This article is based on Terri Leigh Rhody’s brilliant talk at the MarOps Summit. Members can enjoy the complete recording here.

If you’re in marketing, you already know that search is evolving fast. AI-powered results are changing how people find information, and Search Generative Experience (SGE) is at the center of it all. 

The question is how do you make sure your brand stands out?

I’m Terri Leigh Rhody, and I’ve spent two decades working in marketing technology, helping companies – from scrappy startups to industry giants – navigate shifts in digital strategy. Now, I want to help you do the same with SGE.

In this article, we’ll cover:

  • What SGE is and how it’s impacting search
  • How to optimize for SGE – from authority to usability
  • How to get leadership and SMEs on board with your approach
  • Why thought leadership is a game-changer in an AI-driven world
  • How to refine your processes and stay ahead as search continues to evolve

SGE isn’t just another algorithm update – it’s a fundamental shift in how search works. Let’s break it down and build a strategy that helps your brand thrive.

What is Search Generative Experience?

SGE is essentially Google’s upgraded search. Instead of relying on traditional search engine results pages (SERPs), Google now uses AI to generate short overviews in response to queries. The goal is to move away from users having to click through a long list of links to find relevant information.

Google first launched SGE in the U.S. in May 2024, and by August, it had expanded to the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil.

Is SGE a replacement for SEO?

No, SGE isn’t replacing SEO. Instead, it’s reshaping how search works. It helps deliver more relevant search queries, which in turn generates better-quality traffic for websites. However, it does impact how you plan and manage your SEO strategy.

Optimizing for SGE: Where to focus

If you’re optimizing for SGE, there are three key areas to focus on:

  1. Authority and credibility: Establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
  2. Relevancy and utility: Ensure your content is up-to-date, useful, and highly relevant.
  3. Experience and ease of use: Make sure your content is well-structured, easy to navigate, and provides a great user experience.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these elements.

Authority and credibility

If you want your content to perform well in SGE, you need to show that you're a trusted source. Google’s AI prioritizes content from credible, knowledgeable voices – so if your site isn’t demonstrating authority, you’ll struggle to rank.

One of the best ways to establish credibility is by featuring real experts in your content. Who are the subject matter experts (SMEs) at your company? Make sure their insights are front and center, with their credentials clearly highlighted. If your content doesn’t show identifiable expertise, you risk losing rankings, visibility, and traffic.

At the same time, be mindful of how you're creating content. AI-generated blog posts might be quick and easy, but they often lack the depth, data, and real-world experience that Google values. 

Instead of relying on AI summaries, focus on long-form, expert-led content – think whitepapers, research studies, interviews, and case studies. These signal to Google (and your audience) that you know what you're talking about.

A good rule of thumb? Follow Google's EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) principles. This is especially important in industries like healthcare, finance, and legal, where credibility is everything. Make sure your content is backed by real experts with clear credentials, so both search engines and users know they can trust what you’re saying.

Relevancy and utility

Next up is relevancy and utility – two key factors that determine whether your content is actually useful to your audience. It’s not just about creating content for content’s sake. You want to write with a clear purpose, answering the questions your audience is actually asking in a way that’s customer-centric and data-driven.

From a content planning perspective, depth matters more than volume. Instead of cranking out a ton of generic content, focus on fewer, high-value pieces that dive deep into specific user intents. SGE favors content that fully satisfies a query, especially for more complex questions. If your content offers unique insights or goes beyond surface-level explanations, it’ll stand out in AI-powered search results.

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To make your content even stronger, think multimedia. SGE doesn’t just pull from text – it integrates videos, images, and infographics. Using a mix of content types makes your insights more engaging, easier to understand, and better positioned for AI-generated summaries.

Your visuals play an important role in this. Google pulls featured images into suggested search results, which can help drive clicks to your content. That means your imagery should match and enhance the content it’s paired with – make sure it’s relevant, high-quality, and reflective of your offering.

Experience and ease of use

Last but definitely not least: experience and ease of use. If your website is slow, cluttered, or hard to navigate, people won’t stick around – and that can hurt your rankings.

The goal? Make everything simple, seamless, and frustration-free. Your layout should be clean and easy on the eyes, and finding information should feel intuitive. If visitors have to dig around to get what they need, they’ll likely bounce.

Site speed is also a big deal. Whether it’s page load times, video buffering, or checkout processes (for eCommerce), slow speeds can seriously impact your search performance. Google measures this, and if your site lags, you’ll get dinged in rankings.

And don’t forget about mobile. According to Google, over 50% of organic search traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile users are impatient too – 53% of them will leave a page that takes more than three seconds to load. So, if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing users before you even get a chance to engage them.

Operationalizing SGE for marketing

Now, let’s talk about how to put SGE into action across your marketing efforts. Here are three important steps to take: