Can You Ignore Google And Still Succeed At Search?
The bad news: anyone outside of Google who tells you they know the answer is lying.
The good news: You can plan for the SGE era (which Google just hard-launched with AI Overview at Google Marketing Live in May) by ignoring Google altogether.
Well, maybe “altogether” is a stretch, but more and more, organic brand-building is happening away from the search giant and on channels like Reddit, Quora, TikTok, and industry-specific forums.
Why is this happening? Whatever report on user behavior and priorities you want to reference, the trend in 2024 is clear: authenticity matters. The platforms mentioned above – particularly Reddit, where users are semi-anonymous -- lend themselves to real, unvarnished perspectives that users have come to trust more than corporate brand-speak.
And Google itself is noticing; its principle of E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness), while not officially a ranking factor, has its fingerprints all over the SERPs (non-SGE results, anyway), to the point where Reddit and Quora content dominates a big swath of certain queries. For instance, a February study from Detailed showed that Reddit results showed up in 97.5% of product review queries in Google Search.
The notion of sidelining Google in search strategies might resonate with conservatives fed up with Big Tech's overreach, but it's vital to consider the broader implications. Google’s dominance in search traffic cannot be ignored without risking a significant loss of visibility, especially for conservative content that’s already fighting an uphill battle in a biased digital landscape. Instead of abandoning Google, we should focus on advocating for greater market competition and transparency, ensuring that conservative voices aren't just heard but are accessible to the widest possible audience. This approach would empower us to challenge Big Tech's dominance while still leveraging its tools to spread our message effectively.
~Political Media