Where to focus your efforts

The first half of 2024 in SEO land was never boring.

Between algorithm leaks, a big core update, AI Overviews (the debut, the blowback and the pullback) and antitrust litigation hovering in the background, the headlines have created a whole lot of noise over the last few months.

Forget the noise, though. What are the most important initiatives to tackle for the rest of the year?

Well, Google’s been surprisingly forthright lately, which helps us zero in on a few biggies:

• Topic authority.
• AI Overviews (they’re sticking around, after all).
• Optimizing non-Google properties.

1. Core update: Focus on authority

Google’s March 2024 core update really focused on cleaning up poor content and promoting better, more valuable content.

What we’re seeing (and it’s been echoed in other findings) is that building topic authority has been highly effective in signaling to Google that your content is worthy of strong rankings.

Whether you should go broad or deep (or both) to build topic authority depends somewhat on your vertical. Your approach to content should, as usual, be grounded in knowledge of the customer – and, for B2B, your customer’s customer. 

For instance, if you’re selling software that makes it easier for banks to underwrite mortgages, content that tells banks how your product can ultimately benefit first-time home buyers is golden.

Going broad can be achieved by bringing other people into your content strategy. That can mean: 

• Finding guest bloggers.
• Bringing in experts from cross-disciplinary industries.
• Highlighting audience testimonials of the product in use in different settings and scenarios.
• Covering topics pulled directly from audience feedback. (Whether good or bad, stay in close contact with your sales and CS teams, and you’ll get some great nuggets.)

One of the ways we love to help our clients establish depth of authority is with proprietary data, research and benchmarking that informs reporting and analysis. SaaS companies can also hit different audience segments with technical deep dives. 

Whatever your product or service, if you know what your audience needs to understand and why you’re the exact brand that needs to help them get there, make sure that’s reflected in your content strategy.

2. Embrace AI Overviews

About those AI Overviews, they’re here and although they’re not as ubiquitous right now as they were in May, I expect that to be temporary. Google will lean into these to make them a big part of the search experience.

How can you take what we know from the early days and shape your strategy for leveraging them?

Set up your tracking

To adapt, you need to know what’s actually happening. Impressions, clicks, CTR and on-site user behavior should all be part of your reporting from GA4, Google Search Console and any other platforms you’re accessing.

One note here: it’s probably too early to measure the actual impact of AI Overviews on your business. 

• We know that even if your brand is linked as a reference in AI Overviews, you’re likely not getting many clicks on that link. 
• We also know that if you’re included in AI Overviews links, it’s highly likely that linked content also ranks highly in the SERPs. 

Getting a “before and after” picture of how all of that is shaking out in things like organic conversions and revenue will inform not just your approach to SEO but any mitigating effects you need to pursue in other channels.

Double down on E-E-A-T

In general, you should stay the course on SEO fundamentals like:

• Understanding keyword intent and building content accordingly.
• Using internal and external links.
• Mastering metadata.

But E-E-A-T might be the fundamental that needs the most attention right now.

To address E-E-A-T, make sure you’re:

• Using facts and data.
• Citing experts when needed.
• Building out your authors’ profiles.
• Writing with clarity and readability in mind.
• Including all relevant keywords in your content. 

There’s also a bigger opportunity to expand E-E-A-T off of Google, which I’ll discuss in a minute.

Go for objectivity over quick sales

I love teaching clients that presenting opposing or alternate viewpoints is great for rankings. These days, users are quick to dismiss content that’s overtly promotional and much more swayed by entities that acknowledge a range of viewpoints. 

If Google successfully uses AI to surface content users want to read, this approach will help you succeed in the AI Overview landscape. 

3. Optimize non-Google properties

“One of the ways to be successful with Google Search is to think beyond it,” Danny Sullivan told us in June. 

I’ve been preaching this for a while, largely because Google has been leading us not-so-subtly in that direction. 

E-E-A-T’s tenets can be incredibly effectively addressed on platforms like Quora, Reddit, TikTok and industry-specific forums, which is one reason Google has been willing to incorporate them into the SERP.

The nature of those platforms, too – highlighting expert POVs, soliciting and promoting strong, authoritative positions and generally putting actual people front and center – is an extremely strong juxtaposition to AI Overviews. 

Brands that can harness the power of platforms like TikTok stand to build potent connections with their users in a way that Google search can’t – as my colleague, Kelly Ayres, laid out so well in a presentation for SMX Advanced in June.

Among Ayres’ tips (but honestly, you should watch the whole thing):

• Prioritize providing value to users over promoting your brand every time.
• Be authentic – if this is hard to do in a brand voice, rely on employees and influencers and generally invest more in UGC.
• Showcase customer reviews, testimonials and success stories whenever possible.
• Use tools like GA to identify trends in user behavior on your website that you can leverage in other channels.
• Follow the data to make changes and optimizations (just like you would on Google).

The benefits of this strategy are potentially massive – you won’t just find and engage new pockets of users. You’ll likely get a nice halo of awareness from that content being pulled onto Google.

Key strategies to prioritize for maximum impact

The one initiative I haven’t covered here is an evergreen one: pay attention to news and trends from your favorite sources (if you’re reading this, I assume you would wisely include Search Engine Land on that list). 

I know firsthand that interest in SEO is extremely high right now, which is great for business but can make it hard to stay current. But the winds of change are blowing pretty hard, especially considering the added dynamic of AI Overviews. So make sure you’re carving out time to monitor the shifts to come.