SEO
5 Tips For More Engaging & Impactful Branded Travel Content

Branded content is a term that is thrown around quite a lot in marketing circles, but many people struggle to understand what it actually means.
It’s likely that you’ve come across and engaged with plenty of pieces of branded content before without realizing it, both as a consumer and in a professional context.
In the travel industry, in particular, branded content is frequently used as a way to appeal to certain customer demographics who prioritize the integrity and values of a brand over the specifics of their offering.
Branded content can take a wide variety of forms and approaches, which means that it can be tricky to figure out the best way to make the strategy work for you.
The struggle ends here.
What Is Branded Content?
Put simply, branded content is any piece of content that builds brand awareness by associating a company with the values it communicates.
To really understand where this approach comes from, you need to understand the context from which it emerged.
Traditional advertising has the intention of selling a product or experience at its core. Whatever method is used to do this, it is often explicit enough that the customer is aware that they are actively being sold to.
Many of the techniques used in traditional marketing are very effective, but the consumer landscape has changed drastically over the last decade or so.
Potential customers are wise to the classic methods used to catch their attention and subtly manipulate their behavior, which has led to a distrust of brands who use obvious advertising methods to explicitly push what they are selling.
On top of this, what modern consumers want from the brands they support has also changed in recent years.
In fact, 83% of millennials, in particular, prefer to spend their money on products or experiences from businesses whose values align with their own, and actively seek out companies with missions or goals that they also support.
This is particularly relevant in the travel industry as it is in line with many customers’ concerns over the social or environmental impact of their holidays.
Instead of looking for the cheapest deals, many consumers now prioritize booking trips with brands that share their priorities when it comes to travel.
Branded content is the product of these key changes in the marketing landscape.
To appeal to this new generation of consumers, and to avoid the distrust that comes with explicit methods of advertising, branded content focuses on creating all kinds of content that potential customers will enjoy and illustrates the values of a company, instead of its offering.
This could be videos, blog posts, publications, and podcasts that are produced by a brand but not directly related to its product or service.
Branded content taps into the topics that potential customers are interested in to catch their attention and then builds affinity by regularly sharing other engaging content so that the brand becomes synonymous with certain positive values or ideas.
The benefits of this approach are clear: Branded content strengthens brand image, which helps you to stand out from your competitors, improves recall, and increases the number of potential customers who hear about your brand.
Targeting potential customers whose values align with your brand also means that conversion rates are higher and that you’re more likely to gain long-term customer loyalty.
Branded content is an inbound marketing strategy; it attracts new customers by focusing on creating an appealing brand image.
There’s a lot of overlap with other marketing techniques and formats, which makes it easy to integrate this approach into your existing marketing plan.
It should be noted that the term ‘branded content’ is now also used to refer to a kind of collaborative marketing approach on social media platforms such as Instagram, where a creator indicates that a post has been sponsored or inspired by a business partner.
Influencer marketing can involve kinds of branded content, but in this article, we use the term to refer to the wider style of content creation.
How To Make Branded Content Work For Your Travel Business
Now, you understand what is meant by the term branded content and can see the benefits of adopting the approach for your travel brand, you might have been left wondering how to put these ideas into action.
1. Establish Your Values
Company values are a key part of establishing a unique brand image. They’re more than just your business goals and culture.
They dictate the kinds of travel experiences you offer, the way you approach your marketing content, the way you use your profits, and the kinds of consumers who support you.
At the heart of any branded content campaign should be what your company stands for and the impact you want to make in the travel world and beyond.
The whole point of this marketing approach is to highlight brand values that the audience will respond to, so you need to get this straight before you go any further.
If you already have a clear set of company values, fantastic. Identify the ones that you think your audience will relate to most, and go from there.
If you feel your values are lacking, think about issues or trends in the travel and tourism industry that you care about or feel that you could make a difference to.
Cast the net wider and reflect on any social issues that you think your business could support or impact, and consider if there’s a way to work these into your values as well.
2. Identify Audience Interests
Understanding the audience you are marketing to is the backbone of any successful marketing scheme. Branded content is no different.
However, instead of just tapping into what your audience wants from a travel company, you need to dig deep and research into the interests and values of each demographic in your customer base.
Branded content works by catching the attention of potential customers who are going to want what your business offers, and building up a trusting relationship with them through the content you share.
In order to grab this attention in the first place, you need to have a clear idea of what your target audience cares about.
This goes further than just understanding what kind of holidays they enjoy and what they seek to get out of travel experiences, although this is still quite useful.
You need to find out what other interests intersect or align with their identity as a consumer.
- What kind of hobbies do they enjoy?
- What other brands do they support?
- What are their values?
- What social issues do they care about?
- What topics do they enjoy reading about in their free time?
Complete this research for each of the different groups that make up your target audience, the more segmented the better.
Then, identify the areas and topics that have some overlap with your brand, and start seeking branded content inspiration here.
For example, say that you’re a travel brand that specializes in wellness holidays to tropical destinations.
Your target audience may have general interests in things like healthy eating, exercise, and mindfulness, and also care about their environmental impact on the planet, for example.
As a travel brand, it doesn’t make sense for you to share content offering health or nutrition advice, but you could create content that discusses sustainability in travel or the benefits of activities like yoga or meditation on mental wellness.
There doesn’t have to be an explicit travel focus on the branded content you create. As long as it aligns with your overall business values and benefits your brand image, it will attract the right kinds of customers.
3. Choose Popular Formats
A key part of ensuring success when it comes to branded content is choosing a format that your target audience is going to engage with.
There’s no point in spending a huge portion of your budget on an elaborate video marketing campaign if your target audience actually prefers to read content instead of watching it.
Alternately, if the majority of your customers enjoy social media content above all other formats, creating a print publication will get you nowhere.
Branded content makes a big impact because it genuinely engages and excites the people who see it, which prompts them to share and grow the content’s reach.
If you’re not using a platform or a format that your audience is familiar with or want to share content on, you won’t get the desired impact.
Another feature of branded content is that it tends to respond to popular trends.
There’s no point in trying to create something relevant if your audience has already lost interest in the format you use. If you’re going to take inspiration from what’s popular, you need to ensure you act fast.
This is one of the simplest pieces of branded content marketing advice, but it’s an essential part to make the approach work for your travel brand.
Do your research to make sure you’re creating something that potential customers will want to engage with, and then start brainstorming.
4. Create Immersive Content
Branded content seeks to catch people’s attention and make an impact, even if they’ve never interacted with your brand before.
Tapping into consumers’ emotions is one of the best ways to do this, which is why creating immersive branded content is such an effective approach.
Video and audio formats are particularly successful for travel brands, as they can immediately transport a potential customer to a new destination or experience.
You shouldn’t use this tactic to promote your brand offering (or at least, not in this approach to marketing), but instead, focus on crafting an experience that is so engaging, it will stay in a consumer’s mind afterward.
The worlds of VR and augmented reality are opening up more possibilities than ever before when it comes to immersive content, but even if you don’t quite have the budget for such formats, you can still effectively hook your audience in an instant.
Consider audio content that speaks directly to the listener, visual-heavy social media posts that inspire instant wanderlust, and description-rich written content that your reader can’t help but get lost in.
5. Be Unique
There are plenty of instances in a marketing strategy where it pays to play it safe.
Branded content isn’t one of those.
This is definitely the time to do something quirky and creative that will get your brand noticed and your content shared.
A partnership with an unexpected brand on a series of social media posts? A response to a hot topic that clearly illustrates your stance on the matter? A venture into an unusual format, such as producing a music video?
The best examples of branded content are the ones that have gone viral, usually due to their unique or unexpected nature.
Communicating your values is important, but you need to catch consumers’ attention first so that they actually listen to what you’re saying.
If there was ever a time to take a risk and try something new, this is it.
Conclusion
It’s possible that your travel business has already dipped its toe in the branded content waters, or you’ve been pursuing similar results with your marketing efforts without knowing the technical term for what you’re doing.
You might also be a total newcomer to this approach, in which case this article should have given you a good idea of the best ways to make branded content work for you in the travel sector.
The nature of branded content is likely to change over the coming years in response to fluctuating consumer interests and priorities, as well as the introduction of new marketing techniques.
What is unlikely to change however is the positive impact of promoting your brand by finding common ground with your target audience, leading to high levels of customer engagement, trust, and loyalty.
More resources:
Featured Image: GaudiLab/Shutterstock
SEO
YouTube Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide

YouTube, the second most visited website in the world, has changed how we consume content and created a huge marketing opportunity for brands.
But how does YouTube marketing work, and how effective is it as a marketing channel?
In this guide to YouTube marketing, you will learn the different types of videos that produce the best content marketing results and how to leverage this top social media platform.
What Is YouTube Marketing?
YouTube marketing is the process of promoting a brand, product, or service through video content on the YouTube platform.
This type of marketing involves creating videos to increase brand awareness, engage a target audience, and drive sales and revenue.
The key to successful YouTube marketing is to create high-quality, engaging video content that resonates with your target audience and delivers value.
YouTube viewers say good content tells a good story; It’s relevant to their interests, expands their perspectives or ways of thinking, and makes them feel something emotionally.
Organic YouTube Marketing
There are 10 types of organic videos that brands can use for YouTube marketing:
- Social media videos (e.g., YouTube Shorts, Stories, and Community posts).
- How-to videos and/or explainer videos.
- Branded stories (e.g., short films, series, and/or documentaries).
- Interviews with influencers and/or subject matter experts.
- Thought-leadership videos with company leaders.
- Stories about your organization.
- Customer testimonials, case studies, and/or success stories.
- Product demonstrations, either animated or actual.
- External training videos and/or formal education on topics.
- Livestreaming videos (e.g., YouTube Live and Premieres).
More than 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every minute, so it’s a crowded space. That’s why YouTube marketing is not just about uploading a video and being organically discovered.
YouTube Paid Video Marketing
If you’re establishing a new brand or channel on YouTube, you can get faster results with a paid strategy as you organically build your number of subscribers.
There are several YouTube and Google Ads solutions that support different business goals and marketing objectives – from increasing brand awareness to building consideration or driving action.
In Google Ads, you can create compelling video campaigns with various video ad formats to engage customers in different ways on YouTube and across Google video partner sites.
For paid YouTube advertising strategies, there are three main approaches:
1. Ads For Increasing Brand Awareness
- Bumper ads: Highlight your brand’s most memorable messages with quick, non-skippable ads up to six seconds long.
- Non-skippable in-stream ads: Make sure potential customers see the full story with a non-skippable ad that plays before, during, or after their video on YouTube and across websites and apps running on Google video partners.
- Masthead ads: Reach a massive audience in a short amount of time by featuring your brand’s ad at the top of the YouTube home feed on desktop, mobile, and TV screens.
2. Ads For Boosting Interest And Consideration
- Skippable in-stream ads: Reach as many people as possible on a budget with ads that allow viewers to skip the ad after five seconds and run before, during, or after a video plays.
- YouTube BrandConnect: Connects creators in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K. with brands for branded content campaigns.
3. Ads For Driving People To Purchase, Subscribe, And Take Action
- In-feed video ads: Use images to reach people as they browse their YouTube Home and Watch Next feeds, Discover feed, and the Promotions and Social tabs on Gmail.
- Video action campaigns: Reach as many people as possible on your budget with skippable ads that run before, during, or after a video plays.
How Can Marketers Use YouTube?
Businesses and brands can use YouTube in various ways to achieve their marketing goals.
Out of the 10 types of YouTube videos you can produce (listed above), a survey from the Content Marketing Institute found 5 types of these videos produced the best content marketing results.
1. Social Media Videos
Social media video brand campaigns on YouTube have one thing in common: They provide value to their audience. They also have an emotional hook that will stimulate sharing.
Examples:
- Dove India launched Project #ShowUS, a social video campaign intended to challenge stereotypes of what is and isn’t considered beautiful.
- Gillette launched We Believe: The Best Men Can Be, a social video campaign aiming at a modern interpretation of manhood.
- BuzzFeed Video and Purina Friskies launched Dear Kitten, a social video campaign featuring an older house cat teaching a kitten how to be a cat.
2. How-To Videos
How-to videos educate audiences. Brands can use these to build trust and credibility with the audience, as well as establish themselves as an expert in their industry.
Here are some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns that used how-to videos or explainer videos:
- L’Oréal has created a series of how-to videos, helping to fulfill the beauty aspirations of consumers worldwide. This includes How To Apply Lash Idôle Mascara by Lancôme USA, which has 15.6 million views.
- Samsung India used ‘how-to’ videos to promote its latest Galaxy A73 5G, including How To Take Screenshots With A ‘Palm Swipe’ On Your Samsung Smartphone, which has 60 million views. These videos provided in-depth demonstrations of the features and capabilities of the devices, helping consumers to understand the value of these products.
- Google used explainer videos to educate consumers about its various products and services, including A (Home) Movie About How Google Search Works, which has 91 million views. These videos are helpful in simplifying complex topics and making them accessible to a wider audience.
3. Branded Stories
The key to success with branded stories is to create engaging and compelling content that resonates with the target audience and supports the brand’s overall marketing goals.
Here are a few examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns that used branded videos in recent years:
- Clash of Clan’s Lost & Crowned tells the story of Larry’s first day on the job, guarding the Red King’s crown with his big brother Peter on a late-night shift. What could possibly go wrong? This short film got 62.5 million views and 1.3 million engagements.
- Hyundai Worldwide’s Hyundai x BTS I Hydrogen Documentary is a short documentary that aims to increase Gen Z’s involvement in hydrogen and to make a difference through solidarity. The use of infographics also helps people understand hydrogen better. This documentary got 12 million views and 124,000 engagements.
- Patagonia’s The Fight For America’s Public Lands is a feature-length documentary about America’s system of public lands and the fight to protect them. One part love letter, one part political exposé, this film got 2.8 million views and 18,200 engagements.
4. Customer Testimonials
Brands can showcase positive customer experiences and testimonials in their YouTube videos, helping to build trust and credibility with the audience.
Some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns that used customer testimonials, case studies, or success stories include:
- AmeriSave Mortgage has created a series of customer testimonials. For example, Christine’s Refinance is the story of how AmeriSave’s loan originators helped Christine, a single mother, get a low rate when she decided to refinance her mortgage on her New Orleans home – saving her hundreds of dollars a month while also allowing her to pay off debt. This customer testimonial got 3.9 million views.
- Sell on Amazon has created a series of studies; for example, New Republic, which shares the case study of the digitally-native footwear brand, got 8.5 million views.
- Shopify has created a series of success stories; for example, Maye-Williams Active, which tells the story of the 100% Black-owned activewear company, got 22 million views.
5. Interviews With Influencers
By partnering with influencers or subject matter experts, brands can tap into their expertise, reach a new audience, and establish a strong connection with their target market.
Here are some recent examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns that used interviews with these individuals – or even people on the street – to create engaging and informative content on YouTube:
- Nike’s campaign, You Can’t Stop Us, featured a series of interviews with various athletes and influencers. The videos highlighted the resilience and determination of these individuals and showed how they overcame challenges and continued to pursue their goals despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Luxe Collective, which buys and sells pre-owned luxury brands, has created a series of street interviews; for example, the video, Stopping People On The BUSIEST Street In Europe To Ask 1 Question, has 34.5 million views.
What Are The Benefits Of YouTube Marketing?
YouTube marketing can help businesses grow their brand and reach new audiences on the video-sharing platform in several ways.
Reach A Global Audience
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, making it the world’s largest social video platform. And every month, they watch over a billion hours of video on YouTube.
There are localized versions of YouTube in over 100 countries worldwide across 80 languages. This enables brands to reach a massive global audience with customized local campaigns.
Reach Your Potential Customers
YouTube.com is the no. 2 most visited website globally, behind Google.com. This means the video-sharing site is the world’s largest social media platform.
YouTube enables virtually any business in every industry to reach potential customers when and where they’re searching, browsing, or watching video content.
Integrated With TV Viewing
Despite its origins as a website and its evolution into a mobile app, YouTube is now being watched by a growing percentage of Americans on connected TVs (CTVs).
According to Insider Intelligence, 38.1% of the time spent daily on YouTube in 2023 is on connected devices like smart TVs and game consoles, 48.5% on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, and only 13.4% on desktops and laptops.
So, how do you leverage YouTube for your brand in today’s multiple-device era?
Engage The Segments That Matter Most To Your Business
YouTube enables advertisers to go beyond demographics to target affinity segments (people whose interests and habits relate to what their business offers) and in-market segments (people actively researching or planning to purchase products or services like theirs).
So, YouTube connects you to the people who matter most to your business, from foodies down the block to business buyers of industrial food-service equipment for commercial kitchens across the country.
Engage Consumers At Every Stage Of Their Journey
Videos tend to be more engaging than other forms of content, such as text or images.
A Google/Talk Shoppe study in 2020 found 75% of respondents said advertising in YouTube videos makes them more aware of new brands or products.
And Google data found 90% of people globally say they discovered new brands or products on YouTube.
To bolster brand awareness and convert leads, many brands use a full-funnel YouTube marketing strategy encompassing multiple objectives.
Measure Channel Performance, Brand Lift, And Conversions
You can use YouTube Analytics to better understand your video and channel performance with key metrics like watch time, views, likes, shares, and comments.
You can use Brand Lift surveys to measure the effectiveness of your video ads with key metrics such as ad recall, brand awareness, and consideration.
And you can use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure engaged-view conversions (EVCs) from YouTube. This enables you to measure all the different stages of the buyer journey.
How Effective Is YouTube Marketing?
The effectiveness of YouTube marketing can vary depending on several factors, such as the target audience, the relevance and quality of the content, and the marketing goals.
However, when executed correctly, YouTube marketing can be a highly effective tool for brands and businesses.
It also helps to have an accurate model of how people use YouTube to move through the customer journey on their own terms to understand how to make your video marketing more effective.
Research reveals TikTok’s impact on the consumers’ purchase journeys and found the path to purchase on TikTok looks more like an “infinite loop” than the traditional funnel, which William W. Townsend first proposed in 1924.
But the ‘Messy Middle’ of the Purchase Journey model was based on research by Google’s consumer insights team in the U.K., which found that consumers loop between exploring and evaluating the options available to them until they are ready to purchase.




There is also a third model of a similar looping process for discovering new videos and sharing compelling content, inspired by reading “The People’s Choice,” a book by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet, published in 1948.




This landmark study of American voters during the 1940 and 1944 presidential elections found that interpersonal interactions and word of mouth were more significant than mass media for most voters.
Based on their research, the authors proposed a two-step flow model of communication. The first step, from media sources to opinion leaders, was a transfer of information, but the second step, from opinion leaders to their followers, also involved interpersonal influence.
YouTube marketing works much more like word-of-mouth marketing and a lot less like mass media marketing. The journey people take to become loyal customers isn’t a straight shot down a funnel. Stuart Hogg accurately observed in “Customer journey mapping: The path to loyalty”:
“In reality, this journey is often more like a sightseeing tour with stops, exploration, and discussion along the way – all moments when you need to convince people to pick your brand and stick with it instead of switching to a competitor,”
Once you understand how the social video platform works, then you are much more likely to achieve the six key benefits of YouTube marketing that are spelled out above.
YouTube Marketing Tools
Here are some of the best tools to help you with YouTube marketing:
Audience Research Tools
Tools like Find My Audience and SparkToro can help you to understand who your most valuable customers are on YouTube and which YouTube channels, social accounts, websites, press publications, and podcasts they engage with – so your video marketing efforts can be better targeted and more effective.
Keyword Research Tools
YouTube Analytics, Google Trends, and YouTube Search Predictions are just some of the keyword research tools for YouTube.
These will help you find relevant keywords and identify popular keywords and topics related to your brand or industry, which will help you optimize your YouTube videos for search.
Video Editing Software
Uploads of short-form content on YouTube have grown 135% in Q2 of 2022 compared to 2021, according to Tubular Labs.
To keep up with this trend, you can use video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple’s Final Cut Pro or iMovie to edit and enhance your YouTube videos, including adding music, sound effects, and special effects.
YouTube Thumbnail Makers
If your account is verified, you can add a custom video thumbnail on YouTube.
And tools like Canva, Placeit, and Adobe Express can help you create stunning YouTube thumbnail images for your videos that will increase your YouTube views and subscribers without design skills or expensive graphic design software.
Social Media Management Tools
Schedule and monitor your videos on YouTube and respond to comments as well with tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, or Later.
You may also use them to publish your videos on other social media platforms, helping you to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic back to your YouTube channel.
YouTube Directories
The YouTube Creative Directory contains lists of 15 collaborative partners for every stage of production and 5 affordable do-it-yourself platforms.
Meanwhile, the YouTube Services Directory can help YouTube creators, artists, media companies, and other content creators find service providers to help them grow their businesses.
Digital Analytics
Measuring your results starts with YouTube Analytics, which helps you understand your video and channel performance with key metrics and reports in YouTube Studio.
It incorporates the data and reports available in Google Ads, as well as Google’s lift measurement tools, which enable you to get fast, actionable results across the entire consumer journey.
And it includes Google Analytics, which collects data from your websites and apps to create reports that provide insights into your business.
Summary
By now, you’ve learned the benefits of YouTube marketing, a two-step flow model for effective YouTube marketing, and seven types of marketing tools that should be in your toolkit.
So, is that enough storyboarding? Are you ready to shoot something?
Well, before you do, you may want to read 10 YouTube Marketing Strategies & Tips (With Examples).
Of course, you can always shoot first and ask questions later. But it never hurts to learn lessons from other brands that have developed content strategies that have resonated with 21st-century consumers.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Chaay_Tee/Shutterstock
SEO
YouTube Stories To Be Discontinued


In a recent announcement, YouTube confirms discontinuing its Stories feature, a tool similar to Snapchat’s and Instagram’s disappearing messages.
The feature, which allowed creators to post updates that would remain live for seven days, will officially be phased out on June 26, 2023.
The Rise and Fall of YouTube Stories
Launched in 2018, Stories were initially available to creators with over 10,000 subscribers.
The tool was designed for sharing behind-the-scenes updates, vlogs, sneak peeks at upcoming videos, and quick updates.
The decision to remove the feature comes after mixed reactions from users and creators, with some finding it “weird” and lacking certain key functionalities like swipe-up and video linking features.
Further, YouTube says the Stories feature saw limited adoption compared to other engagement tools, like community posts, which drive more comments and likes.
Community Posts & YouTube Shorts: The New Frontier
As YouTube puts an end to Stories, the focus shifts toward community posts and YouTube Shorts.
YouTube recently expanded access to community posts to millions of creators and added popular aspects of Stories, such as editing tools and the ability for posts to expire after 24 hours.
Community posts consistently drive “many times more comments and likes” than Stories, the company says.
On the other hand, YouTube Shorts has emerged as a strong contender to TikTok’s short-form video content.
Despite challenges, such as technical issues, and an initial lack of monetization, YouTube Shorts is now an established tool for driving engagement and gaining new subscribers.
Shorts Monetization & The Competitive Landscape
YouTube has made strides in improving the monetization of Shorts. A new process was announced on February 1, 2023, where revenue from ads displayed between Shorts clips will be shared among eligible creators.
This revenue-sharing model replaces the YouTube Shorts Fund, and it’s seen as a potentially more sustainable and equitable way to compensate creators for their work.
Despite these advancements, YouTube faces tough competition in the short-form video space. TikTok, Meta, and YouTube are the current heavyweights, with consumers choosing TikTok for short-form content.
Nevertheless, marketers are beginning to see the long-term return on investment potential in Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts, creating a shifting landscape in the industry.
Looking Ahead
Following the discontinuation of Stories, YouTube reassures everyone it remains committed to investing in new and innovative tools to help creators grow.
With more features for Shorts and community posts on the way, YouTube’s vision for the future centers around the tools that show the most promise for user engagement.
Source: YouTube
Featured image generated by the author using Midjourney.
SEO
12 AI Overviews From SGE


Google began rolling out the new Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) to people on the Search Labs waitlist.
SGE adds generative AI capabilities to Google Search results. Here’s a look inside the SGE on desktop and mobile and how SGE results compare to typical Google SERP features.
How To Get Access To Google SGE Via Search Labs
To access SGE and other experimental features, you must sign up for the Search Labs waitlist.
SGE features will be available in Google Chrome for desktop users and in the Google app for iOS and Android users.
Watch for an email from Google or a notification from the Google app welcoming you to Search Labs.


Once you receive your welcome, you can find SGE on the Search Labs page and other new experimental features like Code Tips and Add To Sheets.




Note that Add to Sheets is not available for mobile users in the Google app.
SGE For Desktop & Mobile Users
Here’s a look at Google with SGE enabled in Google Chrome on a desktop. You can see AI conversation prompts below the search bar.




SGE in the Google app on mobile offers a similar option, labeled Converse, below the search bar. This leads to a screen with prompts to start your SGE conversation.




Now, let’s look at Google SGE responses compared to standard Google SERP features.
1. SGE For SERPs With FAQ, People Also Ask, & Knowledge Panel Features
First, I tried a simple question: What is Google Bard?
Google SGE provided an answer using six sources to answer the question. Five of the six sources about Google Bard were from publishers, while one was an official Google Bard Help page.




You can toggle the viewing option at the top right of the AI result to see which sources are used to craft the summary.




Beneath the generative AI response, you can see the standard Google search results appear with organic search results, people also ask, and a knowledge panel.
While you may have access to the Add to Sheets feature in Search Labs, it only appears on organic search results – not the AI-powered answer.




Add to Sheets simply adds the search result to an existing or new Google Sheet.
In the Google app with SGE, you can see a variation of the generative AI response, followed by the knowledge panel, people also ask, and organic search results.




In this example, you can see that the sources chosen by SGE do not always match the top organic search results.
2. SGE For SERPs With The Local Pack Feature
Next, I asked about the top Italian restaurants in Phoenix,
Google SGE provided an answer similar to the local pack.




The top three restaurants the generative AI chose slightly differed from those shown in the local pack on the desktop browser.




The generative AI response on mobile provided the same restaurants as the local pack, followed by the usual local pack and organic search results.




3. SGE For SERPs With Sitelinks
For this one, I searched for Semrush, which usually includes sitelinks, people also ask, and a knowledge panel.
In this instance, Google asked if I wanted to “Get an AI-powered overview for this search?”




SGE provided the following answer using third-party sources about Semrush after I clicked on Generate.




The generative AI provided a similar response in the Google app after asking if I wanted the AI results.




4. SGE For SERPs With Shopping & Reviews
Are you looking for a 4k camcorder under $500? Here are the shopping results with reviews provided by SGE, which include advice on what to look for in a camcorder.




Standard SERPs only show where to buy a camcorder that fits your search query, followed by shopping results with reviews.




On mobile, SGE generates advice and a lot of suggestions on what camcorders to purchase before showing organic search results.




5. SGE For SERPs With Product Details & Store Listings
When inquiring about a specific feature of a product, SGE can give you precise details, followed by reviews and the best purchasing options.




Typical search results would focus on content from the brand, followed by people also ask and organic search results.




The mobile SGE response also includes a list of stores before returning to the official website in organic search results.




6. SGE For SERPs With Sponsored Ads & Featured Snippets
For a broad search on link building, SGE offers a definition based on six sources about the topic.




Google SERPs would typically show several sponsored results from Google advertisers, followed by a featured snippet, people also ask, and organic search results.




The generative AI response from the Google app was similar, although it used eight sources instead of just six.




7. SGE For News And Top Stories
When searching for the latest AI news, SGE pulls from the five most recent news sources.




Google SERPs, on the other hand, typically display seven of the top headlines related to the search query.




On mobile, SGE serves up six of the most recent new sources, followed by a different selection from the news and top stories results.




8. SGE For SERPs With Images
If you want a new pack of social media logos for your website, you must be more specific about SGE. Its response is the definition of social media logos from articles around the web.




Standard Google search results begin with image results from websites that offer social media logo packs and the ability to filter image results by criteria such as a transparent background.




The generative AI provides a similar definition and guidelines for using social media logos on mobile, followed by images, people also ask, and organic search results.




9. SGE For SERPs With Video
Do you need to fix a broken pair of glasses? SGE offers advice from three sources.




Without SGE, Google offers several videos with key moments to choose from based on the part of the repair you need assistance with, followed by people also ask, more YouTube videos, and organic search results.
The Google app offers AI-powered advice, followed by a featured snippet, people also ask, organic search results, and videos.




10. SGE For SERPs With Events
Want to see what events are coming up in your area? This SGE response for upcoming events in San Francisco offers a long list of suggestions from five sources.




Google search results commonly provide the following list of events in calendar format.




The SGE experience on mobile offers a similar list of events with more sources, followed by the events list calendar and organic search results.




11. SGE With Code Tips
Some queries, such as this for a Python SEO function, will result in a response from Code Tips if enabled in Search Labs.




Generative AI offers an immediate solution. Typical Google search results would give you links to find similar solutions.




The Google app will also provide Code Tips for mobile users, followed by people also ask and organic search results.




12. SGE For Unavailable Queries
Some search queries will (ironically) result in the message, “An AI-powered overview is not available for this search.”




Initial Observations About The Search Labs Preview Of Google SGE
Google seems to be placing publishers first in its new generative AI search experience.
Most AI-powered overviews included information from three to five publisher websites instead of the official website or social profiles for the topic at hand. While this could help increase traffic for publishers, it may decrease traffic for brand-owned properties.
When a generative AI response appears in search results on a desktop or mobile device, it pushes SERP features like featured snippets, images, videos, people also ask, knowledge panels, and organic search results below the fold.
While some SGE answers seemed to provide less value than typical SERP features, it’s important to remember that this is just the beginning of the future of AI search.
Featured image: 13_Phunkod/Shutterstock
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