be indexed in AI search results for informational queries.

Through its SEO tools, the agency is collecting user questions via keyword or query-based methods to identify content gaps within brand websites. Simultaneously, it’s drawing insights from inquiries received through the brand’s customer services and social listening efforts.

Additionally, Collective Measures is gearing up for mid-funnel queries that contain comparison questions for products and services, to maximize ranking within regular search.

“That is where clients have an opportunity to capture potential impression or click loss coming from AI Overview,” said Swaney.

Google is aggressively combining its AI tools

Although a huge chunk of Google’s revenue comes from Search ads, Google hasn’t yet revealed what AI Overview’s ad units will look like. The tech giant has said it plans to unveil this at its Marketing Live event this week.

There have been hints.

Google has been testing product carousels that suggest additional products consumers may like in its AI-generated responses, said Evan Finkelstein, senior manager of SEO and performance content at the insurance company New York Life. 

Google also seems to have plans to combine generative AI search with its more conventional AI tool Performance Max, which uses AI to determine where ads should be placed to get the best results.

Google, for instance, is nudging advertisers to integrate a tool called Broad Match. It targets based on keywords in text-based campaigns with Performance Max campaigns, according to a pitch deck that Google sent to advertisers in February shared with ADWEEK. Google is telling advertisers this will help ensure relevant AI search results.

The tech giant labels the combination of Performance Max and Broad Match its “Ads Power Pair.”

Some marketers are still unsure if harnessing Performance Max impacts how brands appear in AI Overview results.

“We have tested Performance Max [but] are not able to see its impact in SGE,” said Michael Robbins, senior manager of paid search at Exverus Media.

But Google continues to aggressively combine Performance Max with AI Overview.

New tools that use both include Automatically Created Assets, which generates creatives based on keywords; and New Customer Acquisition, which uses advertisers’ first-party data and lets marketers bid at a higher amount to target new and existing customers.

Some ad buyers, however, say these tools will help advertisers transition into a world of AI-powered search.

“This advanced value-based bidding feature lets [advertisers] have more control by steering the bidder toward their preferred customer type,” said Michelle Merklin, vp of paid search innovation and growth at Tinuiti. “Such hybrid tools are going to help advertisers maintain the control and the performance they need as more changes are happening to the search results page.”