How to maintain traffic when AI summaries answer user queries directly in search results

Summary

Episode Summary: Maintaining Traffic Amid AI-Driven Search Summaries

In this insightful episode of the Voices of Search podcast, host Jordan Cooney engages in a thought-provoking discussion with guest Mike Walruth from Yext, focusing on the challenges and strategies for maintaining website traffic in an era where AI-generated summaries increasingly answer user queries directly within search results.

The Evolving Role of Traffic in SEO

The conversation begins with Jordan posing a critical question about the future of website traffic:

Jordan Cooney [00:42]: "As we game plan as a leader at a major brand, what's your game plan for maintaining traffic when AI summaries are answering user queries directly in search results?"

Mike Walton responds by challenging the traditional emphasis on traffic:

Mike Walruth [00:58]: "I don't have a game plan for maintaining traffic. What I have is a game plan for maintaining awareness around my products and services."

He elaborates on the increasing costs and complexities associated with driving traffic:

Mike Walruth [01:20]: "Traffic is expensive. All that infrastructure I have to maintain all that."

Shifting Paradigms: From Traffic to Direct Engagement

Mike introduces a paradigm shift from focusing solely on driving traffic to enhancing direct engagement and awareness:

Mike Walruth [01:45]: "If I'm that brand and I've made so much of my structured data available and the interfaces available, you can imagine a world where it's just like, I identify that leader and then I just get a call... there were no clicks and there was no traffic."

He envisions a future where structured data and AI facilitate direct connections between brands and customers without the intermediary of website traffic. This approach prioritizes quality interactions over sheer volume of visits.

Leveraging Structured Data for Enhanced Customer Interaction

Delving deeper, Mike discusses the importance of delivering comprehensive data to AI systems to enable precise customer interactions:

Mike Walruth [02:15]: "We deliver the data to the AI and then the customer gets delivered to us in the way that we're going to interact with that, with that customer."

This strategy emphasizes the value of data quality and accessibility, enabling brands to connect with customers more effectively, even as traditional traffic patterns evolve.

Reevaluating Success Metrics: From Traffic to Sales

Concluding his insights, Mike suggests that brands should reassess their success metrics:

Mike Walruth [02:35]: "If I'm just judging my value on less traffic and more sales is actually good for me."

By prioritizing sales and meaningful customer engagements over traffic metrics, businesses can better align their strategies with tangible outcomes, even in a landscape increasingly influenced by AI-driven search functionalities.

Final Thoughts

As AI continues to transform the search landscape, this episode underscores the necessity for brands to adapt by focusing on data-driven awareness and direct customer interactions. By moving beyond traditional traffic metrics and leveraging structured data, businesses can maintain relevance and drive meaningful engagement in an AI-centric search environment.

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Transcript

[A]

The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice then visit iheareverything.com welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast. A member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network, ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts. Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search podcast, Jordan Cooney.

[B]

We're going to transition to our lightning round. So as we game plan as a leader at a major brand, what's your game plan for maintaining traffic when AI summaries are answering user queries directly in search results?

[C]

Yeah, I don't have a game plan for maintaining traffic. What I have is a game plan for maintaining awareness around my products and services. Right. So in a lot of ways, by the way, traffic is expensive. You know, all that infrastructure I have to maintain all that. If the question is like, hey, who's the best financial advice advisor near me who specializes in retirement plans and estate planning and also went to the University of Florida? I didn't go to the University of Florida, but if I did, because I like to do business with people from the University of Florida. Right. That's a big, complex question. And I'm not sure that I have to be delivered to the brand's website in order to get exactly what I want out of that relationship, which is, you know, I'm going to get an answer. Hey, you know, here's someone who lives 20 miles away from you, went to University of Florida and is great at those things. Would you like us to have them call you? Right, right. Yes, please. I'm available between 2 and 4 this afternoon. Please have them call me. I have this brilliant assistant who can, you know, go submit a lead form on that site or whatever. So, I mean, like, is there traffic there? Maybe. But in the future, I think if, if I'm that brand and I've made so much of my structured data available and the interfaces available, you can imagine a world where it's just like, I identify that leader and then I just get a call and now I'm talking to exactly who I wanted to be talking to, and there were no clicks and there was no traffic. So, you know, I think we have to shift this whole paradigm that, you know, we have to bring the traffic to us. In a lot of cases, what we do is we deliver the data to the AI and then the customer gets delivered to us in the way that we're going to interact with that, with that customer. And so, yeah, like, obviously traffic is going to be important for some period of time, but, you know, if I'm just judging my value on, you know, less traffic and more sales is actually, you know, good for me.

[B]

Right. And that wraps up this episode of the Voices Search podcast. A huge thank you to Mike Walruth from YEXT for joining us. If you'd like to contact Mike, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or at the voicesofsearch.com for more information about Yext, please visit yext.com if you haven't subscribed yet and want a daily stream of SEO and content marketing knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or on YouTube and we'll bring you back to our feedback. Okay, that's all for today and until next time. Remember, the answers are always in the data.