Google's New SEO: Structured Data Markup
The future of SEO hinges on experiences over words. Google's GenerativeAI is set to transform search into interactive journeys.
As someone who has never researched a keyword search term and only discovered Google Search Console last month, I can say this confidently:
SEO is changing dramatically in the next few weeks.
TL;DR... Words are out. Experiences are in. The way all of us interact with Google search will be visual, interactive, and exploratory. Businesses will need to adapt their content less for SEO keywords and more for distribution and portability.
Get ready for a hot take 🌶️
A New Search
Google Search Labs is dropping its latest search experience. It's currently in Beta and the waitlist is live here. It plans to bring GenerativeAI to the search bar so that key searches are transformed into a full conversational experience. Much of what we need to dissect is in the following image.
While we can see Google's AI is primarily introducing unstructured conversation answers... most of the visual elements we see are structured data. I'm referring to the widgets on the page: the lists, sliding carousels, pill buttons, and product cards. These are all structured data markup, a development pattern Google has been pushing for several years now to build a more experiential search.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data markup is the backbone of what Google calls rich results. It's the underpinning for the visual widgets pulling information out of news articles and Wikipedia pages. And if Google's history for pushing AMP is a forewarning, we are about to see a new wave of Google dictation for the web.
Within the growing library of 32 structured data features, you'll find everything from Books, Events, to How-tos (for when you forget your Windsor knot).
These widgets are all created using the JSON Linking Data (JSON-LD) format or the less recommended Microdata and RDFa formats. This JSON format helps describe key elements of your content in a structured format including titles, images, positions, and more.
Tying it All Together
As GenAI continues to advance in its ability to comprehend paragraphs through semantic search and natural language processing instead of relying on keywords, every content management system, website, and e-commerce catalog will need to focus on the packaging of its content for web distribution. This will require structured data markup, with Google automating some of it, while the rest will have to be customized.
I'm not the PM on the team (... yet 😅), but here would be my quick pitch:
Each piece of structured data is designed with a unique consumable experience outside of a ChatGPT search box. Rather than read (ugh), we'll have a visual, mobile-friendly way to experience the web.
GenerativeAI responses will continue to hallucinate, but we are now given the opportunity to dive deeper into a subject (or a product for all my commerce gurus out there!).
I'm also not the lawyer for the team, but going to do their pitch on what NOT to expect from Google's new search.
LLMs are trained on billions of data points and when they respond, it's an amalgamation of all related knowledge. It is not safe to assume that a referenced article or widget was training material for the response Google gives.
Most Google queries contain anywhere between 1-3 "sponsored" posts. In order to keep the experience concise, Google will use a large percentage of the minimal screen space to promote products and articles. Top links drive the bottom line after all. 💸
Conclusion
While we all will experience the new Google search differently, I think there are three overall takeaways:
- Search should eliminate our need to open every tab and will provide experiential journeys for everything from research to online shopping.
- JSON-LD will need to be integrated into your team's most important content collections on your website, content management system, and product catalog. This is the new SEO!
- Content focused on 'how' and less on 'what' will win. GenerativeAI is substantially better at producing helpful content than factual content. Focus your content efforts on teaching.