A Heads Up
The following are my opinions mixed with facts, along with cited sources that I trust, like the Pew Research Center, MIT, and the BBC.
Let’s Get Started
Google isn’t what it once was. If you’re running a business with a website (as any business should have), you need to know why.
SEO Beginnings
In 2014, when I began my career in digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) was thriving. Sure, there were tons of best practices to follow and it was never an exact science, but if you did your best to write unique and creative content with the user in mind, you gave customers a good foundation to build a killer ranking (where you land in search engine results).
A good on-page SEO plan included:
- keyword research;
- competitor research; and
- an understanding of the end users’ goals
With that knowledge, we’d plan the navigation structure (how the site and pages would be laid out) and content accordingly. We’d write content using keywords as naturally as possible in page titles, headings, and text (paragraphs or sections). We’d make sure alternative text was added to images so that visually impaired people using screen readers could also experience the images. Page titles and descriptions were added to the pages so that when someone found them on a search engine results page (SERP), they got an accurate preview of what could be seen on that page, encouraging them to click.
Algorithms Made Sense
Search engines like Google were never 100% transparent about their page ranking algorithms. Still, they were open about best practices, as well as the moves that would get you in trouble. This is called “black hat SEO” and search engines like Google used to really bring down the hammer on folks who tried to cheat their system. An example of this is keyword stuffing, which is the act of adding a bunch of keywords in a clear attempt to rank higher in SERPs. If caught, the offender could be blocked from showing up in search results.
Good Content & Design were Rewarded
Google took several steps to ensure that quality, good faith content, was rewarded with higher rankings. In 2016, mobile-first indexing was announced. This meant that Google would use the mobile version of a website’s content to consider indexing and ranking. That was because more people were using their phones to access websites and it was Google’s way of letting website owners know that they needed to care more about the way their sites looked on mobile devices. Mobile-first indexing rolled out in 2018.
Experts were Encouraged
Google took it a step further with their E-A-T (later E-E-A-T) guidelines. These stand for “experience,” “expertise,” “authoritativeness,” and “trust.” Google stated it wasn’t a “direct” ranking factor, but it helped guide their algorithm in determining ranking. Along with that, its “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) quality ratings guide helps evaluate pages dedicated to topics specifically related to finances, health, physical safety, etc. It takes into account the reputation of the content’s author, domain, independent sources, and more.
Software company, Moz, developed domain authority, which is a search engine ranking score that calculates the likelihood of ranking based on…the authority your domain holds. That one has always been a bit nebulous, but essentially, it takes into account how long your domain had been around and trusted.
Keeping it Going
The above ideas, rules, and strategies are what I still rely on because they make sense for the folks visiting your website. The changes have come in how those ideas, rules, and strategies are treated by page ranking algorithms. The reason: generative AI.
AI & Recursive Data are Hurting Rankings
When the AI Overview was introduced, those of us who’ve been doing this for years knew it would eventually become a snake eating its own tail. We were right.
A Pew Research Center study found that AI Overviews negatively impact website traffic. This is a stark reminder that aggregating data does not equal researching information. When things are made easier, it doesn’t mean they’re better.
One of the issues related to this mess is the fact that the top three most commonly cited sources were Wikipedia (which can be edited by anyone), YouTube (which Google owns) and Reddit (which is wild for the night). Funnily enough, last month, ChatGPT cut its Reddit citations by over 80%. There are a lot of points to this, including the fact that when Reddit announced an AI licensing deal with Google last month, the Reddit stock shit itself. I wrote about how these overviews are hurting rankings, including how click-through-rates are suffering and source traffic is iffy at best in this blog, if you want to learn a bit more.
Recursive data helps no one because it feeds itself its own waste. That waste is really just what it turns stolen content into. Add to that the fact that an MIT study (among others) concluded that AI erodes cognition and critical thinking skills. For the grifters who have entered the digital marketing and web design field, this means they’re not able to adequately grasp and explain strategies, let alone understand why they aren’t working and know how to shift gears. They’re banking on the fact that their customers don’t know any better or simply believe they’ve found a cheap shortcut. May they all have the losses they deserve.
Zero-Click Search
Google’s plan for zero-click searches (giving an “answer” to a search query without the user ever clicking a link) has been obvious for years. Rich snippets were introduced in 2009 to show previews of a page in the search results. The Knowledge Panel, which came around in 2012, displayed information about certain topics right there at the top of the page. Now we’re left with the overview, which often contains false information.
When the biggest search engine in the world no longer prioritizes encouraging and rewarding websites to rely on quality, human-made content, it’s hard for folks who do to see steady and meaningful engagement without actively doing the hard SEO work. This is what I’m talking about when I say that business owners and “marketing” companies using generative AI to sloppify websites are actively hurting themselves. They’re helping to feed something that refuses to feed them.
How to Make it Work
In the second part of this series, I’ll offer tips on how to best set your business up for success online. It’ll even include a few small case studies showing my own work and how successful I’ve been in taking my own advice. Stay tuned! That’s coming this week.