Search Generative Experience (SGE) Key Players
In the ever-evolving landscape of search engines, a new paradigm is on the horizon: Search Generative Experience (SGE). In this blog post, we’ll delve into what SGE is, how it works, and its potential impact on the future of search engines, search queries, and your business.
Over the last few months, you may have heard that companies like ChatGPT, Google, and Microsoft are all expanding their AI product offerings. These companies are pushing the boundaries of using AI text prompts to create images, develop code, or streamline daily activities.
Google and Microsoft have been going toe to toe by allowing users to create images from prompts inside their platforms or improving search results inside Bing and Google Search. Tools like Bard, Gemini, and Bing AI lead the way regarding SGE and their impact on search engines. These key players and their desire to push AI technology profoundly impact search engines and how we will use them moving forward.
So, What is Search Generative Experience (SGE) Anyway?
You’re probably scratching your head, wondering what SGE is and how it works, so here’s the low down. SGE represents a shift from traditional keyword-based search to a more intuitive and contextually aware search experience. Instead of relying solely on keywords, SGE leverages advanced artificial intelligence that utilizes large language models and natural language processing techniques to understand user intent and provide more relevant and personalized search results.
How Does SGE Work?
At its core, SGE utilizes machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data, including user behavior, preferences, and historical search patterns. Understanding the context behind search queries allows SGE to deliver more accurate results that align with the user’s intent, even if the query is ambiguous or incomplete.
Key Features of SGE
- Contextual Understanding: SGE goes beyond simple keyword matching by considering the broader context of a user’s query. The query includes location, device type, browsing history, and recent web interactions.
- Personalization: By leveraging user preferences and interest data, SGE can tailor search results to match the user’s unique needs. The search result leads to a more personalized and relevant search experience, increasing user satisfaction and engagement.
- Predictive Capabilities: SGE can anticipate user needs and provide proactive suggestions based on the user’s past behavior. For example, if a user frequently searches for recipes, SGE might suggest new recipes or cooking tips before they even begin their search.
- Leveraging Generative AI: SGE harnesses the power of generative AI, which enables search engines to generate contextually relevant responses by understanding the nuances of human language and intent. Additionally, SGE leverages advanced techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which combines the strengths of both traditional retrieval-based methods and generative models to produce more accurate and personalized search results across search engines.
The Impact of SGE on Search Engines and Search Queries
- Enhanced User Experience: SGE promises to revolutionize how users interact with search engines, making the experience more intuitive, efficient, and personalized. SGE can help users find what they’re looking for faster and with less effort by delivering highly relevant results.
- Improved Search Relevance: With SGE, search engines can better understand human language and intent nuances, leading to more accurate and relevant search results. The enhanced search results benefit users and help businesses ensure their content is discoverable by the right audience.
- Challenges and Considerations: While SGE holds tremendous promise, it also poses challenges, particularly around implicit biases, misinformation, privacy, and data security. As search engines collect more user data to power SGE algorithms, concerns exist about how this data is stored, used, and protected. Since SGE relies on vast amounts of user data, there’s a risk of reinforcing or manipulating existing biases, particularly those around race, religion, sexual orientation, or promoting inaccurate information.
Real World Usage
Up to this point, you’re probably wondering, “Should I be thinking about SGE and the impact it will have on my products and services”? The answers are yes and yes. The bottom line is that until AI destroys humanity, it’s here to stay, and SGE will directly impact your business if you are not staying ahead of the curve.
In May 2023, Google began rolling out the technology on a case-by-case basis. You had to sign up for their Google Labs beta program; eventually, they might grant you access.
Businesses would have to wait until later to gain access, which is fast approaching in 2024.
Initial Set-up Upon Approval
I was lucky enough to have access to their beta program in May 2023, and I immediately began exploring the power of their AI searches. After gaining access to the beta program, I unlocked a section within Google Labs to update my SGE settings.
Here, you could turn on features like AI Search, AI coding tips (yes, AI-powered coding), and connecting Google Sheets directly to your AI searches, which helped build a Google Sheet with your search results.
SGE Search In Action
At the time, Mother’s Day had just passed, and my wife and I discussed how sad she was the flowers I bought her would soon wilt and have to be put in the trash.
That conversation prompted me to test the power of Google’s SGE since flower preservation was a relevant thought right after Mother’s Day.
The screenshot below is my first search query and recommended searches that expand on my initial question. What is the longest way to preserve flowers?
The SGE system returned with specific highlights of preserving flowers and a small summary of my initial inquiry. These summaries, by the way, all came from articles about how to preserve flowers. It also gave me links to the articles on the right-hand side of the summaries.
Expanding On My Initial Query
In the image above, you will notice that SGE gave me additional relevant topics to explore.
- What preserves flowers the longest?
- How long can you preserve fresh flowers?
- What is the most expensive way to preserve fresh flowers?
I kept clicking the follow-up question options and went deeper and deeper into the subject of flower preservation.
After a few follow-up results based on my initial search, things got interesting. Google gave me additional follow-up search results, but this time, one of the search results included a link to a business that wrote a blog titled 5 Ways to Preserve Your Flowers.
The article’s relevance is epic because SGE is not only sharing relevant searches to what you need, but you’re also finding a business that provides helpful information. Imagine if you were that business owner. Unlike a typical search page with several ads and competitors, you’d be happy to know that no competitor appears anywhere on the page.
Product & Service Recommendations
As you can see from my screenshots above, it didn’t take very long for me to go from a thought to finding relevant content to ultimately finding a product or business that could help preserve my wife’s flowers.
The last follow-up question that got me here was, how to preserve fresh flowers permanently? Not only did I receive additional summaries related to this search, but Google presented me with product recommendations.
Here’s why this is massive. In the case of an e-commerce business selling products through Google’s Merchant Center, if you optimize listings for SEO and AI searches, you just beat all of your competitors. Your product is listed front and center above your competitors.
If you’re a brick-and-mortar or lead-gen business, your content appears above your competitors, just like in the images I shared previously.
In this image, you can see the product reviews from the same product SGE result.
Conclusion
It takes little time to play around with SGE to see the value and power of its application. Considering how the process works, Google has built an AI marketing funnel that leads potential customers to relevant products and services.
Typical digital marketing funnels start like this. Cold traffic sees your ad on a platform they use (top of the funnel), the user takes an interest in your product or services and conducts research (middle of the funnel), they compare your products to your competitor (middle of the funnel), they pull out their credit card and make a purchase (bottom of the funnel).
SGE walks people through a funnel without the person knowing they’re in a funnel. The person researches a topic, SGE presents results (top of the funnel), and the person sees follow-up questions to learn more about the topic (middle of the funnel). Eventually, the results display a product or service relevant to the search (bottom of the funnel).
What’s cool about this process is that Google is helping you prequalify your traffic without you having to do a lot of heavy lifting. Yes, you have to convince someone to buy your product or service, but if you’ve optimized your content and products to be relevant with SEO and AI searches, you’ve won half the battle.
Do not forget that Search Generative Experience represents a shift in the world of search engines, offering a more intuitive, personalized, and contextually aware search experience. By leveraging advanced AI and machine learning techniques, SGE has the potential to revolutionize how we discover information online and how we interact with businesses.
As the technology evolves, expect Google to reward businesses implementing SGE across their SEO and Google Ads campaigns.
Is your business positioned to take advantage of AI technologies and strategies, or need help getting ready for this technological shift?
Check out our services page to learn how we can help.
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