Schedule your personal demo

Learn how the Answers Platform enables brands to capture and retain consumer traffic from all corners of the web.

What happens next?

  • A team member will schedule a short call to align on your brand's digital strategy.

  • We'll follow up with a personalized search consultation to identify gaps in your online performance.

  • Finally, you'll get a live demo of the Yext solutions that best serve your business goals and target audiences. Today, all journeys start with questions. Answer them with Yext.

loading icon
Explore the Answers Platform

Content

Organize your content with a next-generation CMS built for AI.

Listings

Deliver answers across a network of 200+ integration partners.

Pages

Publish answers with landing pages built for SEO and conversion.

Reviews

Manage crowdsourced answers about your products and services.

Search

Deliver direct answers across websites, apps, and workspaces.

Analytics

Unlock actionable insights on the performance of your answers.

Chat

Build an accurate and natural language chat experience.

Social

Amplify your brand's social presence across a variety of 3rd party sites.

Integrations

Zendesk

Improve your Zendesk help site and streamline the resolution process.

Salesforce

Easily sync data between Salesforce and Yext to improve workflows.

Adobe

Supercharge your Adobe website with Search.

WordPress

Drag and drop Yext site search onto your WordPress site.

Drupal

Enhance your Drupal website with Search.

Freshdesk

Empower customers and agents to self serve and get direct answers.

View All

Marketing

Location Listings

Site Search

Reputation Management

View All

Support

Help Site Search

Case Form Deflection

Agent Desktop Search

SEO for Help Center

View All

Commerce

Ecommerce Search

Landing Pages

Guided Buying Flow

Where to Buy

View All

Workplace

Industries

Financial Services

Healthcare

Public Sector

High Tech

Food Services

View all

Customer Stories

View All

Blog

Stay up-to-date with insights and commentary from industry experts.

Publications

Read our latest ebooks, reports, and whitepapers.

Events

Find upcoming and on-demand events.

Hitchhikers

Explore our self-serve training platform and user community.

Customer Stories

See how our customers are leveraging Yext

Support

Get support and find the answers to your product questions.

Documentation

This is your one-stop-shop for getting started guides, product reference and API docs.

Community

Ask questions, share best practices, and engage with fellow developers

Start Building

A playground account lets you experiment with Yext for 90 days.

About

Yext is the Answers Company.

Press

News and noteworthy

Investors

The latest financial information

Careers

The next big thing in your career.

Partners

Find or become a Yext partner.

See how Yext can transform your search experience anywhere people ask questions about you
Sign inContact UsSupport
English (US)English (UK)DeutschFrançais日本(日本語
Sign inContact UsSupport
English (US)English (UK)DeutschFrançais日本(日本語
  • Home
  • Blog
  • SEO Tips to Help You Succeed in the Age of Generative AI Search

Industry Insights

4 min

SEO Tips to Help You Succeed in the Age of Generative AI Search

Generative AI experiences is transforming the way consumer search is conducted — and it will change SEO, as well.

By Duane Forrester

Jun 26, 2023

4 min
MarketingMarketing

Over the past 25 years, the work of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become progressively more intricate and complex. Today, the emergence of generative AI experiences has further transformed the landscape for marketers and consumers, leading to significant changes in the way search is conducted.

In this environment, time has become a critical factor. For consumers, time seems to expand: they can accomplish more in a given minute than ever before. On the other hand, businesses face the pressure of delivering more and faster, as consumers' expectations continue to rise.

To keep up with these demands, businesses must invest in tools and platforms to streamline their operations, maximize time usage, and engage with consumers in the most effective ways. Failing to adopt this platformed approach puts businesses at a disadvantage, resulting in wasted time, delayed engagement, and eroded consumer trust.

How SGE Is Impacting Search and SEO

Within this complex digital marketing landscape, one of the most recent additions impacting SEO — from an AI standpoint — is Google's Bard and the Search Generative Experience (SGE).

Although still in the experimental phase, Google's SGE integrates a conversational robot, Bard associated with PaLM2, into Google Search. This integration has changed search engine results pages (SERPs), with long queries displaying AI-powered snapshots above the standard search results. Large Language Models, like ChatGPT, have limitations in processing real-time data due to their fixed model. However, Google's SGE and BingChat have effectively bridged this gap, reducing instances of "recency failure" and providing more up-to-date information, particularly in certain verticals.

These changes not only impact the way people formulate their queries but also influence the structure of SERPs. Consequently, SEO practices must adapt to these evolving dynamics.

At its core, SEO has always been about improving the user experience. Technical SEO remains essential for every webpage, as shortcuts in user experience can put a page at a disadvantage compared to its competitors. In a search environment where the main answer displayed holds significant importance, the pressure to ensure accuracy is immense. Search engines, like Google, can prioritize Core Web Vitals and other signals — such as review data — as they contribute to building trust in a webpage.

There has been a lot of discussion about leveraging the power of generative AI systems like ChatGPT, BingChat, and SGE to optimize SEO strategies. This extends beyond content generation to include tasks such as identifying relevant keywords, analyzing competitor websites, optimizing links, code, and HTML tags, and assessing performance. While some of this information can be readily obtained with well-formed prompts, it is crucial for SEO professionals to go beyond surface-level data and verify the accuracy and relevance of the insights. Building trust in a business requires thorough analysis and a commitment to providing accurate and reliable information.

Searcher behavior has also undergone significant changes in the era of generative AI search. Queries can be categorized into three distinct flavors: simple, complex, and generative.

Simple queries seek concise information, while complex queries involve multiple factors. Generative queries, on the other hand, are open-ended and require conversational robots to act as personal advisors. Users now expect search engines to not only answer their questions but also solve their problems. As a result, businesses must be prepared to address a wide range of questions, including traditional "who," "what," "where," and "when," as well as "why" and "how." The ability to provide comprehensive answers and solutions is crucial in this evolving landscape.

Tips To Succeed In Generative AI-based Search

To succeed in this new world of generative AI-based search, businesses must work through a collection of steps without taking shortcuts.

Here are seven steps to success:

  1. Building content that comprehensively answers a range of questions and establishes authority

  2. Recognizing the importance of content depth, as superficial content will not be effective, especially for long-tail queries where AI systems can generate answers. Ask yourself: does the complexity of your answer match the complexity of the question?

  3. Prioritizing EEAT (experience, expertise, authority, trust) as crucial factors for success: demonstrating expertise, establishing authority, and building trust are essential components of an effective SEO strategy

  4. Adapting to the increasing use of voice search, which alters the length of queries and shifts the focus from "keywords" to broader "topics" or complete questions

  5. Emphasizing high-quality user experiences across all aspects, including site speed, content depth, topical coverage, and more

  6. Revamping content and SEO strategies to cater to "hyper-long tail" queries and positioning the brand as an experienced authority; analyzing site search experiences and identifying content gaps are crucial in this process

  7. Recognizing the significance of being the next answer or link after the AI-Powered Snapshot in Google's SERP: as searchers increasingly find answers without leaving the search experience, securing the next spot becomes critical — and what we know of click density across ranked spots is becoming obsolete

As we adapt to this new era of search, we can anticipate changes in consumer behavior, expectations, and search engine ranking algorithms.

Whether we agree or disagree with the new direction search engines are taking, consumer acceptance will ultimately shape the future. Amidst these changes, businesses have more services, platforms, and opportunities to ensure their success. By embracing these changes, building trust, and delivering exceptional user experiences, businesses can position themselves as winners in this evolving landscape.

Interested in more tips? Continue reading about four things marketers need to know about AI.

Read Next: The Four Essential AI Use Cases

Learn about the strengths, limitations, and real-world applications of AI across industries.

Download Now

Share this Article

Read Next

loading icon
loading icon
View Content Library