Gary Illyes from Google said that even for him "the change is hard to accept" when it comes to how search is changing and evolving with the new AI features. He said this in response to an article published on the Bing Webmaster Blog written by both Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan of Microsoft named How AI Search Is Changing the Way Conversions are Measured.
Gary wrote this on LinkedIn saying:
Intriguing post from Fabrice Canel: How AI Search Is Changing the Way Conversions are MeasuredAs someone who started out using Lycos and Altavista, I find the current search landscape challenging to grasp. Rationally I understand it: search is evolving to cater to a new generation of users whose behaviors and needs are wildly different from my own, but the change is hard to accept nonetheless. (1). One thing I know for sure however is that SEM and SEO will need to coevolve with search, just like it has the past 30 years (cos SEO is not dead 2).
"Instead of scrolling through lists of blue links, people now explore through conversations, ask follow-up questions, and build confidence long before they reach a website. This new path to conversion means brands and content owners must stop chasing clicks and focus on the signals that truly drive outcomes."
This change, although crazy exciting, has been challenging for the SEO and PPC industry. Clicks are down, search marketing is under threat, and everyone has their two cents on the matter. But very few are admitting the truth, it is "hard to accept."
I really do believe we will adapt, some are already and some are not. I mean, we've been through a lot of change before and the best search marketers thrived and accepted those changes. But this is the biggest change we had to search in the past 20 years or so.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
