Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of artificial intelligence. This new technology promises to “revolutionize the marketing landscape” (ChatGPT’s words, not ours). In reality, it can be difficult to determine the best uses for AI in marketing—or how this technology impacts your ability to rank in search.

To help, let’s take a deep dive into AI and SEO with the aim to dispel any myths, discuss tangible impacts of large language models, and provide insight into how to rank in Google’s AI overviews. 

What is AI and SEO?

Before we dive into the specifics, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about what artificial intelligence and SEO are. While there are many types of AI, the one we’re discussing today is large language models (LLMs). 

These LLMs generate content on demand and include tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini. A study by Amazon Web Services found that a “shocking amount” of web content is generated by these LLMs, and it’s been less than four years since ChatGPT’s release.

But content being generated and published doesn’t mean readers are finding it. For a piece of content to be found, it has to show up in search results. Enter: search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of “optimizing” content so that it shows up higher in search results. 

When you publish new content, whether it’s a blog or a stagnant page of your website, Google crawls the content and indexes what it’s about, the content quality, and how useful it may be to readers. Based on Google’s conclusions, your content shows up higher or lower in search results. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but the definition works for the purposes of this discussion.

How Does AI Content Ranks in Search Results? 

So we’ve established that AI content is being created at a shockingly high rate, but are people reading it? Yes, and no.

There’s a myth that Google ranks search results based on content quality. And AI is infamous for creating low quality content. 

While Google’s E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) principles do exist and influence search results, they aren’t the be-all, end-all. In fact, the Google algorithm constantly changes how it ranks content, and some lower quality AI results are starting to rank higher.

Originality.AI reports that in June 2023 about 7.12% of content appearing first in Google search was AI-generated. In June 2024, that amount rose to 13.95%. The amount of AI content ranking high doubled in less than twelve months, which is impressive.

But 14% is still a small piece of the pie. Plus, readers tend to be more frustrated by AI-generated content than articles written by humans. A 2024 study suggests this is because, given AI’s current capabilities, LLMs are unable to navigate language, emotions, and empathy with the same skill as professionally trained writers. 

Nevertheless, AI content is ranking more often and might continue to do so. This doesn’t, however, mean you should “hire” LLMs over human writers. When we talk about SEO, it’s important to note that it only works if human readers resonate with your content once they find it—and most of us prefer human-authored content to AI-generated.

Are People Searching With Google Less?

Some marketers have claimed that LLMs are the death of search engines. It’s true that some people are asking ChatGPT or Gemini questions instead of turning to Google. When someone turns to a LLM over Google, it does eat up a fraction of Google’s search monopoly. But a fraction is the keyword. 

SEMRush reports that Google searches account for 91.54% of the search market. Plus, that other 9% or so isn’t all going to LLMs; social media and Google competitors like Bing also are eating up some of the search market. Despite this trend, Google is still king in 2024.

What shows up on Google has changed

While readers are still Googling, what comes up first in search has changed. Gone are the days of nine websites with a meta description and title coming up for a Google query. Instead, Google has started to add AI overviews to many search results. These overviews allegedly pull from sources on the internet and link to articles and blogs where a reader can learn more. 

SEO Roundtable compiled a few of these new AI overviews, including this one on SEO character limit. 

The feedback on these AI overviews has been dismal. MIT has pointed out that these overviews have recommended eating one small rock a day for health and adding glue to pizza (we don’t recommend either). Plus, many people are frustrated by the incorrect information and how AI words its answers.

Despite this feedback, Google is committed to improving and rolling out more AI overviews. In the SEO world, that means marketing agencies and teams are now competing to be one of the three links in the AI overviews for relevant keywords, as opposed to the nine search results on Google’s first page.

Even when Google decides to not push an AI overview, they are replacing some of the first page real estate with an overview from one source and a People Also Ask section, as demonstrated by the result for this search on “how can I eat better?”

Bottom line, you will notice some impact to your SEO traffic and probably have been the last few months. Some sites have seen drops in traffic because the AI content is ranking ahead of other results before AI results were implemented. It's important to track any changes since these types of results started rolling out - around May 2024.

Best SEO Practices in 2024

Given AI’s impact on both content creation and what shows up in search results, SEO is a changed game. Keyword stuffing will no longer have as big of an impact as it used to. If you want to beat AI-generated content (which isn’t preferred by readers), create less, but higher quality content.

Other good SEO practices for 2024 include:

• Choose the right keywords and use them naturally throughout your content.
• Write standalone sections Google could use as a source for its AI overviews or featured overview.
• Develop a strong user experience that increases the time users spend on your website.
• Ensure your site has good authority (via backlinks and meeting Google’s E-E-A-T principles).
• Publish high quality content with insights from subject matter experts, research journals, and/or original research and data.
• Regularly update content so it’s accurate and timely.
• Add a FAQ to blogs with questions from the “People Also Ask” section of what’s currently ranking for your keyword.

While these are the best practices right now, SEO is evolving faster than ever before. To keep up, consider hiring an in-house SEO expert or a marketing agency who focuses on implementing the best SEO strategies for today (not two years ago).
At Two Wheels Marketing, our SEO specialists optimize SEO strategies and produce content that works for the current AI and SEO landscape. Plus, we’re staying up-to-date on SEO trends and best practices so you don’t have to. Learn more about how we can help you rank higher in search.