Will Google Bard Be the End of SEO? Not So Fast

Google Bard poses significant challenges to driving organic traffic. But the news is not all bad for SEOs, and not all websites will be impacted in the same way. Let’s dig in.

Biggest Impact from Google Bard Will Be Felt by Position Zero

The holy grail of SEO – position zero is where we all like to be. However, Bard could forever eliminate the coveted real estate that is position zero in SERPs. Instead of featuring content from actual articles to answer users’ queries, Bard can generate text from extensive data to answer questions itself.

Ethical Implications – is Bard Basically Stealing?

In some ways, anyone who has published content since Google came around has been feeding the beast. Now, that beast is back to bite us. Bard can effectively take the consensus of all its data and provide what it thinks is the best answer – without directing users to other websites.

This seems like stealing. Sure, human beings are able to comb through SERPs and get inspiration from content, but what they create is not something taken from an algorithm. They still have to put their own effort into contriving content. Bard can do this much, much more quickly. Too quickly.

Bing Does it Better

If Google isn’t careful, they could be playing directly into Microsoft’s hand here. In the demo of ChatGPT’s feature within Bing, ChatGPT does generate answers, but it also cites its sources – something which invariably will lead to clicks to those links and visitors to those websites.

While this may not be optimal for websites, it’s better than nothing.

Google Bard, however, will just show “read more” links that send users to actual webpages. But if Bard is capable of giving satisfactory answers to difficult questions, then people may not be interested in going any further.

Will this push content creators away from Google? Or will Google have to adjust and do a better job of giving credit to sources in order to avoid fallout? I don’t think there’s any way to know yet. But it should be interesting to find out.

Strategies for SEO Content to Stay Relevant Under Google Bard

As with any major change to SEO – and Bard will be a seismic one – SEOs will need to adjust. But adjusting to change is one of the fun things about SEO, anyways. So SEO and content creators need not fret. After all, Bard offers several opportunities to SEOs.

Take a look at these strategies to stay relevant in the days of AI.

Bard Could Eliminate the Zero-Sum Game of Position Zero

While the hit taken to search results that previously appeared in position zero will undoubtedly be felt, there are several opportunities here, as well. SEO has never been a zero-sum game, and being featured in Bard’s “read more” results could expand your opportunity to get clicks. Instead of one article hogging all the clicks at position zero, multiple articles will get the chance, giving a better user experience, and even potentially lowering bounce rates and getting more attuned eyes on your content.

Bard Could Make Long Tail Keywords More Productive For SEOs to Target

As it stands right now, it’s actually pretty hard for people to find relevant answers to long tail searches via Google. Bard will undoubtedly change all of that. This means that SEOs can get hyper specific in their content, and actually be rewarded for it. Right now, that’s not really the case. The odds that a really, really specific piece of content aimed at answering long tail keywords will actually show up on SERPs and bring views onto your site are slim. With Bard, however, people will feel confident asking more complex questions, and then your relevant content could be displayed below.

Focus on Unique Perspectives to Stay Relevant

While this might seem counterintuitive, the real value moving forward for SEO content will not be in serving searches where the intent can be met through a general consensus. Content will, instead, need to focus on topics where a unique insight is needed. This way, when searchers see that general response from Bard, they are sure to look deeper into SERPs for the exact answer to their question that they are looking for.

Unique content, however, has already been the best content for a while. Bard will just send that into hyperdrive, as SEOs will want to steer clear of targeting search terms where the intent is to get an answer TOO quickly.

Be Religious on Checking Your Facts

As factual errors in Google’s own demo proves, Bard is not incapable of making errors. These autogenerated responses that Bard will be showing to billions of people around the world will undoubtedly be rife with errors and bias. This means being supremely accurate in your content will be key to drawing and retaining visitors to your site. As people are unhappy with the factual errors Bard presents, they will undoubtedly go further into SERPs, looking for authoritative content that they can believe. Don’t do what Bard does – double check your sources.

Google Has 224 Billion Reasons to Not Mess Up SERPs

Ultimately, Bard is the natural progression in SEO that has been on its way for some time. SEO has been growing more and more complex, more competitive, and more challenging every year. The introduction of Bard into search results will continue this trend. But ultimately, Google (and all search engines for that matter) have a strong stake in the game – billions and billions of dollars in ad revenue– in driving users to websites.

So far, the updates Google has made has made the user experience better for searchers, and helped relevant, quality content surface. Hopefully, after undoubtedly some turbulence upon initial release, Bard will not be an exception.