Advancements in AI technology are fundamentally changing the paradigm of search. The biggest insight discovered at the AfreecaTV Evolve conference was “what is changing and what is becoming more important.” The Elifunt team has summarized and is sharing the key lessons learned.
In the SGE era, the search paradigm is changing.
The environment for producing and consuming information is rapidly changing due to updates to Google's search algorithms and advancements in AI technology.
Starting with the Information Gain and Helpful Content updates in 2022, Google is evolving its algorithms around “content that provides real value to users.”.
Furthermore, the advancement of AI has brought about even greater changes. Anyone can now easily create content, and with the emergence of SGE (Search Generative Experience), AI is now becoming a new channel for consuming and processing information.
What is the way to survive in such a rapidly changing market?
While the market, customers, and technology are changing dynamically,
there is only one thing that matters
Users are still, or rather, even more desperately, searching for trustworthy information. Amidst the countless contents pouring out by AI, they are looking for content that delivers true value.
This means that the value of 'trusted channels' has increased even further. Individuals and brands must now build an identity as trusted channels. The evolution of Google and the advancement of AI merely signify that the means of conveying this trust have become more diverse.
💡 5 Things That Will Become More Important Going Forward
1. SGE's Strategy in the Era of AI Search: The Key is Brand Experience
The Era of Asking and Answering AI, SGE* Strategy
The era of AI classifying and recommending information has arrived. SEO has now gone beyond simple website optimization to designing the brand experience across the entire digital space. The key is how our brand is presented online and how it is perceived by search engine 'entity' systems.
💡*What is SGE?
It stands for Search Generative Experience, a collective term for the search experience in the AI era.
Entity Strategy to Enhance Brand Experience
Google now recognizes brands as a single 'entity.' All digital touchpoints, such as websites, knowledge panels, and social media, must be managed as an integrated brand experience.
👉 Learn more about Brand Entities
There is some interesting data. It is reported that when users select recommended brands in AI-based searches, over 60% prefer brands they are already familiar with. (2024 Adobe Digital Trends Report) This suggests that the more a result undergoes AI filtering and recommendation, the more users trust the brands they are already aware of.
For this reason, a strategy to reverse-engineer brand search results is necessary. Brand search results are brand experiences that we can design ourselves. We must strategically structure brand SERPs, including Knowledge Panels, to create new brand touchpoints for the AI era.
the Schema documentthat best describe our brand entities.
Designing such brand experiences is not the sole domain of SEO specialists. The UX team, business development team, and marketing team must collaborate to create a consistent brand experience.
2. Technical SEO is also only important for improving the user experience.
The era of creating a J-curve growth curve solely through Technical SEO is over
The era of growth relying solely on website structuring, mobile optimization, and meta tag optimization is over. The reason is quite clear: Google's algorithms are evolving to align with the standards of content that provides users with trustworthy information.
Technical SEO is precisely where ROI matters.
"Should I really fix the technical issue on a page with no visitors?"
You don't have to try to fix every technical issue on our website. It is a wise strategy to start by addressing problems that provide value to actual users. You need to distinguish between what requires high priority and what is relatively unimportant.
⭐️ Technical SEO You Must Take Care Of
- Strengthen Internal Links: If your website features various subpages such as blogs and customer case studies, reinforce your internal link strategy. This is a factor that actually contributes to increased traffic.
- Checking if important pages are properly exposed to search engines : First, check if the pages that must be indexed are functioning correctly.
- For global sites, multilingual settings are essential! Incorrect initial configuration can lead to significant losses. Even if it takes time, you must set it up properly from the start.
- Page Redirect Management : You must check if important pages are redirected.
❌ Technical SEO is less important than you think
- Duplicate Content: If you have been wondering whether it is okay to post your blog content on other external channels, do not worry. 60% of the web is already duplicate content, and Google effectively screens and places duplicate content in search results.
- Mobile Friendliness: It is said that mobile optimization tends to be overrated. If there are no elements that hinder reading content on mobile, there is no need to worry technically about improving mobile optimization.
- Page Speed: Page speed is also one of the overrated metrics. It is said that it has no significant impact unless it is extremely slow (10 seconds or more).
3. Content Strategy: Only content that delivers value survives.
In digital marketing, “people” are more important again.
It might sound like a very obvious point.
The Elifunt team has always stated that there are two readers in digital marketing: search engines and real customers. While the focus before the era of AI search was on creating website structures that search engines could recognize, we now feel that content and website strategies for "real customers" and "people" are even more important.
A new standard for good content.
The standard for “good content” is whether the user perceives value; that is the most important factor.
Content quality remains paramount in the search market. Google analyzes the meaning of pages using AI and natural language processing technologies. It prefers actually useful information rather than a simple list of keywords. From this perspective, User-Generated Content (UGC) can serve as a new content strategy. (In fact, content on Forum and Community pages is often considered a high-value channel.)
Then, what kind of content should you write? If you distinguish between Do and Don't, it is a fairly clear standard.
Do and Don't for Creating Good Content
- Do
- Capturing Perspectives and Experiences: We include insights that I (or we) have personally verified and discovered, rather than information that anyone can find.
- Presentation of Concrete Solutions: We provide specific solutions rather than simply conveying information. We elaborate through cases and examples.
- User Experience Optimization: Optimizes the user experience to make it easy to find and consume content.
- Internal Links: Connect to enable the consumption of related content within the website. Utilize planned and serialized content strategies.
- Don't
- Content consisting only of keywords : If it does not contain substantial new information, it has no value as content. In fact, it is a disadvantage in SEO.
- AI-generated content lacking perspective : This refers to duplicate content easily found in search results. Even if the wording differs, it is judged as low-quality content if the meaning is the same. In practice, this is a disadvantage in SEO.
Since there were common points discussed by various speakers regarding the criteria for good content, I covered this in a separate post.
👉 Criteria for Good Content , 2025 SEO Trends
4. Keyword Strategy That Reveals “Intention”
“Intention” is more important than the quantity of keywords.
Relying 'only' on keyword strategy is no longer effective. In fact, it can be counterproductive. What matters is the user's true intention hidden behind the keywords. It is especially important to accurately identify that intention when keywords related to our brand appear.
Discover “highly intentional” keywords in the community.
Communities can become a treasure trove of keywords! Just like Reddit overseas, if you explore domestic communities, you can discover countless questions that couldn't be answered in search engines. These questions are precisely what become 'keywords with clear intent.'.
Actual Case:
Reddit search term: “How to measure B2B marketing performance”
Real Need Discovered: “How do I track B2B leads in GA4?”
By discovering specific user needs within such comprehensive keywords and connecting them to content, you can secure actual traffic.
5. Channel Strategy
The era of simply finding information through Google search is passing. Now, people are utilizing various search engines and channels to find “reliable information.” You should pay close attention to two channels.
Channels to enhance UGC content – Forums, Communities
The reason Google highly values community content like Reddit is clear: it is because it contains the “voices of real users.”.
So, how can companies enhance their UGC content? You can start by activating forums or community features on your site, or by actively collecting Q&A and customer use cases.
How to Use Google Discover
Discover is a new section from Google that can only be viewed on mobile.
It recommends information tailored to your personal interests without requiring you to enter search terms. Want your brand content to be featured in the Discover section? Check the details below!
- Adding professional insights to trendy topics
- Utilize high-quality images. (CTR differs by more than double depending on image quality.)
- Writing OG:title in social media style
Conclusion! New opportunities found amidst change.
“AI will now automate 95% of SEO work.”
– Patrick Stox, Technical SEO at Ahrefs
That was the most shocking statement at the conference. However, this is an opportunity, not a crisis. This is because marketers can now focus on more creative and strategic work.
“The future of SEO depends on trust, not technology.”
– Lily Ray, Vice President at Amsive
Technology continues to advance. Nevertheless, I believe the unchanging success factor is how effectively one conveys 'authentic brand value.'.
AI is a great tool, but the ones who create true value are still us, “people.”.
The value of a brand shines even brighter when we not only resolve customers' genuine questions but also deliver stories containing our unique trial and error and lessons learned, along with insights that highlight our expertise.
This will be the true competitive edge that differentiates our brand in the AI era and strengthens our relationship with customers.
