Search engine rankings determine where a specific web page appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for a given query. These rankings start at position zero (often the featured snippet) and go down to the final position in the search results. A page can only hold one position at a time for any specific search term. Over time, a page’s ranking may fluctuate due to several factors, including the age of the content, the level of competition within the search results, or changes in the search engine’s algorithms.
Visibility refers to how prominent a website or domain is in search engine results. A website with low visibility may not show up for many relevant search queries, while a website with high visibility will appear in search results for a wide variety of relevant terms. Essentially, the more visible your website is, the more opportunities you have to attract organic traffic from search engines.
Both rankings and visibility play crucial roles in achieving the core goals of SEO: driving relevant traffic to your site and building domain authority.
SEO is vital for several reasons, but one of the most significant is its ability to help position your brand across the entire customer buying journey. By optimizing your site for search engines, you align your marketing strategies with modern consumer behaviors.
As Google has acknowledged, customer behavior has evolved. With 81.95% of the global search engine market share as of January 2024, Google continues to dominate how consumers search for information online. Not only that, but consumers now prefer conducting much of their buying research independently.
For example, 86% of consumers state that search engines are the most effective way to obtain information. People, regardless of generation, rely on search engines to answer their questions and guide their purchasing decisions. This shift underscores the importance of having a strong SEO strategy that meets the expectations of today’s self-researching consumers.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an increasingly integral part of the search landscape, content creators and writers will need to rely even more heavily on their expertise and personal experience to stand out from AI-generated content.
One key aspect of maintaining control over AI-generated content is understanding what information AI assistants are presenting when users search for topics related to your industry or brand. Understanding how AI presents information allows you to tailor your content to ensure it stands out and is aligned with the user’s search intent.
Tools like the AI Search Grader can help track which keywords, phrases, and brand-specific details are most often displayed in AI-generated responses. By identifying these terms, you can strategically adjust your own content to better match what users are finding through AI.
Implementing various on-page SEO tactics—such as adding valuable content, optimizing image filenames, or strengthening your internal linking structure—can improve rankings and search visibility. Each of these actions strengthens a key ranking factor, which impacts how your website is perceived by both search engines and users.
By staying on top of evolving SEO trends and optimizing your content based on both traditional SEO factors and insights from AI-driven search behaviors, you can maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly changing digital landscape.