Should you invest in SEO in 2024 after SGE update?
Believe it or not, they’re saying “SEO is dead” once again.
Just last month, I came across an article that was sounding the death knell for the whopping $68 billion SEO industry, all thanks to Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience) update.
What caught me off guard wasn’t the repetitive claim that “SEO is dead”. No, it was the fact that I was hearing this from a media source, not someone ingrained in the world of SEO.
This SGE update seems to be stirring up quite a bit of public concern. So, today, let’s talk about whether or not you should persist with your SEO efforts, looking at it from a business standpoint.
Whether you’re steeped in SEO or come from a different marketing background, there’s one key takeaway I want you to get from our discussion:
Yes, you absolutely should continue investing in SEO.
However, it’s best to steer clear of a certain sub-type of SEO — the relatively new and debated ‘parasite SEO strategy’.
SEO is far from being dead and it’s worth keeping your stake in this game. If you’re new to the scene, you can even leverage this SGE update to gain significantly more visibility from search engines.
If you are not familiar with SEO, here’s a short summary of the SGE update incident
Google often updates its algorithm and user interface for its most beloved product — Google Search. These changes, as we in the SEO world see them, are promoting a zero-click page that discourages visitors from clicking through to the actual source websites.
That’s where the phrase “SEO is dead” originates. With every update, Google seems to be reducing the need for searchers to click through to a website to find the answers or information they’re seeking.
This impacts the return on investment (ROI) for SEO efforts. Businesses use SEO to drive traffic to their websites, converting these visitors into paying customers.
Now, with the latest SGE (Search Generative Experience) update, businesses are starting to question whether they should continue investing in SEO as a part of their marketing strategy.
Is SGE going to be the end of SEO?
The straightforward answer is, absolutely not.
Having spent five years in this sector, I’ve heard the phrase “SEO is dead” more times than I can count, and I can’t help but question if it’s different this time.
I scoured the internet and stumbled upon an expert with a decade more experience than me, who shared this insight:
“If I had to count, SEO has probably died thousands of times since I started doing it almost 15 years ago.
First it was Panda, then social media, then featured snippets, now it will be SGE.
The truth is, SGE is not going kill SEO anytime soon.
It may greatly change how we approach it, but I believe SEO still has a pretty long life ahead.”
Those are the words of Jill Caren, a seasoned veteran with over 15 years of experience in the SEO industry, and the current SEO Director of Content at Scale.
Every time Google introduces a new update that appears to divert clicks away from webmasters, it also presents fresh chances to gain exposure on the web.
It even creates opportunities for websites that may not have the resources to create content, providing them a shot at securing business from Google. i.e. Google My Business (now known as Google Business Profile)
And just like the previous updates, the SGE update also brings a wave of new opportunities for all businesses making their debut in the online space.
Good News: SEO is no longer just for the top 3
Once upon a time, SEO was a winner-take-all game, with the top three search results hogging almost all the clicks. The result ranking first raked in an average CTR of 32.65%, while the one languishing at the tenth spot could only muster a measly 1.03%.
Check it out for yourself: Google Organic CTR
However, with the introduction of the SGE update, the underdog at the tenth spot now has a fighting chance.
Notice those links on the right side? They aren’t always populated by the top three search results. The answer generated by Bard is a thoughtful summary of the valuable content found across all ten results.
This means that even if your website is ranked at the bottom of the pile, you still have a chance to be cited by Bard in the answer and being positioned in the most clickable spot of the whole search result page.
And if you’re new to the SEO battle, don’t fret. You now have a better chance of getting clicks to your website, even if you don’t rank at the top. A new opportunity has arrived.
The more detailed you write your content, the more visibility you’ll gain from the new “Follow up question”
Google currently has the “People Also Ask” feature for those users who are keen to dig deeper into information related to their primary search.
However, The new “Follow up question” feature shakes things up a bit.
Instead of just extending the primary search to generate “People Also Ask” questions, the SGE algorithm now scans all 10 top-ranked articles and compiles a list of “Follow up questions”.
So, what does this mean for you? First and foremost, it signifies the importance of writing in-depth, comprehensive articles. By ‘comprehensive’, I mean your content should cover all the sub-topics or ideas that are semantically connected across the SERP.
Furthermore, if you can deliver content on sub-topics from a unique perspective, you may find your content forming the basis of a new “Follow up question”.
And there’s more good news. Even if you’re sitting at the 10th position in the rankings, your content can still be picked up by Bard.
I can’t emphasize this enough: strive to create content that’s as comprehensive as possible. The more detailed your content, the greater the likelihood of it being featured in Bard’s answer.
We should also consider the size, not only the rate
Google is too big to fall. The growth of Google Search can always compensate the lose of the clicks.
Consider these statistics:
- numbers of Google searches in 2012: 1.2 trillion
- numbers of Google searches in 2022: 9.5 trillion
These numbers are expected to rise even more.
Despite the emergence of competitors like Bing, which is now powered by OpenAI’s GPT, Google still firmly holds the majority — or rather, dominates — the search engine market.
To me, the expansion of Google Search is also an indictor of searching becoming the go-to approach for seeking information online.
And given this trend, I can’t project a decline in the use of internet search behaviour.
Therefore, why would we abandon a distribution channel that is capable of touching billions of people every day?
Parasite SEO may not work anymore
Parasite SEO is an interesting strategy.
It takes advantage of the high domain authority of well-known sites like LinkedIn and Quora. When you write content on these platforms, you’re more likely to see your work show up in Google’s search results.
This is largely because these sites already have a solid reputation and established brand authority.
However, this parasite SEO may no longer be a viable strategy. For instance, answers from Bard don’t seem to cite these websites.
This insight came to me while researching for this article, and I have Emily Gertenbach’s video to thank for it. In her video, she ran an experiment with the query “How much does a CMS cost?” and interestingly, Quora wasn’t included in the citations.
I decided to run my own tests.
I queried Bard with the same question 10 times, and not once did Quora or Capterra (a software review site) show up in the citations.
Interestingly, sites from the “People Also Ask” (PPA) section can also claim the top spot in the citations.
If Google decides to roll out the current version of SGE, the parasite SEO strategy might lose its effectiveness. This means businesses will have no choice but to focus on improving their own websites to secure a spot in Google’s search results.
Conclusion
An investment is an action of performing a decision after researching on an issue or topic. I hope this article provides valuable insights that guide your next steps in crafting an effective SEO strategy.
Keep investing in SEO — but do it in a smarter way.
