Search Engine Recap - Week 45 (2024)

This week brought updates on Google’s AI-Overviews, insight into OpenAI’s crawlers, and a final push for optimizing e-commerce sites ahead of the holiday season. Here is an overview.

New Updates to Google’s AI-Overviews

Starting with Google, recent updates to its AI-powered overviews may impact SEO, especially within eCommerce.

The latest changes include a greater presence of shopping-related panels and ads, pushing traditional organic search results further down the page.

While the volatility in AI-Overviews for shopping searches has stabilized, advertisers may notice increased competition from ads.

Additionally, citations of websites in AI-Overviews have seen a significant increase of over 300% since August 2023.

These updates highlight the growing influence of AI on shaping search result layouts and visibility for businesses—something webshops should monitor closely as these types of results expand across more markets.

Optimizing for SearchGPT Indexing

Turning to ChatGPT’s Search function, which is gaining traction, it’s important for businesses to ensure proper indexing by understanding how OpenAI’s crawlers operate.

SearchGPT uses a combination of its own crawlers and Bing’s index to gather content.

New tests show that content freshness and accurate, up-to-date information are crucial for visibility.

Multiple pages from the same domain can also be referenced in a single response. To optimize indexing, businesses should regularly review their robots.txt file and crawler access. Clear content structure and factual accuracy are essential for success.

By maintaining these technical best practices, domains can boost visibility on both traditional search engines and AI-driven platforms.

Last-Minute Optimization for the Holiday Season

We finish with a focus on eCommerce, as we approach key holidays like Black Week and Christmas, which are expected to see an increase in sales this year.

To maximize readiness, webshops should ensure their sites are mobile-friendly and easy to navigate, as many consumers will use mobile devices.

Page speed is critical, so optimizing load times to reduce bounce rates is essential, along with maintaining a strong overall page experience.

Implementing holiday campaigns—such as discounts or free shipping—can also help attract more customers.

Additionally, fine-tuning visibility by updating product listings and ensuring a seamless checkout process can be pivotal.

Alongside competitive content, these elements are crucial to getting the most out of the upcoming holiday season.

Takeaways and Recommendations

This past week brought news from all directions, with a strong focus on AI and eCommerce.

With Google’s continued development of AI-Overviews, there’s no doubt that this area will have a growing impact. Webshops should implement a robust E-E-A-T strategy if they haven’t already.

As Black Week and Christmas approach, final technical optimizations are essential.

Finally, many are watching OpenAI’s SearchGPT closely. With the integration of search functionality, businesses now have broader outreach opportunities. Ensure your site is indexable to increase chances of being featured.

Want help with this or need guidance on getting your business included in both AI-Overviews and traditional searches? Reach out to Bonzer. As a specialized SEO agency, we work daily to help ambitious businesses reach the top of search engines.