Artificial Intelligence (AI) is dominating our lives. There are endless news stories, apps, etc., coming out each week. So, whether we like it or not, AI is here. For us marketers, it is especially important to stay up to date on how this affects our campaigns and other aspects of our clients’ marketing strategies. Rest assured, your Addison Clark marketing team is on it!
One question we get asked all the time is “What do I need to do to show up in the AI search results?”
Let’s start by defining the different areas that could appear in search results. For this exercise, we will focus on Google specifically. As a reminder, for any given search, all of these results sections are not guaranteed to appear. The only guaranteed listing is the organic results.
AI Results
This looks like a summary related to your search query. It can often contain references to services, websites, etc. There can also be some additional features depending on the search type. We often see a box on the right-hand side that lists businesses pertaining to the search query. Sometimes, there are even sponsored results in this AI section.
Sponsored Results
These listings are a direct result of paid search. This is a pay to play section of search results that is managed through Google Ads. You set up certain parameters and bid on clicks to appear here. These will always be labeled to let you know they are a sponsored paid ad.
Businesses (Map Listings)
This area will show the top three local business listings. This is managed through your Google Business Profile. It will show your address, reviews, contact information, etc. This is important for local Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Think “near me” or “where is the closest…” type of queries.
Organic Search Results
These are your classic listings that display websites that relate to a search query. It will show the page title and short description to allow the user to see if they want to click the link to explore the website further.
Now that we have defined the various sections of a search on Google, let’s circle back to the AI of it all. Sponsored, Business, and Organic are all pretty well defined about how you can show up in the various results. AI is the new mystery.
Luckily, to be successful in AI results, you really just need to have a strong strategy in the other three. If your SEO is strong, AI will pick up on it. If your Business Listing is good, AI will recognize it. If you pay to play in sponsored results, you can also show up in the AI paid results.
When most people ask us how to show up in AI, we really focus on SEO, since that is the biggest variable in both AI and organic results. Is your content clear and concise on your website? Do you have a good user experience on your site? Is all your metadata filled out and relevant? If you can answer yes to all of these questions, your SEO is in good shape.
Remember, Google wants to deliver the best possible results for a search query in a result section. So, you need to make sure your site has the opportunity to show in those Google results by having strong SEO.
AI is an ever-moving target when it comes to search and beyond. But the long and short of it is that you don’t need to do anything different in order to appease the AI search area, just make sure your other areas are in tip-top shape, and the robots will know what to do with the rest.