How to Rank Higher on Google & AI Search Engines: An Actionable Framework and Holistic Approach

ABSTRACT: 

Whether customers search via AI search engines like SearchGPT or through Google, the search results will vary majorly depending on the inputs, data feed, sources, and interaction. While traditional Google search results are indexed, with a list of websites allowing users to pick what they want from the top-ranked pages, AI search comes up with a straight answer. OpenAI’s SearchGPT has progressed recently to include real-time web searches, presenting results in a user-friendly, organized, summarized, clear, conversational format faster. The company has been partnering with publishers, which makes it more capable of handling attribution, precise in-line citations, and links to the original sources. Publishers benefit from the directed traffic as well. To match this type of AI search, Google also added an AI Overview or rather generative AI feature recently. Now, the question of staying relevant is a challenge for businesses and individuals who wish to gain visibility and get cited in the search engine results page (SERP), be it Google or AI search. To match the objective of the search engines and to be sustainable, you should have a holistic search engine optimization approach.

With an intent to collate views from experts on an actionable framework and the approach to rank higher on Google or any AI-powered search platforms, GoodFirms is conducting  research through the survey below. The survey also aims to gain insights into businesses' approaches to a successful SEO strategy. The survey also attempts to know the views from experts on the use of AI search.

Since search engines came into existence, SEO has been an inevitable part of the marketing teams. The significance of improving ranking on the SERPs makes it necessary for businesses to invest time and money in dedicated strategies to improve the search engine optimization/SEO factors. While the ever-evolving Google algorithms have always been a challenge, businesses have repeatedly adapted to them and tried to make things work positively for them.

With the recent launch of SearchGPT, AI search engines have become a topic of discussion and concern among SEO professionals. Although, search AI is still in its infancy, there are speculations around the benefits and drawbacks of the new technology. It is also crucial for businesses to understand how they can optimize their websites to rank higher on AI search engines. 

To stay ahead of the competition, marketers will have to put efforts to reap the advantage of search AI along with maintaining their position on the Google rankings. The future is yet to unfold and this is an attempt by GoodFirms to gain insights about what businesses think about the advent of AI-powered search engines and their impact on the SEO industry.

With the rising popularity of AI search engines and the critical role of SEO for the optimum performance of a website, the right approach to improving the SEO has become imperative. GoodFirms conducted a survey with a total of 810 businesses. The survey aims to discover how businesses work on improving their SEO strategies. The survey also attempts to gain insights into their views on the emergence of AI search engines and their impact on SEO dynamics.

SEO and website performance has become a necessity for the smooth running of a business. The survey revealed that around 83.6% of businesses have a dedicated SEO team. While 5.9% of the businesses are in the process of creating a dedicated SEO team to improve their online presence, 10.5% of the survey participants do not have a dedicated SEO team but they surely have their SEO operations in place. The response clearly highlights the strength of SEO and its role in business growth.

Search engine optimization is the process of making a website compatible with the search engine algorithms to rank higher on the SERPs. Apart from PPC advertising, organic results on the search engine are impacted by a number of SEO metrics. Following are the top factors that impact the SERP entries, as stated by the survey participants. 

The importance of ranking higher on Google can be understood from the fact that 75% of people never scroll past the first search engine page.(1)

84.2% of the businesses feel that the type of content that businesses generate as  the crucial factor in influencing the Google ranking of the website.

The type of content is crucial to determining the ranking of a website on the SERP. While one may post any type of content on their website, the type of content may have a higher probability of being ranked on Google. 

MAXPlaces Marketing LLC. said, “In the wake of Google's Helpful Content Update and the rise of AI search engines, ranking higher requires a holistic approach that balances quality content with technical SEO. Focus on creating in-depth, expert-led content that genuinely addresses user queries while regularly updating existing material to maintain relevance.” 

Blog posts are a clear winner when it comes to the organic appearance on the SERP. Along with blog posts, infographics and research insights also stand a great chance to be ranked higher by Google as they tend to provide answers to most of the questions readers may have.

This also essentially relates to the word count of the content and the quality of the content published. Interestingly, the average word count of the first ten results of Google is about 1447 words.(2) Long-form content is more popular in terms of improving SEO.

When asked about the type of content they think is most effective in helping rank higher on Google, over 93.6% of the survey respondents mentioned blogs to be their favorite. Research insights stood second to be most effective for ranking higher with around 62.9% of the surveyees, followed by videos with 48.3% of the survey participants.

While 35.1% of the surveyed businesses consider infographics as an effective content type, 27.4% of the respondents mentioned short-form videos as an effective content type for enhancing Google's ranking.

21.7% of the surveyees mentioned eBooks as an influencing content type, and 19.2% of the businesses surveyed believe that webinars can influence the Google ranking of a website.

According to 56.3% of the survey participants, the frequency of posting content is a ranking factor for a business.

While frequent blogging does not directly improve the SEO of a website, it signals the search engine of a website as reliable. It improves the visibility of the website. Consistent blogging is a great way to enhance the brand awareness of a business.

Search engines tend to favor websites that are regularly updated, and can be better done by publishing fresh and relevant content frequently. Frequent posting is also beneficial in improving the chances of covering niche topics with higher target keywords. While there is no right number of blogs a company should publish as this involves a number of factors, from the niche of the business to the target audience, posting consistently can definitely be useful for a business to be noticed by a search engine.

Following SEO techniques is a critical factor that influences the ranking on Google, asserted 91.9% of the surveyed businesses.

SEO techniques are a vast range of factors that play a critical role in influencing the Google rankings. On-page SEO and off-page SEO play equally important roles in enhancing Google ranking of a website. 

Publishing high-quality and relevant content, along with keyword placement and image optimization, are all recommended SEO strategies. Technical aspects like working on the site loading speed, mobile-friendliness of the website, and website structure can also boost the Google ranking of a brand. 

When asked about the participants' views on the importance of various SEO strategies in enhancing SERP rankings, they shared the following:

The responses revealed that quality and relevant content is the most significant SEO strategy, according to 49.1% of the respondents, while keyword optimization is the most crucial for a holistic SEO approach according to 25.5% of the respondents.

Nearly 12% of the respondents said that an SEO optimized website should be prioritized for enhancing the SERP ranking while 5.6% of the surveyees voted for user experience. Mobile optimization was ranked highest by 3.4% of the surveyed businesses for enhancing the SERP ranking, whereas 2.7% of them believed that link building should be prioritized for improving the SERP ranking of a website. A mere 1.8% of the respondents ranked AI -specific optimized elements over other strategies to help improve the ranking of a page on search engines.

46.8% of the surveyees mentioned monitoring SEO effectiveness as crucial to enhancing the Google ranking of a website.

To improve the performance of a website, it is important to monitor the effectiveness of the strategies adopted. Analyzing the SEO metrics, including organic traffic, keyword ranking, backlink profile, and bounce rates, can help the SEO consultants curate their strategies for better results.

Regular monitoring and optimization of the website are the keys to enhancing its performance. Setting clear goals, analyzing metrics and making changes to the strategies is essential to drive the success of the SEO efforts.

Over 35% of the survey participants said social media presence is a supporting factor for improving the Google ranking.

Social media presence can also be correlated with the search engine rankings. Social signals are associated with the popularity of a brand, essentially on social media platforms like Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

“Ensuring there is a good brand presence on social media, personal branding for the author/founder and acquiring premium backlinks from trusted sources (Digital PR) helps in aligning with the E-E-A-T framework,” said Wild Creek Web Studio.

Social signals are responsible for indicating the relevance and popularity of a brand to search engines, which are considered when ranking a particular website. Creating engaging and reliable content on social media platforms can help improve social sharing and lead to a strong social media presence.

Google aims to present high-quality and reliable content to its users. The Google E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This framework adopted by Google is critical in offering reliable and credible information to its users.

While E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor, this framework is still critical to assess the quality of content that is present on the website. This is beneficial in enhancing the user experience and making the content more user-centric.

Implementing the appropriate SEO strategies and adopting the E-E-A-T approach is a holistic way of achieving a higher position on the Google SERP. According to the responses to the GoodFirms survey, around 78.6% of the surveyed businesses believe that they have a holistic SEO approach for Google and AI search engines, while only 21.4% of the businesses have yet to adopt a holistic approach to improve their ranking. 

Adopting an E-E-A-T approach is essential in creating quality content that can help improve the SEO of a website, boosting its performance. The elements of E-E-A-T are described below:

Experience: The content must be curated with first-hand experience of the subject matter. The author must possibly have experience with the subject to make it more reliable.

Expertise: Expertise refers to knowledge about the topic. It also deals with the author's skills and credentials. Basically, the author's credentials and expertise depend on the topic and purpose of the content.

Authoritativeness: Authoritativeness is related to the position of a company in the niche. Authoritativeness is established when a brand is considered as a go-to page for a particular topic.

Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness defines the credibility of a website. Factors like the loading time of the website, mention of the physical location of the business, and other factors that can build trust among the readers enhances the trustworthiness.

Following an E-E-A-T approach helps a brand align with Google’s definition of high-quality content. This will lead to better performance and better lead generation.

When asked about their efforts to align with the E-E-A-T framework, participants in the GoodFirms survey shared their views. A few statements are as follows.

“We focus on E-E-A-T by designing user-centric, high-quality content, leveraging our expert team and industry best practices, maintaining a proven track record and thought leadership, and ensuring transparency, robust security, and active client feedback integration.” –Junkies Coder.

“E-E-A-T is about combining quality content with transparency and credibility to create a trustworthy online presence.” –Acropolium. 

“To focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), ensure content is created by individuals with genuine expertise and relevant experience. Highlight the credentials and experience of authors, and include detailed, accurate information supported by credible sources.” –WPWeb Infotech.

“Creating relevant content and gaining high-quality backlinks.” –Strategy Interactive.

“Search in the age of AI will probably weigh Experience / Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust even more than it does now.Without a doubt, proving your credibility and expertise to the search engines will only become more important.” –Arfadia.

“Ensure your website is user-friendly, mobile-responsive, and fast-loading. A positive user experience helps retain visitors and improve engagement metrics.” –Vipra Business Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd.

“Users are always looking for answers to their questions. So as more expert content you have and as more extended you can explain the theme as better for you and your ranking. Users will stay on the website and search engines will rank your content higher.” –UAATEAM LLC.

Streamlined Processes, LLC, our survey participant, says that the E-E-A-T approach is unique and has enhanced the clients' trust in the company.

“Implementing Author Profiles” –SEO Expert Gold Coast.

“Accurate content as per Our website and try to publish genuine content Only” –SA Technosoft.

“Include stats, links to authoritative websites, explain why the author can be trusted” –Pronto Marketing.

“Stay updated with SEO trends, regularly update content, and actively seek client feedback to maintain high standards of trust and authority.This approach strengthens your E-E-A-T, leading to better rankings and client trust.” –PageTraffic.

“To emphasize E-E-A-T, showcase practical experience, provide in-depth and accurate information, cite reliable sources, and maintain transparency and engagement with your audience.” –Optisol Business Solutions.

“Be honest in my content, not making things up. Speak facts, write facts!” –Ashmith.com.

“Create authentic content / preparing author bios” –Cassiopea

“By working on storytelling within my content.” –Empowered Marketing, LLC.

“Make sure every article clearly has an individual author with bio” –Hennessey Digital.

“Only write on content you are qualified to cover. If you're not an expert in the space, you will need to hire experts in that field and give them a byline and a bio page to compliment that gap. This adds accountability and gives your content authority. You should also consider interviewing experts in the field and adding their views to the content. It's more work. But that means your competitors are less likely to do it.” –Lead Comet.

The use of AI and machine learning has been around for quite a while now. However, the launch of AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini has expanded access to the technology for the tiniest of things. 

“AI search engines are becoming more sophisticated at understanding natural language and user intent, which means SEO strategies will need to adapt.” –YES IT Labs. 

While AI-powered search engines are also a popular concert now, the recent launch of SearchGPT as a prototype has led to numerous speculations about the future of search engines. Google has also attempted to inculcate this via AI Overview, where an AI-generated set of answers are generated to a few queries. The use of AI search engines has multiple benefits, some of which are discussed below.

19.3% of the survey participants mentioned precise results as a benefit of AI search engines.

AI search engines have the capability to understand the intent of the search query. The presence of natural language processing makes AI search engines generate precise results.

“AI-driven search engines have the potential to deliver more precise and relevant results, enhancing the overall user experience. They can understand context, intent, and natural language more effectively, which means content creators and SEO strategists will need to focus on quality, relevance, and user-centric approaches.” –Pixated.

These search engines are designed to combine information from multiple sources to give a more complete and precise picture to help the users. Unlike traditional search engines that work on the concept of keyword matching, search AI has the potential to understand complex queries with the right intent and provide accurate responses.

26.4% of the surveyees believe that AI search can offer more relevant answers to the queries.

Understanding natural language and figuring out the internet of the query helps AI search engines provide more contextually relevant results for the query.

While traditional SEO works basically on the principle of the presence of keywords, AI search has the capability of NLP, leading to relevant suggestions or answers. This helps in direct answers that are factual and will answer the query in a better way.

42.2% of the survey respondents believe that AI-powered search engines offer a conversational interface to the users.

Not only are search AI systems accurate and precise they also offer an intuitive and conversational interface enhancing the overall user experience. The search engines are engineered in a way that users can interact with it naturally and effectively. 

The feature of follow-up questions enhances the conversational ability of the search engines, giving users a seamless experience while gaining access to informative and complete answers to their queries. It gives a human-like interaction, making the conversation more effective and providing precise and summarized answers.

26.4% of the surveyed businesses described personalization as a crucial benefit of AI search engines like SearchGPT.

AI has been widely used for personalization in a number of applications. It will surely be a game-changer for search engines as well. AI search engines are potent in offering personalized results based on user behavior and search patterns.

From content recommendations to answers related to past queries, AI search engines can improve the overall user experience. 

56.8% of the businesses indicated summarized answers as one of the major benefits of AI search engines.

AI chatbots like ChatGPT, when introduced, were able to give summarized answers when queries. However, the answers lacked authenticity. AI search engines have the ability to provide in-depth answers to any queries and their authenticity.

While traditional search engines provide users with a list of website links to read from, search AI offers a summarized answer for the query with proper mention of sources for the information. These summarized answers are time-savers which is usually required in case of traditional search engines.

AI-powered search engines are set to bring a revolution in the search industry. However, like any other technology, search AI has some drawbacks, some of which are listed here. 

51.4% of the businesses said that search AI platforms like SearchGPT can offer error-prone information.

AI models basically work on data on which they were trained. The lack of availability of real-time data can lead to error-prone data. 

AI search engines can also sometimes generate completely made-up information that does not have any relevance. One of the reasons for this can be insufficient training data. With the launch of SearchGPTmany experts experienced that these models might provide a completely incorrect answer with confidence which they term ‘hallucinated results’.(3)

One of the major drawbacks of AI search engines is that they are subject to bias, as mentioned by 19.5% of the survey respondents.

Traditional search engines present users with a list of websites where they can go through information from a number of sources, adding to the trustworthiness of the website. However, AI models are trained on large datasets to generate information. The training data can be inadequate to cover wider perspectives leading to limited information for the system to generate answers. 

The datasets that are used to train these models may be biased through certain perspectives. This might lead to search results that are subject to bias. Search results generated may include recommendations that are uneven or information that is incorrectly favored.

According to 12.9% of the surveyed businesses, AI search engines can be expensive.

As of now, AI search engines are hailed for offering an ad-free environment which the traditional search engines like Google lack. However, these AI search engines are still in their prototype phase and can have a specific pricing model in the near future.

It is believed that AI search engines can have subscription models.(4) This could make using top-notch search engines like SearchGPT expensive.

Also, the computational charges that are involved in the seamless operation of the AI search can lead to additional charges making it expensive.

About 19.5% of the surveyees find security threats to be a major drawback of AI-powered search engines.

In order to provide personalized and user-centric responses, AI search engines will rely on the collected personal data. Collection and analysis of critical data may pose a threat to the privacy of the data.

Moreover, data security can also become an issue for publishers as AI models sometimes use completely plagiarized information while creating summarized answers for user queries.

64% of the survey participants mentioned limitations in real-time content as a major drawback of search AI.

Real-time content is a major concern for AI search engines. Google and other traditional search engines have access to real-time data on the web and can give accurate information on queries that require real-time inputs. 

“AI is not good for real-time answers - so if you want to know your flight's status or basketball game score, it's not the place for it,” mentioned RomanZ Media Group Inc.

Trained on dedicated datasets, AI search engines do not have access to real-time updates, which results in error-prone results.

Apart from the above mentioned drawbacks, search AI models are also incapable of understanding complex queries and offer responses that can help users. Additionally, these systems can result in lower user engagement impacting their critical thinking abilities.

Ranking factors for content on Google have been discussed for a long time now. However, with the emergence of multiple AI search engines, including SearchGPT, Perplexity, and others, businesses have to think of ways to rank higher on these search engines too. 

With the sophisticated algorithms used in AI search engines, content marketing is set to face new challenges when it comes to ranking higher on the search engines.

To rank higher on AI-powered search engines, marketers have to be well-versed in traditional SEO while being compliant with the basic principles of AI search engines.  

Along with maintaining the quality and credibility of the content, content creators will have to focus on making the content AI-friendly. While AI models are great at understanding the search intent of the user, the content must be created with the appropriate use of long-tail keywords. 

User-centric content that answers relevant questions is the key to achieving SEO for search AI platforms.

Following are the insights regarding SEO for AI search engines from the survey participants:

“Use a user first approach for your SEO strategy. Write content that answers relevant questions with concise and to the point answers.” –Abstracta.

“The rise of search AI will undoubtedly shift SEO dynamics, emphasizing the importance of conversational content, contextual understanding, and user intent over traditional keyword strategies, making it essential for businesses to adapt their SEO practices accordingly.” –Xplication.com.

“Additionally, leveraging AI-powered SEO tools can provide valuable insights into keyword trends, content performance, and user behavior, allowing us to continuously refine our strategies.Overall, staying ahead in AI search optimization involves a blend of high-quality content creation, technical SEO, and user-centric design, all while keeping a close eye on emerging trends and technologies in the AI landscape.” –TPIsoftware.

“Use the model naturally for your business so that it gets trained to answer including your business.Rest do cite the sources well in your content for AI search” –TROOTECH BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

“The advent of search AI will reshape SEO by prioritizing highly relevant, well-structured content that matches user intent. Websites will need to focus on natural language, structured data, and user experience to stay visible and rank well in AI-driven search results.” –WebSailors.

“To optimize AI search, tailor content for natural language and conversational queries, recognizing that AI systems and voice search often handle complex, human-like language. Create high-quality, engaging content that directly answers users' questions and provides clear value.” –Web Ninja Pty Ltd.

“Focus on ease of understanding the information written.” –MySuperSite.

“To optimize for AI search, focus on understanding user intent through keyword research, create high-quality and engaging content, implement structured data for better context, ensure your site is mobile-friendly and fast, improve user experience with easy navigation, build quality backlinks, promote your content on social media, and regularly update your material to keep it relevant.”--Simplixi.

“Use natural language and implement schema markup to help AI interpret your content. Ensure your site is content heavy followed by content cluster strategy and regularly updated. Build authoritative backlinks and optimize for search with conversational keywords.” –Continuum Digital. 

“User Intent: Tailor content to match specific user intents (informational, transactional, etc.) and use natural language and long-tail keywords. Additionally,write in a natural tone, answer common questions directly, and use FAQ sections.” –Eplanet Soft.

“Ensure fast load times, mobile-friendliness, and an intuitive site structure. AI-powered search engines reward websites that offer a great user experience.” –Net2Success IT Solutions.

“AI search is another format for where users can find information. Making websites easily crawl-able and information that is structured properly with highly relevant information will help AI tools find the answers from your website.” –Mountaintop Web Design. 

“Structure your content around answering questions. Use headings and subheadings that are phrased as questions to match common queries users may ask. Target Long-Tail Keywords: AI search engines often handle more specific, conversational queries. Optimize your content with long-tail keywords that reflect these detailed questions.” –Marketing Ignite Co. Ltd.

“Additionally, investing in conversational content and voice search optimization will position you well as AI continues to evolve and integrate into our daily lives.As always, track your metrics closely and conduct one experiment at a time to identify what truly moves the needle in AI search.” –Major Tom.

“Optimize for conversational long tail type keywords, schema markup, focusing on content quality that's also answer-focused, page speed, crawlability and establishing E-E-A-T principles.” –Southtown Web Design and Digital Marketing.

“You need to have content that already ranks well in the top 10 and it ranks because the content is correct and relevant to the search. Just like Google now displays the featured snipped answer on top for searches. So you need the SEO basics like content that is relevant and a site that has link trust factors.” –Honest Marketing.

The rise of AI in every possible field has been evident in recent years. And the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 has promoted the growth of AI applications.

While Google has not seen any negative impact yet with the emergence of AI-powered search engines like SearchGPT, the future holds many new developments. According to a report, the majority of marketers believe that marketing has transformed more in the past three years than in the past 50 years.(5)

About 45.2% of the survey participants said that the emergence of AI search will impact the dominance of established search engines like Google. While 40.5% of the surveyed businesses are unsure about how search AI can impact search engines like Google, 14.3% of the survey participants believe that there will be no impact.

Participants of the GoodFirms survey expressed their views on the impact AI search can have on SEO dynamics.

“AI search is a proactive way of looking for things with an error margin in mind. It is well equipped to be the next stage of the search engine evolution, given time.” –Uppumatu.

“I agree AI will shift SEO towards more conversational, intent-focused strategies, emphasizing quality content, context, and user experience over traditional keyword optimization.” –Tradupla.

”As AI-driven search engines increasingly focus on understanding user intent rather than merely matching keywords, SEO strategies will need to adapt. This shift will highlight the importance of optimizing for conversational and long-tail keywords, reflecting how users naturally ask questions.” –SynergyTop Inc.

“Yes, I agree with you. AI has totally changed search mechanisms, but don't forget that human elements like content are still on top.” –ZAPTA Technologies.

“The advent of search AI will indeed revolutionize SEO dynamics. In my perspective, this transformation will enable more advanced research capabilities and refine how we approach content creation and optimization.” –Webomindapps.

“Traditional SEO is still better when compared in terms of accuracy, regular and real time data update and manual intervention, hence law false positives and less errors. Customers usually prefer to go for a brand whose content is well written and manually maintained according to the latest trends.” –The VP Techno Labs International. 

“As long as AI relies on search engines for its real-time responses, we are unlikely to see big changes in SEO. Nevertheless, for the user, search through AI is the most convenient experience, since it provides opportunities for very flexible customization of the search.” –Fively

“Technical SEO will become more refined with AI-driven insights, making it crucial to address factors like site speed and user experience.” –Artax Digital Solutions.

“It already has, however a bigger migration away from traditional search engines like Google is still some time away.” –Quinn Marketing.

“As a company we definitely need a clear understanding of how to get the responses from chatgpt and similar tools about us and our competitors.” –Idealogic.

“The rise of search AI will shift SEO dynamics by focusing more on user intent and context rather than just keywords. AI-driven algorithms will prioritize high-quality, relevant content, understanding natural language, and personalized search experiences. Traditional SEO tactics will need to adapt, with greater emphasis on creating value-rich content and optimizing for voice and AI-powered searches.” –PixelCrayons.

“This means we'll need to shift our focus from just keywords to creating really helpful and informative content. We'll also need to learn how to talk to these AI search engines in a way they understand.It's going to be a challenge, but it's also a huge opportunity for those who can adapt.” –Frenchy Digital L.L.C.

“Yes, the advent of search AI is already changing the dynamics of SEO, and these changes are likely to become even more pronounced as AI technologies continue to evolve.” –OS Digital World.

“The old school strategies won't work anymore. SEO will have to shift its strategy around the search intent and create original content. It also requires continuous monitoring and adaptation.” –Fingent.

“We would agree. The extent is however unclear at the current stage. SEO might continue in a similar state as currently but we might get another, related field (GEO?) that will closely interact with SEO. Similarly to how SEO and CRO are closely related.” –Fire8

• About 83.6% of the surveyed businesses have a dedicated SEO team, and 5.9% of them are in the process of having one proving the necessity for having search engine optimization strategy
• The type of content that marketers use to promote their brand via their website, or social media stands as a critical factor in influencing the ranking of search engines, said 84.2% of the surveyees.
• Around 91.9% of the survey participants consider blogs as the most effective type of content that can help websites perform better on Google.
• About 92% of the surveyed businesses believe that following SEO techniques is a crucial factor that impacts the Google ranking of a website.
•  Content quality and keyword optimization are the most critical SEO strategies that can help attain a holistic ranking approach.
• Nearly 79% of the businesses admit to having a holistic SEO approach. 
• Summarized answers offered by AI search engines is a major benefit, asserted 56.8% of the businesses.
• About 64% of the survey respondents believe that limitations for real-time content are a critical drawback of AI-powered search engines.

With the changing digital landscape, businesses have to put maximum effort into improving the ranking of their website on Google. With the advent of AI-based search engines, it becomes even more important to have the SEO strategies in place. 

The precision of the responses offered by search AI platforms like SearchGPT is surely capable of transforming the way SEO teams work. While it is crucial to rank higher on Google, businesses must now keep in mind the strategies that can help rank higher on AI search engines as well. 

Although the dominance of Google among search engines is nowhere to go soon, there are additional factors that can result in changing SEO dynamics. 

We sincerely thank our Research Partners for their valuable insights.

1. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5827/5-technical-tips-for-improving-seo.aspx 
2. https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking 
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/04/openai-searchgpt-chatgpt-google/ 
4. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/searchgpt-vs-google-early-analysis-user-feedback/526232/
5. https://www.hubspot.com/hubfs/2024%20State%20of%20Marketing%20Report/2024-State-of-Marketing-HubSpot-CXDstudio-FINAL.pdf?hubs_signup-url=www.hubspot.com%2Fstate-of-marketing&hubs_signup-cta=Submit