Gary Illyes, an analyst with the Google Search team, posted his reaction to a Microsoft Bing article written by Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan of Microsoft, about how AI Search is changing how conversions are measured.
Coevolve. Gary Illyes wrote on LinkedIn, “I know for sure however is that SEM and SEO will need to coevolve with search, just like it has the past 30 years.”
SEOs and SEMs will have to adapt as search evolves; which many SEOs have been doing since SEO became a service. And some of the best SEOs and SEMs have adapted and evolved over the years.
SEO is not dead. Gary Illyes also said, “SEO is not dead.”
Yes, these same best SEOs and SEMs have heard that SEO has died countless times as Google Search adapts and other search features are released. SEO has not died, it just is evolving, as search evolves.
Change is hard. And yes, Gary also added, “the change is hard to accept.” It is, change is never easy for most people. But those that can accept the change and ultimately embrace the change will be the first to be rewarded with these changes.
Why we care. In short, as most of our stories say when we cover these new features – make sure you play with the new features. Make sure you understand how searchers may use these features to discover your content and websites. And try to find ways to convert those users who are using those features into whatever conversion metric you want them to convert on.
It isn’t easy, it isn’t comfortable, it isn’t known, but it is likely the future.
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