Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) impacts organic traffic differently across business verticals. A study analyzing 500k queries found the vertical's topic to be the strongest factor influencing the presence of generative AI in search results.
SGE coverage varies significantly among verticals, with the financial vertical having 47% SGE coverage, while the beauty industry has 94% query coverage. Google's SGE, YMYL, and E-E-A-T guidelines also influence the SGE coverage.
The study found Google's AI search results will be more prevalent in the future, with the finance/investing vertical's SGE coverage increasing from 22% in July 2023 to 47% in April 2024.
The "Generate" button in Google SGE varies across verticals. The health vertical had 68% of queries returning Google SGE automatically, while hotels and entertainment had only 4% to 6% auto-generated Google SGE pages.
The impact of Google SGE on a brand can be estimated by prioritizing queries that cover 80-90% of search volume and dividing them into auto-generated and manually generated SGE.
The number of Google SGE sources also depends on the vertical, varying from three to five. The study found that 5% of the queries will return Google SGE results with no external sources quoted.
Google SGE operates on a new algorithm, and current rankings will not translate to Google SGE one-to-one. The study concluded that Google SGE seems to favor a few specific domains per vertical, driven by lean technology and content structure focused on answering the query in a concise and clear manner.
The SEO industry needs to adjust to the rapid changes brought about by Google SGE and other developments in the search engine landscape. Proper optics and wisely chosen battles can help navigate this change.
