Watch out for these 7 trends in 2024 and three top priorities
In 2023, we witnessed the rise of AI-powered search and significant evolution of the SERPs with the arrival of Google’s Search Generative Experience, as well as Bing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat).
Google’s new AI model, Gemini, is its largest and most advanced, capable of understanding text, code, audio, images and video. We expect to see its full potential unleashed on Google Search in 2024.
Meanwhile, Google continues to stress the importance of quality and experience while using AI models as a key component of ranking and re-ranking. Google released several algorithm updates this year around the quality of content and page experience.
Using AI is acceptable to Google for generating content as long as it is highly relevant and offers value. A topical entity-first approach is now a key competitive advantage. Strengthening the technical foundation of your platform to improve discovery and experience is critical.
Bottom line: futureproofing digital presence for AI search should be a major priority for all brands in 2024.
Read on to discover seven key trends that should influence your roadmap in 2024, as well as three must-haves for success.
7 trends that will influence your strategic roadmap in 2024
These are the top seven trends we will notice in 2024.
1. SERP and visual optimization
In Google SGE and the SERPs, rich results will continue to evolve. We expect that zero-click results will increase due to SGE. Therefore, ongoing SERP optimization is essential. Want to see the AI-generated answer? Continue to publish pages that load quickly and are filled with valuable, unique, relevant content. Some specific areas to prioritize:
Experiential/informational videos.
Web stories.
- Podcasts.
- Webinars.
- Visual optimization.
- FAQ/PAA.
- 2. Helpful content and content intelligence
- A rock-solid content strategy will be essential in 2024:
Find and fill relevant content gaps.
Review content performance.
- Create personalized content based on user intent and touchpoints.
- Create and optimize various types of helpful content (e.g., topical and informational, localized, visual).
- You want to demonstrate high levels of E-E-A-T and publish content written or reviewed by subject matter experts or demonstrate hands-on experience.
- Every search happens because someone wants or needs something. Your content should assist searchers in achieving goals or completing tasks. Your strategy should include the creation of buyer personas. Content should be created based on buyer personas at each touchpoint. Survey your customers and ensure content and UX align with the strategy.
Content intelligence
– knowing what type of content will perform, based on data – should become your foundation of content creation. It’s true that generative AI plugins and tools can create content quickly, but they are often unclear about:
What types of content will perform well.
How humanize content.How forecast the effectiveness a content strategy. Content creators will need to establish a data-driven method of measuring the effectiveness and value of their content. Engagement and experience
User interactions and engagement are important factors that shape Google’s search results.
- Google wants to reward expert-level content that is compelling and meets the needs of searchers.
- Your goal in 2024 should be to improve the quality and experience for searchers by improving the quality of your content and experience of your digital assets.
- 4. Personalized experience
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said search will evolve substantively in the next 10 years. Search will become more personalized, affecting users more deeply and meaningfully. Google may have introduced its personalized search experience on Nov. 15 to give users more information directly in the search results. You should also give your customers personalized experience based on their identity, what they’re looking for and from where they come. This means tighter integration between your CDP (customer database platform) and CRM systems in order to provide a more personalized experience.
Clean Data, Audience Segmentation, and Data-driven Campaigns to Personalize Experience are Critical Strategies to Win in 2024. Multichannel Approach
Take full advantage of the limited organic listings and increasingly competitive SERP real-estate. That means optimizing the customer journey across various channels and content types:
Videos.
Images.
FAQs.
PAAs.
News.
Webinars.
Be everywhere. Be consistent.
6. Local strategy needs to be more personal, localized and experiential.
If you have a local presence for your brand, consider adding localized experiences in order to increase expertise, engagement, and traffic. For destination-based content, think:
Local posts.
- Quality images.
- Videos.
- Web stories.
- Listings management alone will not be enough. The entire local consumer journey must be optimized – from the landing page through to audience interaction across all channels. Brand mentions, social proof and other sources of information
- We know that LLMs have been trained to use a wide range of resources in order to compile the results.
Understand what specific questions/topics your customers are seeking answers for, where they will get this information, and ensure we create targeted strategies.
Find ways to get/earn brand mentions and citations from well-respected sources and relevant influencers (ideally with a substantial social following).
3 priorities for staying ahead in changing times
- With all the changes taking place, staying ahead of the curve and the changing times is imperative. Keep up or you’ll be left behind. Technical Infrastructure which Enables Integrated, Robust Experience
- Having a solid technical foundation is a must-have for 2024. A robust experience is ensured by a solid technical foundation. This includes the ability of centralizing all your data for meaningful dashboards, and insights into customer journeys, component-based architectural that allows one-click personalized experiences and omnichannel, security infrastructure, and fast server response.
- Dig deeper. Future-proofing digital experiences in AI First Semantic Search.
- 2. Adopting New MetricsAs AI provides answers to search queries, it is likely that traffic will decline. Organic listings will become more fragmented as more Google properties serve content within their search results. They will also be pushed down the page. Traditional metrics such as rankings will be even less important than they are today. New metrics are emerging. Brands must consider adopting these new measures of success, such as:
Rich snippet visibility.
Pixel height and width.
Impressions.
Clicks.
On-site engagement.
Conversions.
3. AI-Enabled Organization and Worker Alignment.
By understanding how AI can be applied in your everyday life, you will become more efficient in creating content outline, images, custom images and summaries. “A common fear that has existed since AI’s advent is that AI will take over your job. Don’t worry!”
According to Eric Enge, AI is not intelligent and will not take your job. However, there is a key need to adapt because AI can be used to do your job better,” according to Eric Enge.
Are you ready for 2024?
Smart organizations in 2024 will:
Integrate channels to enable intelligent decisions.
Connect customer journeys across touchpoints when creating an omnichannel strategy.
Measure the right metrics, including zero-click and AI results.
Prioritize training across the organization.
Some individual and organizational transformations will be needed. For example:
- Content writers should evolve into content strategists.
- Developers should create exceptional experiences.
- Analytics teams should become business analysts.
- Get familiar with AI. Learn to use large language models for forecasting, content generation and analyzing user behavior.
- There are many ways to use AI to simultaneously improve your day-to-day efficiency
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