How Google’s Generative Experience reduces site traffic — Krista Brea // Morningstar

Krista Brea, Senior SEO Manager at Morningstar, talks about Google's generative experience and its impact on site traffic. Although Google's generative experience hasn't been officially released, the company has been quietly preparing for AI integration with the recent removal of FAQ rich results from Google search. This change has implications for site traffic as it is already reducing clicks to websites that previously relied on FAQ snippets for traffic generation. Today, Krista discusses how Google's generative experience reduces site traffic.
About the speaker

Krista Brea

Morningstar

is a little camera shy

Krista is Senior SEO Manager at Morningstar.

  • Part 1 How Google’s Generative Experience reduces site traffic — Krista Brea // Morningstar

Show Notes

  • 02:10
    The impact of generative search on site traffic
    With the introduction of AI and generative search, Google is able to provide direct answers to basic questions right in the search results. As a result, website owners may experience a decline in traffic to their pages and face challenges in attracting new visitors via content.
  • 06:15
    Understanding and adapting to AI in search to maintain or improve site traffic
    In April, Google started pulling FAQ rich results out of Google search. By using Google's Search Labs and GSC, and examining how AI-generated search results answer questions and present follow-up queries, website owners can optimize their content to potentially regain lost traffic.
  • 11:04
    The potential advantages of generative search for websites
    Google's Search Generation AI scans the top 10 pages in search results and generates responses, citing the sources it used to gather information. Websites with content on page one of Google could be cited as sources by the AI, potentially boosting their visibility.
  • 16:12
    Strategies for competing and succeeding in search in the AI era
    In response to generative search, it is going to be crucial to narrow down our focus to what we are extremely good at and build out our knowledge bases. Ultimately, well need to avoid broad approaches and instead, hone in on specialized expertise to outperform competitors.
  • 17:19
    The future of AI powered search and its impact on content
    The AI may learn from users' search queries to tailor responses based on past engagement, potentially personalizing the content shown to users. For sensitive areas like financial advice, AI-generated responses are not yet comprehensive, but basic queries will be addressed via AI.
  • 21:42
    Leveraging AI for content creation and SEO strategy
    AI should be leveraged alongside human editing for content creation. An uptick in FAQs generating more traffic is anticipated with AIs introduction to search. Tools like ChatGPT can generate some of those answers and update old blog posts to get picked back up in the search.
  • 25:21
    Leveraging AI to create sustainable content
    Its crucial to use AI to enhance content rather than relying on it completely to create all your content. The key is to identify opportunities where you can fill in some gaps in your content to offer more value to your audience.

Quotes

  • "In the last two years, we've been relying on our content to introduce new visitors via search. But now AI may be challenging that." - Krista Brea

  • "If generative search is going to answer basic questions when users are just coming into Google, they may not need to come over to your site, because they're getting that information directly in Google Search." - Krista Brea

  • "In April, Google quietly started pulling FAQ rich results out of Google Search. Whereas before, we were getting over 1000 visitors a day, we're now getting less than 50 visitors a day from FAQ." - Krista Brea

  • "When you're asking questions to Google with search generation, it's actually scanning the answer to find the answers within the top 10 pages that are coming up." - Krista Brea

  • "There could be some advantage to generative search as websites might receive clicks by being highlighted in a Featured Snippet-type area, compared to being at the bottom of page one." - Krista Brea

  • "Be very careful with using AI in terms of just taking content, and copying and pasting it. My rule of thumb is to use less than 30% of AI-generated content on a page." - Krista Brea

  • "If you're trying to create long-term, sustainable content, AI is not going to produce that for you." - Krista Brea

  • "If you want to generate a 1000-word blog post, but you could only come up with 700 words, maybe that's a good opportunity to leverage AI to quickly flesh it out for you." - Krista Brea

  • Part 1 How Google’s Generative Experience reduces site traffic — Krista Brea // Morningstar
About the speaker

Krista Brea

Morningstar

is a little camera shy

Krista is Senior SEO Manager at Morningstar.

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  • Current Podcast

    Part 1How Google’s Generative Experience reduces site traffic — Krista Brea // Morningstar

    Krista Brea, Senior SEO Manager at Morningstar, talks about Google's generative experience and its impact on site traffic. Although Google's generative experience hasn't been officially released, the company has been quietly preparing for AI integration with the recent removal of FAQ rich results from Google search. This change has implications for site traffic as it is already reducing clicks to websites that previously relied on FAQ snippets for traffic generation. Today, Krista discusses how Google's generative experience reduces site traffic.