How Google Generative UI Will Impact Your Company’s SEO Strategy

What is included in Google generative UI?

• An intelligent Search box
• Google Search agents
• Direct AI Mode booking
• AI-generated tools and simulations
• Custom task dashboards

Google recently announced a wave of new, AI-powered features that will appear in Search, which are collectively known as Google generative UI. Google is framing these updates as “the next chapter of Google Search,” and rolling them out this summer.

The reason this matters for marketers is that AI in Search has routinely reshaped the way SEO works, and this is no exception. If you do nothing to adjust your strategy in light of these updates, you’ll fall behind.

You might have heard about the new generative Search UI, and may be wondering what it means for search engine optimization (SEO). Or, this might all be new information to you, in which case you may be wondering which new features the generative UI even includes.

Both of these are important questions — and either way, we’ve got you covered. On this page, we’ll be talking about the following:

• What is Google generative UI?
• Which features are included in Google generative UI?
• What does generative Search UI mean for SEO?
• How should marketers respond to generative UI in Search?

Get answers to each of those questions below.

What is Google generative UI?

Google generative UI is a system in which components of Google’s user interface are generated with AI in real time rather than being static across all searches. In their latest generative Search UI update, Google has introduced multiple new features that fall into this category, which serve to add more capabilities to Google Search pages.

Which features are included in Google generative UI?

Google’s generative Search UI update includes several notable features. Not all of these features have fully rolled out yet, but they will do so over the course of the summer. Those features include:

• An intelligent Search box
• Google Search agents
• Direct AI Mode booking
• AI-generated tools and simulations
• Custom task dashboards

Let’s dive into each of those in a bit more detail.

An intelligent Search box

The first feature in the Google generative UI update is a smarter Search box. This new Search box will predict your search intent and offer AI-driven suggestions while you type, going a step further than standard autocomplete. It also lets you search using text, images, videos, or files from your computer.

Google Search agents

One of the most significant components of generative UI in Search is Google Search agents, which are customizable AI agents you can create in Search. The focus right now is on information agents, which run in the background to pull updates on topics of your choosing.

These are sort of like a more advanced version of Google Alerts. You can create an agent to look for new information across the Internet, alerting you when it runs across fresh updates on your chosen topic, whatever that topic may be.

For example, you could create an agent to update you whenever a new Marvel movie trailer drops, or to keep you updated on a specific company’s stock performance.

Direct AI Mode booking

Another agentic feature included in Google generative UI is direct, in-Search booking. With this feature, you don’t have to actually visit a company’s website to book a reservation or appointment — Google will let you do it right from the Search page.

To trigger this, you have to specify exactly what you’re looking for in your query. Google will then display pricing and availability info for relevant businesses, along with buttons to book your appointment.

AI-generated tools and simulations

Another major component of Google’s generative Search UI is AI-generated tools and simulations. Soon, AI Overviews and AI Mode will go beyond just generating text — they’ll also be able to generate:

• Advanced charts
• Interactive visuals
• Physics simulations
• Custom tools
• And more!

That gives users the ability to get a lot more information right in Search results that they’d otherwise have to find on a separate website.

Custom task dashboards

Finally, Google is introducing custom task dashboards, which you can keep coming back to across different searches.

The idea behind these dashboards is that sometimes, you’re working on something that requires you to make multiple different searches across a longer period of time. These dashboards will stick around across all of those searches, letting you make progress on them as you go. Google says that these dashboards are “like mini apps for your own specific tasks.”

What does generative Search UI mean for SEO?

This wave of generative UI in Search signals the latest development in Google’s apparent desire to keep users on Search results pages. Like previous Search features, these new features aim to answer user queries right on the results page rather than letting users click on links to other websites to get their information.

Whether you perceive the intent behind this as positive or negative, the impact is the same — business websites are going to have an even harder time earning organic traffic from Google Search results. Things like interactive tools and appointment bookings, which were previously limited to websites, are now going to be readily available in Search results.

For businesses trying to entice traffic through SEO, that has the potential to make things more difficult than ever. That doesn’t mean SEO isn’t an effective strategy anymore, though. It just means the focus has shifted even further from earning clicks to earning citations.

How should marketers respond to generative UI in Search?

In the face of generative Search UI, your website content and resources aren’t becoming less valuable — they’re just shifting toward a different type of value. Even if users don’t click through to your website content, that content can still help you influence AI responses and earn citations there.

In that sense, each of your website pages serves as an input, not a destination. Users might stay in Search results more often, but when they do, they’ll see your business name attached to the information Google is giving them. That builds trust in your brand, so they’ll turn to you when they need your products or services.

This is really a continuation of the same story we’ve been seeing play out for the past several years. And it seems that it always happens the same way — Google releases a new AI feature, people start to cry out that SEO is dead, and then SEO simply adapts to the new changes. The truth is that generative UI won’t kill SEO any more than AI Mode did, or AI Overviews before that.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have to adapt your strategy, though, because you do. If you’re putting out thin, unoriginal content… well, that just won’t cut it anymore. You need to create pages with original data, clear messaging, and a strong ability to showcase your industry expertise. Those are the pages that will be cited as sources in AI responses.

And to further optimize those pages for AI citations, be sure to use proven AI SEO tactics like creating extractable content, using structured data, and answering questions directly. These tactics are essential for showing up in citations, and if you don’t enact them, you’ll find yourself earning fewer citations and less traffic than your competitors.

Put your business at the forefront of Google generative UI

When Google generative UI is fully rolled out, it won’t be closing the door on traffic — it’ll be opening a new door to even more AI citation opportunities for your business. To walk through that door, though, you need to employ expert-level AI visibility optimization tactics that will get your brand into AI responses.

If you need help figuring out or implementing those tactics, consider working with WebFX. Our team of specialists would love to use their 30+ years of expertise to drive the visibility you’re looking for.

Interested in partnering with us for our AI SEO services? Just call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today to get started!