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21 Writing Tips to Become a Better Writer Fast

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Whether you want to land your dream job, score a promotion, persuade a new client, or grow your blog on Google or social media, writing is one of the most powerful skills you can learn.

I have personally written thousands of articles over the years, covering everything from writing itself to digital marketing, travel, insurance, and more. My work has been featured on some of the world’s top marketing blogs, including Shopify, Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, and many others. I’ve built my entire career on the written word.

I don’t say this to gloat—just to show you that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to writing. And I’m about to share what I know.

In this article, we’ll go through 21 tips to become a better writer. But first, let’s discuss what “good writing” really is.

What makes good writing?

Writing is part art, part science. There are no perfect words or perfect sentences, but there is a clear difference between good writing and bad writing. 

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Good non-fiction writing:

  • Is easy to understand.
  • Is well-formatted.
  • Has proper grammar and spelling.
  • Gets to the point.
  • Holds your attention.

Good writing really comes from good editing. It’s rare that a first draft comes out polished and ready to publish.

But great writing has some extra spice to it. It intrigues and motivates. It moves the reader to want to do something. It gets you thinking.

Being a good writer is easy. Being a great writer takes time and dedication. Either way, becoming a better writer starts by following some basic tips and practicing often.

21 writing tips to help you write better, faster

In my decade of writing professionally (and many more years before that writing for fun), I’ve learned a lot about how to be a better writer. And I’ve boiled down my best advice into the following 21 tips.

1. Start with your end goal in mind

Before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), you should always know what your goal is. 

Why are you writing this article/email/book? What do you want the reader to take away from your writing?

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For example, my goal for this article is to help you, the reader, become a better writer. That (hopefully) means you will follow some of these tips and implement them the next time you write.

2. Make an outline

Once you have a rough idea of your goal, it’s time to organize your thoughts with an outline.

A content outline will help you structure your writing logically and let it flow more naturally. It’s also helpful to get the bulk of your research out of the way before you start writing. This is so you don’t get distracted going back and forth between writing and research.

Plus, if you’re writing blog content, having an outline makes it easier to optimize your content for search engines from the get-go rather than optimization being an afterthought. 

3. Focus, focus, focus

After you start writing, it’s important to give it your full attention. This may sound simple, but avoid distractions like kids running around or checking your phone or email. 

I personally like to turn my phone on “silent” and mute my notifications, put on noise-canceling headphones, and listen to instrumental Lo-fi music. You can experiment to see if your brain does better with complete silence or light instrumental music. Heck, sometimes I even write while listening to bass-heavy EDM. 

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Regardless, limit distractions as much as possible and allow yourself to focus on your writing.

4. Ditch the fancy words

Effervescent writing with decorative wording doesn’t serve to create an erudite discussion but rather sounds bloviating and obfuscates the actual meaning of your communication…

… or rather, fancy words only confuse people.

While using these words may make your writing look interesting, it detracts from the goal of being clear and concise. It makes it more difficult for the reader to understand your message.

Instead, try to use the simplest and easiest-to-understand words you can while still explaining what you’re trying to say.

5. Use shorter sentences but vary the lengths

Similar to using smaller words, you should also aim to shorten your sentences. 

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Imagine if I wrote something that your brain had to continue to read, with multiple commas, multiple ideas, and varying concepts, all in one huge run-on sentence, that just didn’t seem to end, no matter how badly you wanted it to, not giving you any time to take a breath or digest the ideas you’re learning, and it just keeps dragging on…

Makes things hard to follow, right?

Instead, keep each sentence under 16–25 words unless absolutely necessary, and only share one or two ideas per sentence.

That said, you shouldn’t just use small sentences. If you do, it can get boring. Similar-sized sentences don’t entice. See what I’m doing here? All these sentences are of near-similar lengths. 

Compare that to this paragraph, where wording and length are varied. Share something quickly. Then reinforce it with a longer sentence that digs deeper, keeping the brain engaged. Maybe throw in a medium-length sentence as well.

Don’t stress too much about sentence length, but keep it in the back of your mind. It helps to give your writing some rhythm and make it sound more interesting.

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6. Write in a conversational tone

Too often I see new writers trying to write in a way that sounds “professional.” Rather than writing in their natural voice and style, they try to sound too buttoned up.

This comes off as boring.

Instead, write like how you talk—within reason, of course. Don’t write a research paper like this. But if you’re writing a casual email or blog post, your writing should sound natural and flow as if you’re talking directly to the reader rather than giving a lecture to them.

7. Write every day

Remember how I said there’s a difference between good writers and great writers? Good writers learn a few tips and write once in a while. Great writers put in the time to practice.

This doesn’t necessarily mean writing an article every day. All forms of writing count, whether that’s crafting an email, writing a blog post, or scribbling in a journal. Have fun with it.

8. Master transitions

As any good copywriter will tell you, the purpose of a paragraph isn’t to convey an idea or make a point. Rather, it’s to get someone to read the next paragraph. 

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Knowing how to transition from one idea or paragraph to the next is one of the biggest secrets to keep readers glued to the page. And that’s done with transitions.

The best way to get good at transitions is by reading your work out loud to spot abrupt changes or awkward spots, then editing to smooth these spots out. I talk more about that in the next tip.

9. Read your writing out loud to edit it

Remember: Good writing comes from good editing.

One of the biggest improvements I ever made to my writing came from reading my writing out loud while editing. By reading out loud, it becomes glaringly obvious where your writing sounds awkward, doesn’t transition well, or straight up doesn’t sound good.

If you use only a single tip from this article, use this one.

10. Start a journal or diary

Physically writing in a journal has been shown to have many health benefits, such as reducing anxiety and stress, helping you organize your thoughts, and even coping with depression.

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But it also makes you a better writer.

Something about putting an actual pen to paper is magical. Doing this let me experience my second-biggest writing improvement (after the “reading work out loud” tip).

11. Use active voice

Your writing will be made better after reading this. You will write better after reading this.

Which of those two sentences sounds better? The latter is written in active voice, while the former is written in passive voice.

Active voice always packs more of a punch in a smaller package. It’s more interesting to read because it talks about a present action rather than some future possibility.

Check out Grammarly’s guide to active vs. passive writing to learn more.

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12. Utilize first drafts

Good writing comes from good editing. You can’t edit without a first draft.

Don’t expect to write something up, never read it over, and have it published and sound amazing. It just doesn’t work like that 99% of the time.

Instead, write your thoughts in a first draft, then edit, edit, and edit some more.

13. Ditch adverbs

Adverbs are great when you really need to emphasize a point. See what I did there?

Using too many adverbs too often is just not necessary and really only distracts from the very point you’re really trying to make. 

Or: Using adverbs too often is not necessary and distracts from the point you’re trying to make.

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Instead of saying “really,” or “very,” or whatever other adverb, try using the word without the adverb. Just delete the adverb and read the sentence out loud. And 9 times out of 10, you’ll find the adverb isn’t necessary and removing it makes your writing punchier.

14. Master punctuation

Commas, dashes, colons, and the like are all fantastic tools. But you need to know how to use the tools. Otherwise, they detract from—rather than enhance—your writing.

I often see new writers over-using long dashes and commas. You’d be surprised at how often you can just delete commas and still be grammatically correct.

Here’s a handy guide to help you get better with punctuation.

15. Ruthlessly cut fluff

If removing a word from a sentence—or a sentence from a paragraph—doesn’t take away from the point you’re trying to make, it’s probably fluff.

Too often we throw extra words or sentences into our writing to beef up the word count or sound more sophisticated. Don’t do that.

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In my opinion, great non-fiction writing is about saying the most while using the fewest words. Again, it comes back to editing. Edit out the fluff like your life depends on it.

16. Have someone else read your draft

Having a fresh set of eyes on your work can help give you a perspective you couldn’t get when your head was down. Even if it’s just a friend or colleague who isn’t a great writer, have them read it and give you feedback.

You’ll either get a nice dopamine hit from the praise or some ideas on what sucks. Either way, it’s a win-win. 

17. Know your audience

Feedback from your peers is important, but what really matters is your final audience.

Not only will this improve your reader’s retention, but it will also help your content show up in Google search results. Doing some basic research can help your content align with search intent.

Search intent is the why behind the query. Why did they search for that phrase? What are they exactly searching for?

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Keyword research example in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

You can figure this out with some basic keyword research. Follow our guide to learn more.

18. Develop your curiosity

How many times did you need to write a paper in school or something for work that you just couldn’t care less about? How well did the paper come out?

Chances are, it could have been better. Great writers are genuinely curious about the thing they’re writing about, and that curiosity propels them to find the right words and sound more interesting.

So if you’re struggling to write about whatever you need to write about, find a way to get curious about it. Watch some interesting videos on YouTube or read interesting news stories on it. Do whatever you need to get curious.

19. Read great writers

If you want to be a great writer, you should read other great writers’ work. Find the best writers in the field you want to write about and start reading.

Google is your friend here.

20. Write somewhere new

My third-biggest writing improvement happened when I started writing at coffee shops, restaurants, cool hotels, and even out in nature.

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There’s something about getting into a fresh environment that shakes your brain up and helps you find better words. Next time you’re struggling to write, go out and write somewhere new.

21. Sleep on it

Finally, if you’ve followed all these tips and still can’t seem to find the right words, just step away for a while. A good night’s rest can do wonders.

It’s funny how many times I felt like I was bashing my head off a brick wall trying to write something. But then just putting it down for tomorrow completely turned it around for me.

Sometimes, it’s best to put the pen down for a bit.

Final thoughts

The best writers make writing a daily practice and aren’t afraid to ruthlessly edit their work.

My three biggest tips out of the 21 are to read your writing out loud, keep a journal, and try writing in new places. Hopefully, those three simple things will help you become a better writer.

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed: So how does pruning actually work? And when

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

There’s no shortage of SEO reporting tools to choose from—but what are the core tools you need to put together an SEO report?

In this article, I’ll share eight of my favorite SEO reporting tools to help you create a comprehensive SEO report for free.

Price: Free

Google Search Console, often called GSC, is one of the most widely used tools to track important SEO metrics from Google Search.

Most common reporting use case

GSC has a ton of data to dive into, but the main performance indicator SEOs look at first in GSC is Clicks on the main Overview dashboard.

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As the data is from Google, SEOs consider it to be a good barometer for tracking organic search performance. As well as clicks data, you can also track the following from the Performance report:

  • Total Impressions
  • Average CTR
  • Average Position
gsc-performance-overviewgsc-performance-overview

Tip

If you’ve signed up for AWT using Google Search Console, you can view your GSC performance data in Ahrefs by clicking “GSC Performance” from the main dashboard.

But for most SEO reporting, GSC clicks data is exported into a spreadsheet and turned into a chart to visualize year-over-year performance.

organic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-yearorganic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-year

Favorite feature

One of my favorite reports in GSC is the Indexing report. It’s useful for SEO reporting because you can share the indexed to non-indexed pages ratio in your SEO report.

google-search-console-indexed-pages-reportgoogle-search-console-indexed-pages-report

If the website has a lot of non-indexed pages, then it’s worth reviewing the pages to understand why they haven’t been indexed.

Price: Free

Google Looker Studio (GLS), previously known as Google Data Studio (GDS), is a free tool that helps visualize data in shareable dashboards.

Most common reporting use case

Dashboards are an important part of SEO reporting, and GLS allows you to get a total view of search performance from multiple sources through its integrations.

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Out of the box, GLS allows you to connect to many different data sources.

Such as:

  • Marketing products – Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360
  • Consumer products – Google Sheets, YouTube, and Google Search Console
  • Databases – BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
  • Social media platformsFacebook, Reddit, and Twitter
  • Files – CSV file upload and Google Cloud Storage

Sidenote.

If you don’t have the time to create your own report manually, Ahrefs has three Google Looker Studio connectors that can help you create automated SEO reporting for any website in a few clicks

google-looker-studio-partner-connectorsgoogle-looker-studio-partner-connectors

Here’s what a dashboard in GLS looks like:

ahrefs-seo-audit-dashboardahrefs-seo-audit-dashboard
Ahrefs Google Looker Studio integration

With this type of dashboard, you share reports that are easy to understand with clients or other stakeholders.

Favorite feature

The ability to blend and filter data from different sources, like GA and GSC, means you can get a customized overview of your total search performance, tailored to your website.

Price: Free for 500 URLs

Screaming Frog is a website crawler that helps you audit your website.

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Screaming Frog’s free version of its crawler is perfect if you want to run a quick audit on a bunch of URLs. The free version is limited to 500 URLs—making it ideal for crawling smaller websites.

screaming-frog-user-interface-screenshotscreaming-frog-user-interface-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

When it comes to reporting, the Reports menu in Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a wealth of information you can look over that covers all the technical aspects of your website, such as analyzing, redirects, canonicals, pagination, hreflang, structured data, and more.

Once you’ve crawled your site, it’s just a matter of downloading the reports you need and working out the main issues to summarize in your SEO report.

Favorite feature

Screaming Frog can pull in data from other tools, including Ahrefs, using APIs. 

If you already had access to a few SEO tools’ APIs, you could pull data from all of them directly into Screaming Frog. This is useful if you want to combine crawl data with performance data or other 3rd party tools.

screaming-frog-api-accessscreaming-frog-api-access

Even if you’ve never configured an API, connecting other tools to Screaming Frog is straightforward.

Price: Free

Ahrefs has a large selection of free SEO tools to help you at every stage of your SEO campaign, and many of these can be used to provide insights for your SEO reporting.

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when-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustrationwhen-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustration

For example, you could use our:

Most common reporting use case

One of our most popular free SEO tools is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), which you can use for your SEO reporting.

With AWT, you can:

  • Monitor your SEO health over time by setting up scheduled SEO audits
  • See the performance of your website
  • Check all known backlinks for your website
ahrefs-overviewahrefs-overview

Favorite feature

Of all the Ahrefs free tools, my favorite is AWT. Within it, site auditing is my favorite feature—once you’ve set it up, it’s a completely hands-free way to keep track of your website’s technical performance and monitor its health.

If you already have access to Google Search Console, it’s a no-brainer to set up a free AWT account and schedule a technical crawl of your website(s).

Price: Free

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar is a free Chrome and Firefox extension useful for diagnosing on-page technical issues and performing quick spot checks on your website’s pages.

Most common reporting use case

For SEO reporting, it’s useful to run an on-page check on your website’s top pages to ensure there aren’t any serious on-page issues.

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ahrefs-seo-toolbar-overviewahrefs-seo-toolbar-overview

With the free version, you get the following features:

  • On-page SEO report
  • Redirect tracer with HTTP Headers
  • Outgoing links report with link highlighter and broken link checker
  • SERP positions
  • Country changer for SERP

The SEO toolbar is excellent for spot-checking issues with pages on your website. If you are not confident with inspecting the code, it can also give you valuable pointers on what elements you need to include on your pages to make them search-friendly.

If anything is wrong with the page, the toolbar highlights it, with red indicating a critical issue.

severity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbarseverity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Favorite feature

The section I use the most frequently in the SEO toolbar is the Indexability tab. In this section, you can see whether the page can be crawled and indexed by Google.

indexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbarindexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Although you can do this by inspecting the code manually, using the toolbar is much faster.

Price: Free

Like GSC, Google Analytics is another tool you can use to track the performance of your website, tracking sessions and conversions and much more on your website.

google-analytics-screenshotgoogle-analytics-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

GA gives you a total view of website traffic from several different sources, such as direct, social, organic, paid traffic, and more.

Favorite feature

You can create and track up to 300 events and 30 conversions with GA4. Previously, with universal analytics, you could only track 20 conversions. This makes conversion and event tracking easier within GA4.

Price: Free

Google Slides is Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. If you don’t have a dashboard set up to report on your SEO performance, the next best thing is to assemble a slide deck.

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Many SEO agencies present their report through dashboard insights and PowerPoint presentations. However, if you don’t have access to PowerPoint, then Google Slides is an excellent (free) alternative.

google-slides-screenshotgoogle-slides-screenshot

Most common reporting use cases

The most common use of Google Slides is to create a monthly SEO report. If you don’t know what to include in a monthly report, use our SEO report template.

Favorite feature

One of my favorite features is the ability to share your presentation on a video chat directly from Google Slides. You can do this by clicking the camera icon in the top right.

share-video-chat-google-slidesshare-video-chat-google-slides

This is useful if you are working with remote clients and makes sharing your reports easy.

Price: Free

Google Trends allows you to view a keyword’s popularity over time in any country. The data shown is the relative popularity ratio scaled from 0-100, not the direct volume of search queries.

Most common reporting use cases

Google Trends is useful for showing how the popularity of certain searches can increase or decrease over time. If you work with a website that often has trending products, services, or news, it can be useful to illustrate this visually in your SEO report.

Google Trends makes it easy to spot seasonal trends for product categories. For example, people want to buy BBQs when the weather is sunny.

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Using Google Trends, we can see that peak demand for BBQs usually happens in June-July every year.

bbq-google-trends-graphbbq-google-trends-graph

Using this data across the last five years, we could be fairly sure when the BBQ season would start and end.

Favorite feature

Comparing two or more search terms against each other over time is one of my favorite uses of Google Trends, as it can be used to tell its own story.

google-trends-comparison-examplegoogle-trends-comparison-example

Embellishing your report with trends data allows you to gain further insights into market trends.

You can even dig into trends at a regional level if you need to.

regional-trends-via-google-trendsregional-trends-via-google-trends

Final thoughts

These free tools will help you put together the foundations for a well-rounded SEO report.

The tools you use for SEO reporting don’t always have to be expensive—even large companies use many of the free tools mentioned to create insights for their client’s SEO reports.

Got more questions? Ping me on X 🙂

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

A new study by Authoritas suggests that Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE), currently being tested with a limited group of users, could adversely impact brand visibility and organic search traffic.

These findings include:

  • When an SGE box is expanded, the top organic result drops by over 1,200 pixels on average, significantly reducing visibility.
  • 62% of SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results.
  • Ecommerce, electronics, and fashion-related searches saw the greatest disruption, though all verticals were somewhat impacted.

Adapting to generative search may require a shift in SEO strategies, focusing more on long-form content, expert insights, and multimedia formats.

As Google continues to invest in AI-powered search, the Authoritas study provides an early look at the potential challenges and opportunities ahead.

High Penetration Rate & Industry-Wide Effects

The study analyzed 2,900 brand and product-related keywords across 15 industry verticals and found that Google displays SGE results for 91.4% of all search queries.

The prevalence of SGE results indicates they impact a majority of websites across various industries.

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The research analyzed the typical composition of SGE results. On average, each SGE element contained between 10-11 links sourced from an average of four different domains.

This indicates brands may need to earn multiple links and listings within these AI-curated results to maintain visibility and traffic.

The research also suggests that larger, well-established websites like Quora and Reddit will likely perform better in SGE results than smaller websites and lesser-known brands.

Shifting Dynamics In Organic Search Results

With SGE results occupying the entire first page, websites that currently hold the top positions may experience a significant decrease in traffic and click-through rates.

When a user clicks to expand the SGE element, the study found that, on average, the #1 ranked organic result drops a sizeable 1,255 pixels down the page.

Even if a website ranks number one in organic search, it may effectively be pushed down to the second page due to the prominence of SGE results.

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New Competition From Unexpected Sources

The study revealed that SGE frequently surfaces links and content from websites that didn’t appear in the top organic rankings.

On average, only 20.1% of SGE links exactly matched a URL from the first page of Google search results.

An additional 17.9% of SGE links were from the same domains as page one results but linked to different pages. The remaining 62% of SGE links came from sources outside the top organic results.

Challenges For Brand Term Optimization & Local Search

The study reveals that SGE results for branded terms may include competitors’ websites alongside the brand’s own site, potentially leading to increased competition for brand visibility.

Laurence O’Toole, CEO and founder of Authoritas, states:

“Brands are not immune. These new types of generative results introduce more opportunities for third-party sites and even competitors to rank for your brand terms and related brand and product terms that you care about.”

Additionally, local businesses may face similar challenges, as SGE results could feature competing local brands even when users search for a specific brand in a regional context.

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Methodology & Limitations

To arrive at these insights, Authoritas analyzed a robust dataset of 2,900 search keywords across a spectrum of query types, including specific brand names, brand + generic terms, brand + product names, generic terms, and specific product names. The keywords were distributed across 15 industry verticals.

The study utilized a consistent desktop browser viewport to quantify pixel-based changes in the search results. Authoritas also developed proprietary “alignment scores” to measure the degree of overlap between traditional organic search results and the new SGE links.

While acknowledging some limitations, such as the keyword set needing to be fully representative of each vertical and the still-evolving nature of SGE, Authoritas maintains that the insights hold value in preparing brands for the new realities of an AI-powered search ecosystem.

Why We Care

The findings of the Authoritas study have implications for businesses, marketers, and SEO professionals. As Google’s SGE becomes more prevalent, it could disrupt traditional organic search rankings and traffic patterns.

Brands that have invested heavily in SEO and have achieved top rankings for key terms may find their visibility and click-through rates diminished by the prominence of SGE results.

SGE introduces new competition from unexpected sources, as most SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results. This means businesses may need to compete not only with their traditional rivals but also with a broader range of websites that gain visibility through SGE.

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As Google is a primary source of traffic and leads for many businesses, any changes to its search results can impact visibility, brand awareness, and revenue.

How This Could Help You

While the rise of SGE presents challenges, it also offers opportunities.

Taking into account what we’ve learned from the Authoritas study, here are some actionable takeaways:

  • As SGE favors in-depth, informative content, businesses may benefit from investing in comprehensive, well-researched articles and guides that provide value to users.
  • Incorporating expert quotes, interviews, and authoritative sources within your content could increase the likelihood of being featured in SGE results.
  • Enriching your content with images, videos, and other multimedia elements may help capture the attention of both users and the SGE algorithm.
  • Building a strong brand presence across multiple channels, including social media, industry forums, and relevant websites, can increase your chances of appearing in SGE.
  • Creating a trustworthy brand and managing your online reputation will be crucial, as SGE may feature competitors alongside your website.

Looking Ahead

While the long-term impact of SGE will depend on user adoption and the perceived usefulness of results, this study’s findings serve as a valuable starting point for businesses and SEO professionals.

By proactively addressing the challenges and opportunities SGE presents, you can increase your chances of success in the new search environment.


Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

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