SEMRush, along with Ahrefs and Moz, is one of the most recognized names in the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) with its eponymous SEO tool. I interviewed its president, Eugene Levine, to get his thoughts on the impact of AI on the world of search, how disruptive generative artificial intelligence (GAI) could be to an industry that ‘faces its biggest challenge since Google launched almost 25 years ago. does. He talks about how he believes search will evolve into a multi-dimensional experience and why GAI-based search engines may be the next big thing.
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1. Let’s start with an easy one. What is your personal view on generative AI as a concept?
I think this is a new technology that a lot of people have been waiting for. For me, in terms of long-term impact, this will be on par with personal computers, the Internet, and smartphones. I see many similarities between generative AI and the great disruptive technologies of the past.
It allows people to do things they couldn’t do before. Personal computers have democratized many areas of the economy. For example, more people could go into software engineering that was once an option only for those with access to very expensive mainframes. Generative AI allows people to do creative tasks even if they lack certain technical skills. You don’t need to be a professional painter to create great concept art with Midjourney, and you don’t need to be a professional copywriter to write great blog posts with our tools.
Increases productivity. Smartphones enabled people to connect and improved the efficiency of business communication. Generative AI can act as a co-pilot to tackle mundane tasks. For HR professionals, you can write job descriptions and interview questions. For software developers, you can write unit tests and comments. This will free up a lot of time that can be used on more productive tasks.
It can disrupt some industries. Computers and the Internet ended up displacing bank tellers. But while doing this, these technologies created more jobs. With generative AI, I can see a lot of disruption in the customer service industry. But there will be plenty of new jobs for people to train and perfect AI.
2. What will SEMrush (and its competitors) do to keep track of what’s happening in an environment where the traditional SERP will disappear?
The “Traditional SERP” has been gone for some time now. What we see today are many different search elements combined differently based on a query and a search intent. These elements have very little to do with the classic “10 blue links” interface from the dawn of the Internet. We now have images, product listings, structured text, videos, and many other elements designed to provide instant responses, such as featured snippets.
I see the use of generative AI in research as a continuation of this trend. What we’ve seen so far in Google’s closed beta is really a larger highlight that relies on multiple sources instead of one. There will be use cases where these new generative AI elements provide the best user experience, and then there will be use cases where the new elements are no better than what Google currently uses. Try searching for “how old is tom cruise”. I doubt the search result and overall UX could improve much from what you see today.
But from a technical standpoint, this is really just one more item to follow. Like many of our competitors, we’ve been adding new features all the time. So for us, this is just another day at the office.
Google has to trust the authority of a page or domain, which makes backlinks increasingly important.
About generative AI and content
3. Someone told me that a Wikipedia page might be a good place to start looking at the future of SERPs. Do you agree?
Many people predicted that once search engines started using generative AI, informational websites like Wikipedia would suffer the most. The idea is that if people can get an answer directly from the search, they don’t have to go to Wikipedia and read the article. While this idea sounds logical, it is not what we are seeing today. For example, Bing implemented generative AI in search a few months ago. But in absolute numbers, Bing now sends more traffic to Wikipedia than it did a year ago.
This happens because asking the question and learning are two different experiences. You can’t get the full picture just by asking questions you just don’t know what to ask. So what we’re seeing now is that people are spending more time asking different questions on Bing and figuring out what they want to learn. Then, once they’ve made up their minds, they go to the source material to gain more knowledge.
4. Generative AI is now an integral part of the offerings of many website builders (eg Wix, Hostinger, Godaddy, etc.). What impact will this have on SEO in general?
The generative AI now available to website builders and other platforms is great, because it levels the playing field for small and medium-sized business owners, allowing them to better compete with larger companies that have more resources .
On the other hand, these generative AI models need guidance. They don’t know what people are searching for, what topics are easy to rank for a particular website, and how Google sees the world. That’s why major web presence players like Wix and Yoast partner with us or offer keyword research capabilities to their clients. When it comes to SEO, generative AI without data is like a brain without eyes.
Another problem is the proliferation of substantially similar content. If Jon and Jill use the same generative AI model to cover the same topic and publish the same content, how can Google decide which article is better? In this case, Google has to trust the authority of a page or domain, which makes backlinks increasingly important.
5. In the notes of this interview, you mentioned new tools and new search engines that will emerge as part of the GAI revolution. Can you elaborate on this?
While there’s never been much competition for Google in the search industry, and Bing isn’t capturing substantial market share since they’ve been operating on Open AI’s GPT-4, I think search could be more competitive over the next five years.
The rise of new search engines powered by generative AI could begin to roll out in the near term, which is a big thing for the industry, as competition always creates elevated customer experiences.
The advent of new search engines means marketers and business owners can appear in (and compete for) more places online and rank well by using digital marketing and SEO best practices, always that take advantage of the best tools on the market. We believe that Google will remain the leading search engine for many years, but competitors may start to take some market share.
6. How can GAI make publishers and media companies more valuable? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
One of the key concerns with AI-generated content is that sourcing and linking to factual information is weak, making it prone to plagiarism and misinformation.
I think generative AI is great for creating content, but it should always be reviewed, edited and fact-checked before publishing. Without this, we simply cannot trust the output of what is generated with AI. This will mean that today’s media publications will increase in value as one of the few trusted sources and destinations for real information, as long as they don’t over-index on generative AI.
Over the next few years, we will be able to see all first drafts generated by AI and then reviewed by humans. We may also begin to see media publications and websites watermark (or more clearly identify) specific sections of AI-produced content, so that the reader can delineate between what was human and what was AI-generated. Regardless, major media brands should be seen as a badge of quality, trust and credibility in what is now a much noisier content environment.
Over the next few years, we will be able to see all first drafts generated by AI and then reviewed by humans
About AI content
7. Interest in end-user GAI (eg front-end Bard or ChatGPT) is bound to cool as back-end GAI (GAI-as-a-service?) rises What do you think? ?
I believe that, in the near term, the biggest commercial successes will be around the co-pilot capabilities of generative AI applied to multiple industries. I expect a big boost in software development, human resources, customer service and design software.
One of the companies to monitor is, of course, Microsoft. They have unique access to OpenAI and that is their main focus now. If you watch their moves closely, you’ll come to the conclusion that generative AI implementations in their consumer products, like Bing, aren’t as important to them as adding co-pilot features to virtually all of their big B2B products. Even ChatGPT, which launched as a viral consumer product, is now moving towards a business productivity personal assistant product.
8. Do you think that with its global footprint (two billion mobile devices with at least the same number of monthly/daily active users), its access to trillions of images (via Google Photos), videos (Youtube) and text (via Google Books and Google Search), Google has already won the generative AI battle for search. If not, how do you think he will crystallize the threat to his hegemony.
Google definitely has an advantage both in its ability to process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently and in relationships with video content creators. I believe that competition is only feasible in certain niches. For example, Amazon today is a product search engine. And they use their logistics, payment and vendor relations services to compete with Google in this area.
There are other markets, such as real estate, healthcare, or online travel, where some companies have unique relationships with market participants that Google does not. But historically, these companies lacked technology that could use natural language interfaces to leverage their unique data and relationships. As you pointed out, it will by no means be a walk in the park.
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