There is something rocking the world of search engine optimization right now that has many eCommerce SEO companies as well as their customers rethinking and retooling their behavior.
It’s the rise of the AI overview, and AI tools in general, that is resulting in websites getting more impressions but fewer clicks.
This happens because users will type in a question, get the answer right in the search results without needing to click through anything, and then go on their way.
Fortunately, a qualified eCommerce SEO company can help you show up in AI and other answer search features to help you take advantage of this momentum.
Answer Engine Optimization and Search Engine Optimization
Any qualified eCommerce SEO company will produce high quality copy that will improve your company’s overall visibility and credibility, but have it ranking effectively in the search engines.
Answer engine optimization is one prong of search engine optimization that deals with providing answers to long-tail queries; specifically, highly detailed and thorough answers.
The main difference, if there is one, has to do with selecting viable long-tail queries that are still somewhat related to short tail, transactional and commercial keywords, and producing informative copy about those.
This produces a dual effect; it gets a website to show up in the search engine results pages, but it also increases the likelihood of getting an entry in the AI overview, or in other search features like featured snippets or the People Also Ask section.
Since other AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT use what’s indexed in Google for information, producing long-form copy that generates impressions is one of the main ways to show up in one of those tools.
Why This Is Valuable
This is valuable because as users become increasingly short-sighted in search of answers to their questions, being able to show up in the AI-powered results is one of the keys to getting impressions and engagement – even if it doesn’t yield a click-through.
It’s still not clear exactly what evolution this will yield, but what is clear is that it will have an impact on user behavior moving forward, so being able to show up in AI engines and other answer engines is critical to long-term organic marketing success.
The Safeguard for eCommerce
If you’re thinking “I still need click-through to sell products,” you’re right. However, any brand exposure is good exposure, and as SEO and AEO evolve in tandem, being effective at leveraging these new strategies is going to become more important.
It’s not about abandoning old short-tail keywords that are commercial and transactional in favor of long-tail, informational keywords. It’s about using them in concert.
So, on the one hand, the standard techniques that would get your product and category pages ranking will still work. On the other, it’s necessary to start getting quality copy related to those short tail keywords ranking in answer engines and in other search features.
So it’s more like adopting these new techniques into existing frameworks rather than it is about overhauling the whole thing.
Work with a Qualified eCommerce SEO Company with Proven Experience
By utilizing techniques that revolve around the production of highly detailed and engaging long-form copy, eCommerce SEO companies can get your website ranking in AI-powered search features like the AI overview, and that will yield fruits for your organic marketing efforts overall.
This is one of the reasons it’s critical to choose an SEO services provider wisely – and one of the ways you can start is by seeing if they get any AI overview results themselves before you hire them.
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