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Navigating SEO: Thriving in an Oversaturated Digital Market
Sep 10, 2024 • 6 Minute Read • Tod Szewczyk, VP, Services marketing
The Modern Marketing Paradox
“It has never been easier to reach your target consumer. As a result, it’s never been harder to stand out.” Sprout Social’s State of Social Media 2024 quote highlights the paradox marketers face in today’s oversaturated digital landscape. In this post, we’ll examine how this over-saturation evolved and identify strategies to break through using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Before we dive in, it’s essential to remember that the foundation of great marketing lies in compelling storytelling— the core element that builds impactful brand and customer experiences.
Digital Overload
We’re all familiar with the statistics showing consumers are bombarded with ads daily. Yet, an update to the well-known Yankelovich survey, which estimated ad exposure at up to 5,000 daily ads, hasn’t been done. That study, conducted in 2007, coincided with the dawn of mobile and the “Googlefication” of the internet. Fast forward to 2024, and while we may not have a precise count of daily ad exposure, the underlying sentiment remains unchanged: standing out has never been more challenging. This issue has plagued advertising and marketing for decades. Still, today, algorithmically powered filter bubbles (an effect that exposes individuals to info that reflects their existing beliefs), can effectively block new brand discovery.
The Impact of GenAI on SEO and Audience Engagement
With the rise of Generative AI (GenAI), primary channels for audience engagement, such as websites and organic search, are facing unprecedented pressure. According to the Search Engine Journal’s State of SEO 2025 report, algorithm changes ranked the top SEO concern, with 40% of SEO professionals citing Google updates (core and helpful content) as the primary source of traffic instability. The combination of traffic disruption and filter bubbles poses significant obstacles to discovering mid-market brands. To remain competitive, understanding the latest SEO trends, technologies, and strategies is crucial for supporting brand discovery.
Understanding the Evolution of Search Algorithms
Let’s revisit the evolution of search algorithms to grasp how we arrived at this point entirely. Perplexity has an excellent primer, “The Rise of AI Search Engines: Ask AI for Instant Answers,” that traces Google’s algorithmic evolution through:
- Machine learning enhancements to improve search results,
- The introduction of RankBrain in 2015,
- The development of BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) in 2019,
- And the launch of MUM (Multitask Unified Model) in 2021.
Over these six years, the search experience evolved into a more conversational and highly targeted interaction. Enter ChatGPT in November 2022 and Google’s Gemini in December 2023. It’s clear that simple, conversational interfaces may well define the future of search. Google’s AI Overviews, discussed in our May 2024 post, further illustrate this shift towards more natural, human-like search experiences.
The Rise of Multi-Modal Search
The evolution of search algorithms has also made multi-modal search inputs—text, voice, and visual—more viable, although it is still in the early days. Think voice search or using your phone’s camera for visual search. While usage statistics for multi-modal search are hard to come by, AR Insider reports that Google claimed 10 billion visual searches per month on Google Lens in 2023, a small fraction compared to the “2 trillion+ annual Google searches” done annually.
Meanwhile, new multi-modal models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Astra pave the way for camera-as-interpreter experiences. What’s clear is that we’re moving towards more seamless, convenient, and intuitive ways of exploring the world around us, including how brands appear in search or through your camera lens.
Key Factors in Search Algorithm Success
Other critical factors in search algorithm evolution include content quality, site usability, and performance. Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) framework evaluates content based on these criteria. While there isn’t universal agreement on E-E-A-T’s direct impact on rankings, following these guidelines is widely considered best practice. Core Web Vitals, which assess a website’s load time, visual stability, and interactivity, are also key metrics to monitor. Optimizing your site with Core Web Vitals is essential for achieving higher rankings.
So far in this post, we’ve covered:
- The paradox of easier reach but harder differentiation in today’s digital landscape.
- The persistent challenge of ad over-saturation.
- The role of algorithmically powered filter bubbles in limiting new brand discovery.
- The impact of Generative AI on primary engagement channels like websites and organic search.
- The evolution of search algorithms, from RankBrain to BERT, MUM, and the rise of conversational interfaces.
- The introduction and potential of multi-modal search (text, voice, visual) and its implications for brand visibility.
- The importance of Google’s E-E-A-T and Core Web Vitals in shaping SEO strategy.
Turning SEO Challenges into Strategic Wins
Marketers need help reaching their audiences. However, these obstacles also bring opportunities.
Brands that already adhere to SEO best practices may have the opportunity to benefit from Google’s AI Overviews, even though specific guidelines on how to get featured are not yet available. If your brand is not there yet, now is the time to refine your SEO strategy. Below are some solutions to help you get started.
1. Building Authority Through Strategic Content Creation
Another critical focus area is content creation. You can enhance internal linking and improve search rankings by positioning your brand as an authority within your domain through a pillar cluster content strategy. As we highlighted earlier, successful marketing is rooted in storytelling—are you telling your brand’s story in a way that truly resonates with your audience? If not, now is the time to research your audience and realign your content strategy with their needs. This approach enables storytelling to become a central strategy to capture your audience’s attention.
2. Establishing a Baseline: SEO Assessments for Mid-Market Brands
Our comprehensive SEO assessment process offers an ideal starting point for mid-market brands needing to establish a solid performance baseline. This process includes a 15+ point analysis of your current environment to assess maturity and identify gaps. We conduct an on-page and off-page performance analysis, review content completeness, perform a competitive deep-dive to uncover market opportunities and execute a technical assessment to ensure your site is discoverable, crawlable, and indexable for maximum visibility. A recent success story comes from our work with a financial services client who, despite limited brand awareness, had ambitious growth targets. Our strategy resulted in a 7x increase in non-branded search traffic.
3. Drive Growth with Targeted SEO Solutions
When clients aim to grow their customer base, improving search performance and solid paid media strategy can make a significant difference. We start by understanding the business goals our clients want to achieve and then develop an SEO strategy aligned with those objectives. This exercise includes creating a keyword strategy, addressing technical backend issues, and optimizing for the latest algorithm updates. For example, one B2B client expanding into the B2C market saw a 50% increase in organic traffic after implementing our approach.
4. Ensuring a Successful Site Launch Through SEO
When clients are preparing for a site launch, we work closely with them to ensure everything goes smoothly. Our process includes validating the transfer of SEO value, managing metadata migration and 301 redirects, and conducting a Performance Audit with a tool called Core Web Vitals. We also provide a detailed launch checklist to help ensure the new site is easily found and searched. For instance, a higher education institution we worked with saw a 33% increase in page views after the launch, highlighting the impact of our approach.
The Key to Proactive SEO Strategy
When we reflect on how digital has evolved, it’s clear that success today demands more than just keeping up. It requires a forward-thinking strategic approach. As the marketing environment shifts, brands must continually refine their SEO strategies to stay ahead. The insights and examples shared here are to help you master the nuances of modern SEO, from navigating algorithm updates to deepening audience engagement. Building impactful brand experiences begins with clearly understanding how your brand can genuinely connect with your audience.
The journey to lasting success starts with the steps you take today. Now is the time to reassess your current practices, embrace new trends, and position your brand for long-term growth and meaningful connections. Get in touch to share your goals and discover how our team can help you achieve them.