SGE While Browsing is Here – First Thoughts, Impact, and Considerations

SGE while browsing is an improvement of SGE (Search Generative Experience) for consumers but may redefine how marketers approach search appearance. 

SGE while browsing (I may periodically refer to it as SGE Browse for brevity and differentiation) was rolled out to limited users this week, revealing a promising progression of Google’s AI search experience so far. I was able to pilot the technology over the last few days, and I’ve put together my initial thoughts about Google’s latest exploration with SGE.

My first impression is “pleasantly surprised.” The in-browser experience provides a more natural take on SGE products, with new capabilities like article summaries and related links right in the browser.

But I can already see a number of challenges for publishers.

One such case is Google’s choice to provide competitor links directly on the open page. This can have an impact on overall user experience and revenue generation.

As SGE progresses, you’ll need to keep ahead of the changing landscape. With increased challenges in capturing traffic and engaging users, improving your website’s appearance in SGE will have a crucial impact on whether you sink or swim in the AI search evolution.

Although still new and not yet widely released, there’s much to consider, plan, and do to ensure you’re well-positioned as SGE becomes the Google Search norm.

Google’s mission statement is dreamy and hopeful, filled with idealism and promises of a better world through the possibilities of search. One of the most distinct and widely recognized oaths is its promise to “present information in the most useful way.”

Interestingly, SGE’s initial release displayed helpful information “below the fold” in favor of its AI counterparts. At first, SGE consistently delivered long-winded, irrelevant, and even inaccurate answers.

In the several weeks since the launch program opened, it’s received criticism for displaying unhelpful information in branded search and product review results. It also returns plagiarized and uncredited content, mixed information across entities, racist results, and poor experience in recent top stories.

Google’s pilot program is, of course, meant to address these concerns. So far, it seems like they’re making an effort to improve, such as by adding link citations and increasing the appearance of carousel links.

SGE while browsing promises to be an evolution of Google’s AI search experience. Let’s chat about some of the positive features that make me hopeful that SGE will evolve for the better.

First and foremost, SGE Browse promises more useful features that readers can control compared to SGE Search. One of the reasons why ChatGPT gained such popularity is that it put a lot of control in the hands of consumers. Not only can you read ChatGPT’s outputs, but you have a hand in shaping them.

While SGE while browsing doesn’t have the same level of manipulation by readers as ChatGPT, it does provide more than SGE Search. Here’s what SGE can do so far.

• Generate summaries of a page or article. Once you toggle the SGE Browse experience, you can generate an AI summary of the page. This will come in handy for creating article summaries or evaluating page content at a glance.
• Jump to important features. SGE while browsing adds jump links to the different sections of its summaries and additional jump links below in a section called “Explore this page.” I can see how this might be helpful to users for the same reason they’re useful in articles; people can find information faster.
• Provide related searches. A benefit to readers is that you don’t have to go back to the search page to continue Googling. You can refine your journey and generate new AI results directly in the SGE Browse experience.
• Give information about the publisher. Additionally, SGE while browsing displays information about the publisher, which supports Google’s initiatives surrounding content quality and credibility. In the future, this will potentially have an impact on whether users trust the information they’re consuming.

Maybe I’m a wizard, but I wished for a sidebar version of SGE, and now it’s here. SGE while browsing feels complimentary and natural to the search experience rather than invasive.

What stands out most is its resemblance to Chrome extensions, which are widely used and support how consumers already behave in the browser.

You can also toggle SGE Browse on and off, which means if you never use it, that’s fine. You don’t have to. I imagine most users will toggle it on during the wider roll-out, then taper off to a norm.

SGE while browsing takes up a ton of real estate on desktop and essentially the entire page on mobile.

For Google, this means laying the foundation for future AI capabilities in the browser and continuing to provide additional features with each new update. In the current experience, Google displays the AI summary, content excerpts, related articles and search prompts, location-specific GBPs, and YouTube content. In the future, Google will undoubtedly add more features.

To stay competitive, those features will need to be manipulative in the same way that ChatGPT is, such as using content from the page to generate citations, adding ecommerce items to a shopping cart, copying and pasting directions, and other innovations designed to help users take action.

While I can appreciate Google’s updates from a user perspective, SGE while browsing spells many challenges over search appearance for website owners.

Here’s what SGE does to your website appearance so far.

Like a lost spider that’s found its way into your kitchen when you least expect it, your competition will find its way onto your website. SGE while browsing shows related results side-by-side with your content; readers don’t even need to go back to the search page.

This makes sense for users, and overall may increase the speed in which people find what they’re looking for.

In some ways, it may also be an advantage. By understanding what related results are generated, Google can help provide clarity around gaps in content and provide you with ideas for content optimization.

SGE while browsing summarizes and highlights “key points” in your content – but maybe not the content you’d prefer or the summaries you’d select.

For example, this result on classroom management style clearly states there is no proven best approach, while its AI summary assigns an opinion to the author.

Paying attention to how SGE summarizes content will help you find the gaps you’re leaving up for interpretation. For now, review where you can better provide clarity in your content.

Every touchpoint you create provides an opportunity to connect with your user. But SGE while browsing eliminates the brand voice and replaces it with an AI-generated answer.

Ideally, your content will speak to your target audience, but when that audience is using AI, it will be more difficult to create a connection through content alone. The content you provide will need to keep the reader engaged and bond bridges so that it’s you moving the reader along, and not Google.

SGE while browsing provides increased opportunities to direct users to Google-owned products, like YouTube and GBP. Much like the current Google experience, you’re more likely to see YouTube content here than its competitors.

So far, it looks like Google is doing a good job of understanding video content libraries, such as this one from a B2B brand. Even though the videos are hosted on YouTube, the brand name is what appears in the “Videos” section.

If video content is a concern, take a look at some of the successful video content currently being generated with SGE. In the future, I’d expect “Perspectives” to have more prominence as well.

While it’s understandable to be afraid, critical, and even disheartened by SGE, the fact is, it’s here to stay. Proactively analyzing what you can do about these changes will have you well-positioned as SGE progresses.

That said, you’ll need to resist the urge to be a doomsayer and, instead, embrace uncertainty. As Robinhood says, “Aha! But, remember. Faint hearts never won [a] fair lady.”

Here’s what you need to consider while SGE Browse is still in beta.

Study what SGE understands about your content relevance and search appearance. This will help you pivot in any areas that need consideration and help you think strategically about what search initiatives you want to prioritize. 

Dr. Marie Haynes discusses our need to pay attention to Google’s use of AI in her article on how AI systems impact site visibility, saying,

“While there are many AI-related changes to the search industry on the horizon, we need to pay close attention to the ways in which Google already uses AI, in particular machine learning, to improve search result relevance and helpfulness.”

In particular, pay attention to your technical SEO, including your structured data, taxonomy, and indexability. You’ll also want to evaluate and improve your content, including content appearance, quality, value, and readability.

Here’s what you can do to study and test SGE.

Run experiments. 

If you have access now, test your website’s appearance for brand and non-brand terms and see if you can influence how SGE generates summaries or key points. See what related words appear and consider updating or creating content that helps fulfill that intent.

Krista Breaa, Senior SEO Manager at Morningstar, discusses some of the experiments her team is working on in the Voices of Search Podcast episode, “How Google’s Generate Experience Reduces Site Traffic.” She says,

“…I’ve been looking to try to identify some areas inside AI where we could start thinking about [shifting focus] now before it’s released, so we can try to pivot within our strategy to say, hey, where can we pick up the pieces to stay ahead of the game?”

She goes on to share how her team is testing FAQ content and improving E-E-A-T signals.

Even investing 10% of your time and resources in assessing SGE for areas of opportunity will put you in a better position for the wider roll-out in the future.

Optimize for E-E-A-T signals.

While the first iteration of SGE Browse does not summarize related articles, the mobile version serves related content below the AI-generated summaries. This functions like a traditional search result, but the related articles are determined by their similarity to the open page. It’s likely that the same rules apply to these results as the primary Google search page and that E-E-A-T will also influence what content is displayed here.

“People aren’t just interested in “things to do in London during the summer,” says Austine Esezobor in a recent interview about SGE with Montse Cano. “They specifically want a better way of navigating this information retrieval in order for them to be satisfied with their query. So they look for, if you like, known entities which they can trust. This ties in very nicely with why Google added their new “E” in their E-E-A-T.”

Ideally, you’re already optimizing your website for E-E-A-T. But if not, brush up on the latest Google recommendations and create a roadmap for optimization where possible.

Remember, SGE will surface content that meets E-E-A-T requirements over content that does not. By optimizing for E-E-A-T signals, you can offset some of the traffic loss you might experience due to SGE’s presence in the SERP.

With SGE, entities will be crucial to how Google displays your content and landing pages. Optimizing for structured data should be a continuous effort since it impacts search results today and will continue influencing SGE results.

Danielle Rohe, in her talk for Integrate 2023, explains why structured data matters and how this impacts entities in Google. She explains that this markup helps Google “connect the dots” to serve more SERP features as they become available.

Structured data helps Google understand your website entities and can influence the appearance of advanced SERP features such as product listings, video content, and reviews.

FAQ and HowTo schema are still relevant, despite their visibility essentially disappearing in search results (aside from Health and government websites).

In my experiments with SGE while browsing so far, pages with FAQ or “Question and Answer” content seem to generate more AI summaries and key points in the experience than pages without.

“It is interesting to see that the SGE while browsing responses look very much like the content that would be surfaced in an FAQ,” says Marie Haynes in her SEO and AI news update.

For now, keep FAQ content and schema, and expect to optimize it in the future as well.

Just like I’m seeing better results for pages with FAQ content, the same is true for pages with intentional formatting, such as those with article summaries, section jump links, bulleted lists, H2s, and H3s.

Content that clearly answers user intent also generates better AI results, so reviewing how your content is formatted will help provide clarity to both readers and Google.

Here’s what you can do.

To build your immune system outside of Google, you’ll want to invest in your brand. Focus on creating integrated marketing experiences across every touch point, whether building online communities, hosting events, promoting partnerships, or stepping up your social media presence.

Lily Ray, Senior Director of SEO at Amsive Digital, recently discussed the importance of influencers and their impact on SEO, saying,

“It’s pretty clear that there is a strong connection between social media signals and performance on Google, particularly in Discover. I know Google has said social media isn’t a ranking factor, but the correlation is strong, time and time again.”

Building your immune system will benefit you in two ways. First, it will strengthen your power in other channels. And second, it will elevate Google’s trust in your entities.

SGE delivers a roadmap to improving content by showing related searches and by providing insight into missing on-page content.

You can use this to your advantage by studying the search path it creates for users. Combining your knowledge of Google’s suggestions and your audience research, you can fill gaps in your content and provide better resources for your readers.

This site is a good example of this concept in practice. It provides a wide range of content for nearly every concern, from childbirth through toddlerhood. SGE Browse understands this site well and is generating summaries and providing opportunities to explore on-page content.

On the flip side, SGE Browse also surfaces competitors for questions where the current site isn’t providing enough information. To avoid a similar fate, think through your reader’s perspective and plan to optimize or create new content for them.

In a worst-case scenario, Google steals your content. In a best-case scenario, they show your content in a competitor’s SGE result.

Consider that traffic may flow differently in the future but that you’ll also have the opportunity to capture new audiences and reinforce your trust in returning ones.

Dial-in search experts and remove silos.

Think of SGE as a question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The question has just been asked. You’re in the hot seat, and you don’t know which direction to choose.

Search experts are your “phone a friend” option. And who can get by in this game without friends?

In other words, recruit qualified search experts to help you with strategy and execution regarding SGE.

Regardless of what your search team looks like – a consultant, agency, in-house team, or combination – they’ll need to be dialed into revenue-generating initiatives and work cross-functionally with other stakeholders.

It’s also essential to ensure they aren’t siloed or cut off from the rest of the company. SEO is an inherently cross-functional role that requires collaboration across departments.

SGE is new, and newness can be debilitating. Let’s face it: Thinking through solutions to SERP changes is challenging. And it’s much easier to criticize through the discomfort than it is to throw yourself into a game that looks – at times – unrecognizable.

“SEO is more than ten blue links,” says Lily Ray in her presentation about preparing for SGE.

Indeed, SEO is still – despite rumor – not dead.

While at times complicated, SEO can have an incredibly powerful impact on website visibility. SGE is the new norm, but it will also push us to continue creating innovative, helpful solutions for users across the world.