7 Key Search Trends of 2024 to Monitor and 3 Top SEO Priorities for the Future

Last Updated on December 25, 2023 by Jeff Vardy

AI-powered search and evolution of the SERPs began in 2023 with Google’s Search Generative Experience and Bing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat).

The Gemini AI model is Google’s largest and most advanced, capable of understanding text, code, audio, images, and video. In 2024, Google Search will unleash its full potential.

 

Meanwhile, Google emphasizes quality and experience while relying on AI models for ranking and re-ranking. As part of its efforts to improve the quality of content and the user experience, Alphabet Inc. released Google Patents and several algorithm updates this year.

Google is okay with using AI to generate content as long as it is highly relevant and valuable. You shouldn’t expect thin, AI-generated content with little or no value to earn long-term SERP visibility.

Topical, entity-first strategies are now competitive advantages. Your platform’s technical foundation must be strengthened to improve discovery and user experience.

 

In 2024, all brands should prioritize futureproofing their digital presence for AI search.

Discover seven key trends you should consider for your roadmap in 2024, as well as three must-haves.

The 7 trends that will shape your strategic roadmap in 2024

In 2024, we will notice the following seven trends.

Optimizing search engine results and visual appeal

Ongoing SERP optimization becomes increasingly important as zero-click results increase due to Google SGE.

Keep your pages fast-loading with relevant, helpful, valuable, and unique content. Some areas to prioritize include:

• Experiential/informational videos.
• Web stories.
• Podcasts.
• Webinars.
• Visual optimization.
• FAQ/PAA.

Content intelligence and helpful content

In 2024, it will be essential to have a rock-solid content strategy:

• Fill in relevant content gaps.
• Analyze the performance of content.
• Utilize user intent and touchpoints to create personalized content.
• Produce various types of helpful content (e.g., topical and informative, localized, visual).

Publish content written or reviewed by subject matter experts or show hands-on experience to demonstrate high levels of E-E-A-T.

Every search happens because someone wants or needs something. Your content should help searchers achieve goals or complete tasks. How a user interacts with your content is as important as the content itself.

To accomplish this, you should create buyer personas, create content based on the buyer’s journey at every touch point, and ensure that content and UX are aligned with your strategy.

Knowing what type of content will perform, based on data, should be the foundation of your content creation strategy.

There are several generative AI tools and plugins that can quickly create content, but their purpose is usually unclear:

• Content types that perform well.
• Humanizing content.
• Forecasting the effectiveness of a content strategy.

Content creators will need to adopt a data-driven approach to measure the effectiveness of their content.

Engagement and experience are also important.

Google’s search results are shaped by user interaction and engagement.

Google will reward content that meets the needs of searchers and is compelling.

The goal of your digital assets in 2024 should be to improve the quality of your content and the user experience for searchers.

Experiences that are tailored to your needs

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai said the search would change substantially in the next decade. Search will become more personalized to reach users deeper and more meaningfully.

On Nov. 15, Google introduced a personalized search experience, including the Follow button, to directly show searchers more information about what they care about in the search results.

Additionally, you should provide your customers with a personalized experience based on who they are, what they’re looking for, and where they’re coming from.

Personalized customer experiences require tighter integration between your CDP (customer data platform) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems.

In 2024, clean data, audience segmentation, and data-driven campaigns will be essential to winning.

A multichannel approach is recommended.

Take advantage of opportunities in increasingly competitive SERP real estate with limited organic listings. That means optimizing the customer journey across various channels and content types:

• Videos.
• Images.
• FAQs.
• PAAs.
• News.
• Webinars.

Be everywhere. Be consistent.

A more personalized, localized, and experiential Local Strategy is necessary.

 

Adding localized experiences to your brand’s content can build expertise, engagement, and traffic.

• Local posts.
• Quality images.
• Videos.
• Web stories.

You must optimize the local consumer journey, from your landing page to audience interactions across all channels.

Social proof and brand mentions

To compile results, LLMs are trained on a variety of sources.

Determine what specific questions/topics your customers seek answers to, where they will find this information, and ensure we create targeted strategies for them.

Seek well-respected sources and relevant influencers (ideally with a substantial social following) to mention and cite your brand.

Staying ahead in changing times: 3 priorities

Staying ahead of the curve and the changing times is imperative. “Keep up, or you will be left behind.”

To stay ahead, here are three main priorities.

Technical Infrastructure Enabling Robust, Integrated Experience

An excellent technical foundation is essential for 2024. An excellent technical foundation ensures a robust experience.

This includes centralizing all your data to build meaningful dashboards and customer journey insights, component-based architecture that enables one-click personalized and omnichannel experiences, security infrastructure, fast server response (CDN), and integrations.

The adoption of new metrics

With AI serving answers within search results from Google properties, traffic will likely decline. Organic listings will continue to get fragmented and be pushed lower in search results.

There will be even less meaning to traditional metrics like rankings in the future.

As new metrics emerge, brands should consider adopting them, such as:

• Rich snippet visibility.
• Pixel height and width.
• Impressions.
• Clicks.
• On-site engagement.
• Conversions.

Alignment of AI-enabled workers and organizations

Applying AI to your daily life can help you become more efficient and better at creating outlines, images, custom images, summaries, designs, and many other tasks.

• The fear of AI has existed since its inception – many people asking, “Will AI replace my job?” However, the AI has no real intelligence, and it will not take your job. However, Eric Enge says that adapting is key because AI can help you do your job better.

Are you ready for 2024?

Smart organizations in 2024 will:

• Integrate channels to enable intelligent decisions.
• Connect customer journeys across touchpoints when creating an omnichannel strategy.
• Measure the right metrics, including zero-click and AI results.
• Prioritize training across the organization.

Some individual and organizational transformations will be needed. For example:

• Content writers should evolve into content strategists.
• Developers should create exceptional experiences.
• Analytics teams should become business analysts.

Learn how to use large language models for forecasting, content generation, and analyzing user behavior.

AI can improve your day-to-day efficiency and the quality of your work simultaneously.

Those who have learned and mastered AI SEO tools will be more valuable than those who do not.

You can use the trends and strategies in this article to decide what to prioritize and why and how to align organizations cross-functionally.