In case you haven’t noticed, search engine results have been changing a LOT since generative AI came to center stage.

Fortunately, you can take advantage of this to improve your visibility to your customers and that is what I am going to show you how to do.

The Current Status of Search Engine Results

The search engines have had to change how they work in response to this big threat to their core business.

Well, they have embraced it, but with this change has come changes to how search results are presented … and its a mess.

So what is being shown these days in search engine results that is competing with YOUR website??

The AI Response

Here is an example of Google’s AI results.  It is usually the first thing that comes up, though I have seen it further down the page.

Ads, Ads, Ads and More Ads

So we used to get the top 3 ads showing at the top of search results.  Weeellll… not anymore.  Lately, it has been the top 4 and sometimes these are mixed into the organic results as well.

In this one, I only show 3, but there were 4 ads displayed before organic results were shown.

Videos from Youtube

We can’t forget videos. Google wants to keep you engaged with their platforms to continue selling ads.

The Power of Discussions and Forums

Because of platforms like Reddit, discussion forums seem to be making a comeback.  So much so that Google is showing them in their search results if they are relevant to your search.

Organic Results – Woohoo!

And finally, we have the organic results.  Amongst all of those other results above, we seem to be averaging between 4 and 10 actual organic rankings.

Whoops, we spoke too fast.  Sites that answer questions like Reddit, Quora, and Wikipedia outrank most sites with their “top 10 lists”, discussions on your topic, or some other trick to get into the top 5.

These are really hard sites to compete with, which means there may be room in organic results (normal SEO) for maybe 2-3 search result listings for us everyday companies.

So for those of us who run a business, what are we to do?

Let’s answer that.

Search Everywhere Optimization = Marketing 101

I wish I had coined the Search Everywhere Optimization idea, but it’s not mine.  I believe Neil Patel coined this phrase.

The more I thought about this totally novel idea, the more I came to realize that it is not a new idea, but really, it is the most basic concept from marketing school.

The idea is simple.

Build awareness about your company where your customers will notice you.

Before the Internet, this would include radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and direct mail.

Today, it should still include those, but also include video sites, social media, email, text messaging, discussion boards, apps, your own apps, paid media,  and of course your website.

Whew, that’s just too much.

Big companies with big budgets can do all of these (even they struggle with it actually), but how can us little guys with limited budgets tackle all of this!!!??

Focus on Your Brand Building

You might be surprised to hear that the vast majority (I mean like over 90%) of organic traffic for big companies are brand terms.

Think about it, most people will search for iPhone or Android before they would do a search for “smartphone”

Or think about your local sports team.  You don’t search for “football team” to visit to the Tampa Bucs website, you search on “bucs”.

I’ve seen this work several times for much smaller companies.  They focus on becoming as well-known as they can within a smaller pool of potential customers.

This can even work for the smallest of companies like a local coffee shop that becomes the go-to place for remote workers.

It can be done, but it takes time and intentional effort.  It will not happen on its own.

Ranking Better on Google When Google is a Mess

So how do you improve your visibility (notice I didn’t say ranking) on Google?

Part of your branding effort is to go where your customers are.  Google doesn’t show videos and discussion boards for giggles.  They do it because it increases customer engagement for their platforms.

Google is continually learning what customers are looking for when searching, and you should pay attention.

What if your video came up in their list?  What if you were part of the discussion?  What if your ad was well positioned in the mix?

The idea is that you have to begin being what is termed omnichannel, or active on all customer facing platforms (that matter to your customers).

I guarantee with 99% confidence that video matters, social media matters (specific ones for specific people profiles), and paid media matters.

One of my favorite childhood books is When You Give A Mouse A Cookie.  The idea behind it (kind of/sort of) applies to your customers.

When you give a customer something useful (content) then they will want to learn more but get distracted.

They later run across your video so they want to learn more, but they get distracted by other videos.

They see your latest post on social media and remember you had something they liked, but again, they got distracted.

Your retargeting ads reminded them that you solved a problem for them.

So they downloaded something from your site … which just sits in their inbox collecting dust.

And their problem grows more painful because they haven’t solved it.

And they remember your brand (not your content) because they can’t seem to escape it even though they only saw you once on Google.

And they reach out for help.

Branding + Search Everywhere Optimization

By existing on these other platforms, where your customer exists, your source of traffic will not be 100% reliant on Google traffic.  When this happens, Google will see these other sources and rank you well in videos, discussions, and other sources.  Remember backlinks? In some ways, that is what you are building through these customer-facing platforms.

When people see your brand regularly, they begin to identify with it.

When that happens then they are more likely to remember your brand when they need to.

So whatever you do, go back to the basics and engage your customers where they live, because once they reach Google, they are already well down the decision path.