Embrace change and test relentlessly

Yordan says: “Embrace change and test relentlessly.”

Is there any type of change that we're most likely to have to embrace?

“In the last 12 months, there has been so much change within the SEO industry, from AI Mode to AI overviews, dramatically changing how people discover content and brands. We've moved way past the 10 blue links, and people are shifting towards AI-driven answers, zero-click results, and new discovery platforms.

To succeed, you need to put yourself into the customer's shoes and explore ways of accessing the tools that are coming up in order to do better testing.

It also means putting yourself into your customer’s journey and thinking, ‘Does my brand appear in those AI-powered results? Is my content being cited? How does the format change, and what do I need to do to make sure that I remain visible?’”

Are certain types of businesses more likely to have to embrace changes like AI Mode?

“If you have an online presence, you need to embrace those changes because it will affect you – whether you're a small business or a big enterprise.

You want to remain on top and be visible, and be above your competitors. Having the strength to recognise where you need to shift your focus in terms of content creation and brand visibility, be it on social media or on forums like Reddit, is very important in this new age of AI-powered search.”

How do you know that AI-powered search is the way your target audience is discovering your brand, if they're not clicking through from those search results?

“You can look at the tools that give you that visibility index. There are multiple tools out there, like Peec.ai, which give you the ability to see how many times you've been featured, what answers you're appearing for, and on which platforms.

Google Search Console includes the number of impressions you're getting, but we don't have a clear breakdown as of yet, based on accurate information.”

How do you tie that information together, in terms of the user journey and how it impacts the final action you want them to take?

“Where AI Mode and AI overviews are key for the initial stage of discoverability, what we're seeing is what was previously referred to as the great decoupling.

Now, this has been downgraded in terms of what is happening because we're no longer able to see 100 results automatically using num=100. As a result, moving forward, we're going to see fewer impressions and instances where people are actually clicking through to the website.

It’s about what happens next. When visitors are actually coming to the site, they're converting better because they have already done their initial discovery. They've done the research, they found the key information through an AI overview or AI Mode, and they're coming through to the website to make the final conversion or inquiry.”

What should you be testing, and what does testing relentlessly look like?

“When it comes to testing, my recommendation is to discover any new tools that are out there.

When AI Mode first became available, it was only available in the US, and UK users weren't able to do additional testing. The only way around that was to use a VPN to access it and set yourself up so that you could see how that new tool functions and what the user journey is like.

Make sure that you test relentlessly to see what your visibility looks like, so that you can be one step ahead of your competitors.

You can do that manually, or you could use certain software. When I initially looked at that, I had several conversations with different software platforms to see what the best available option was. One of the ones that stood out was Peec.ai, and I've been testing that to monitor the visibility of branded searches for several clients.

It’s not just for Google either; you also have Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.”

How is the use of search engines changing?

“At Reflect Digital, we have been putting out a quarterly SearchPulse AI Report based on the data that we have access to. Through that, we've actually identified that a lot of people are still relying heavily on Google.

However, there is a difference between the demographics in how people are approaching search. From the Q3 SearchPulse, people aged 18 to 44 use an average of five search platforms, but those who are 45+ only use two to three. The younger demographic is trying to find information through various sources and fact-checking to ensure that they're making the right decision before they proceed to a conversion.

Since Google is moving towards having AI Mode as the default, we don’t know for certain whether other demographics will also need to embrace that.

Currently, the 45+ demographic is relying more heavily on traditional search and tools. Whereas, the 18 to 44 demographic is looking to embrace those new tools with more open arms and less scepticism, to try and find the information that they're after.”

Are you seeing any trends in terms of how users are searching at different stages of the buyer journey?

“Let's take the example of someone booking a trip to a foreign destination.

They may explore using social media as a tool to identify any potential points of interest that they would like to visit – be it cafés, restaurants, etc. Then, once they've discovered those and have curated a list, they would go back to a traditional search engine, like Google, to actually proceed and make a booking.

That's an example off the top of my head, but each journey does vary. The average journey for your users will be very dependent on the individual demographic.

I don't want to generalise without giving exact data, but I highly recommend checking out SearchPulse. We release it every quarter, with up-to-date information, and it's split by age as well as by different types of demographics to give a detailed breakdown and key summaries.

In general, we’re finding that people are more likely to use social as an initial way to discover new brands nowadays. People are keen to understand what a particular brand's engagement is like with their audience, and look at the bigger picture of what that brand stands for.”

How does that alternative user journey impact search behaviour?

“When they are ready to actually engage with the brand's website, that's where we're seeing that the conversion is better.

When people get through to the site, they're not there for the informational queries like they were before, so there's less bounce back. There are more instances where people are inquiring, filling in the forms, or making a purchase, depending on the type of website that we're looking at.

Those initial channels (including both social media and platforms like ChatGPT) help with that discoverability element when you're looking for recommendations or an overall idea of which businesses are out there, offering what you're looking for. Being cited there is really key because you're getting that brand visibility.”

Would you build up multiple user journeys, or do you focus on establishing one standard user journey and conducting your content marketing based upon that?

“I try and look at it through focus groups and things like path exploration within GA4, which gives you an idea of the pages on your site and the sequence in which a user visits and engages with those pages.

That allows you to see how people are coming through to the website, but the user journey is no longer linear. People come through to different landing pages of the website, and they don't necessarily come directly to the homepage.

Often, AI-powered search will actually send people directly to a specific landing page, which is deeply rooted in the site. Therefore, having a good internal linking structure, navigation, and UX is really essential to making sure that you capture that demographic and get them to convert.

In terms of content, that path exploration report can give you ideas for reducing friction. Is there some particular information on your pages that is frequently sought after? Make sure that it is being pushed forward and it’s easily accessible, or add an internal link higher on the page so users can access it quicker and make that conversion.”

Yordan, what's the key takeaway from the tip you shared today?

“In SEO, the only constant is change.

Test often, learn quickly, and make sure your brand is always one step ahead of the game, and people can find you when they're searching.”

Yordan Dimitrov is an SEO Manager at Reflect Digital. Find out more over at ReflectDigital.co.uk.