2024 will be the most seismic shift in search since the mid-2000s. Search results will offer a new level of personalization, powered by AI technology, that will forever change searcher behavior.
Search result answers and assets will be more integrated and synthesized. Marketers must think holistically about all the digital assets and information that can be returned in integrated and personal search results, not just the website.
Search results will be more predictive and personal. Consider touch points across the full end-to-end search journey to ensure that a brand’s ecosystem is poised for rapid acceleration of the data points Google pulls into search results.
Artificial intelligence will be a powerful acceleration tool. AI will initially fuel a search space inundated with low-quality noise to compete with. Align brand strategy, goals and concerns to use AI effectively.
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Top Three Search Predictions for 2024
Search results will be more integrated and synthesized
Search engine marketing will be more complex. Answers are no longer pulled only from website content, but sources across the web. This can include the brand’s owned assets like social, video, local content, press, user-generated content, and anything found online.
Paid and organic search results will become more integrated. Search features of all kinds will be more blended for a seamless searcher experience.
How marketers should respond:
Think holistically about all the digital assets and information that can be returned in integrated and personal search results, not just the website. Optimize the full digital portfolio for search, from websites and Google My Business profiles to social profiles and video channels.
Search results will be more reactive and predictive
Natural language processing will be at play as search engines learn what users respond to and leverage browser history to serve more visual and engaging AI-generated results.
Commerce could see a large lift in product inventory search as Google integrates more commerce features into search results. This could improve user experience, quicken conversions and increase user loyalty across multiple channels where sites can achieve scale in communicating their site assets to Google effectively.
How marketers should respond:
Consider touch points across the full search journey to ensure that a brand’s ecosystem is poised for rapid acceleration of the data points Google pulls into search results. Commerce brands should take inventory of how visible their products are to search engines. Brands with a strong local search presence should ensure Google My Business location profiles are optimized at scale for informational queries that could be brought into both search results and Google Maps.
Artificial Intelligence will accelerate change (and noise)
Initially, the web will be flooded with low-quality content, but the engines will adapt their algorithms accordingly. Expect engines to push updates more frequently as they adapt their algorithms to prevent this misuse.
As AI evolves to receive and understand real-time data, searchers will continue to expect and demand that all information attached to your brand is 100% accurate.
How marketers should respond:
Embrace AI technologies responsibly to speed up manual tasks like organizing, synthesizing and analyzing data to arrive at insights faster. Align brand strategy, goals and concerns to use AI effectively. Create and refine detailed prompts and check outputs for inaccuracies. For example, our VML search teams have explored how to leverage AI technologies to draft city-based tourism content, generate content for PDPs, and accelerate keyword research and organization.
How to fold these developments into your 2024 strategy:
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Follow users
Whether AI tools or Google, algorithms learn from and adapt based on user behavior. If you follow the algorithm, you’ll always be behind.
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Take inventory
Analyze the ways that your brand can be discovered across commerce, websites, local listings and social platforms.
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Track AI tools
Ensure your marketing teams are tracking developments in AI-powered tools relevant to your vertical.
Download the VML Discoverability Trends report to get your teams up to speed on all things search in 2024.
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