AI-generated answers in the Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) do not match any links in the top 10 organic search results on Google 93.8% of the time.
That’s according to a new analysis by Authoritas, which focused primarily on commercial keywords.
Why we care Google SGE is expected to significantly reduce organic traffic to websites for many keywords because searchers will be able to get the answer directly to Google’s AI-generated answer. The one bright spot? Websites that cannot reach the top 10 organic results of Google may appear as links within SGE.
SGE often provides links to content that is not in the top organic results. According to the study:
In simple terms, when comparing the URLs generated by Google’s SGE content to the URLs that appear in regular (organic) search results, there is relatively little overlap. Only 4.5% of the time a generative content URL exactly matches an organic results URL. An even smaller percentage (1.6%) match at the domain level, meaning the generative content is from the same website as an organic result, but not exactly the same page. The vast majority of the time (93.8%), generative content introduces completely different URLs than organic search results.
And:
“93.8% of generative links (at least in this data set) came from sources outside of top-level organic domains. With only 4.5% of generative URLs directly matching an organic URL on page 1 and only 1.6% show a different URL from the same organic ranking domain.”
Links to SGE. Overall, on average, SGE shows about 10 links, but only about four unique links. Additionally, the links in SGE’s responses come from four unique websites. This means that on average two or three links in SGE responses point to the same website.
Percentage of keywords with SGE results. SGE showed 86.8% of the keywords in this analysis. This means that 13.2% of keywords failed to trigger SGE content.
The Generate button (where Google asks if you want to generate an AI response) version of SGE appeared 65.9% of the time, which was more common than the Show More button format (where Google shows you some of its AI generated response).
About the study. Data was collected for 1,000 business keywords, using data from a Google Chrome account holder connected to New York, over two days in December 2023. Includes keywords in 10 categories:
Automotive E-commerce & Retail Entertainment Fashion & Apparel Finance Food & Beverage Health & Wellness Legal Technology & Electronics Travel & Hospitality
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About the author
Danny Goodwin has been the editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX since 2022. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as a senior editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Expert (SME) program. Also helps schedule US SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He was previously executive editor of Search Engine Journal (2017-2022), editor-in-chief of Momentology (2014-2016), and editor from Search. Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at numerous major search conferences and virtual events, and has brought his expertise to bear in a wide range of publications and podcasts.
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