Video is an integral part of Google’s strategy: we recently told you about its experimentation in India with video search thanks to its Gemini AI. Another trend, always linked to videos, are YouTube video citations in Google AI roundupswhich saw an impressive increase of 300% in just a few months. This phenomenon raises questions about the future of search engine optimization, especially as shopping season approaches. We’ll explore the latest SEO trends revealed by BrightEdge’s analysis and their potential impact on e-commerce and video content strategies.
YouTube citations in Google AI roundups increase by 300%
According to a recent analysis by the SEO platform BrightEdge, citations of YouTube videos in artificial intelligence summaries generated by Google, more commonly called AI Overviews, have increased by 310% since August and by 200% since September. This trend highlights Google’s desire to promote its own platforms, in this case YouTube, in its search results. This phenomenon is seen as a form of self-preference, with Google favoring one of its most important assets.
This development also shows that video content is increasingly important for AI-generated responses. Thanks to Google’s multimodal Gemini model, even content created in spoken form, without associated text, can be cited in the answers provided by the AI. This accentuates the need to produce quality multimedia content to improve its visibility in search results.
SEO trends for online commerce
The BrightEdge study also reveals interesting data regarding keywords related to shopping and e-commerce. For shopping queries, the overlap rate between organic SEO rankings and citations in Google’s AI roundups decreased from 12.4% to 7%. This suggests that Google is placing a higher priority on content that may not be in the top ten organic results for these types of queries.
On the other hand, the proportion of keywords appearing in the top ten positions increased slightly, from 21.6% in July to 24.5% in September. This highlights that although AI is playing an increasing role in how Google presents its results, traditional SEO methods remain relevant for ranking content, especially for non-commerce related queries.
To illustrate this trend, here is a concrete example of displaying results powered by Google’s AI, using YouTube as a source. Below we searched for tutorial “ how to replace airtag battery » (“how to replace the battery of an airtag” in French), and Google returned us a detailed result directly explaining the tutorial to follow, then on the right, it cited 3 sources, including the YouTube link of the video published by the Apple Support account. While the official Apple tutorial is located below the “AI Overviews” result, in the form of a classic link.
Example of AI Overviews on Google.com in the United States
Implications for the shopping season
The changes to Google’s e-commerce AI summaries come at a key time: the shopping season. With a 40.4% increase in the height of AI summaries (from 651 pixels to 914 pixels), search results become more detailed and include more additional information. Unordered listings for shopping queries also grew significantly, reaching 15.9% from 1.3% previously.
The volatility of shopping queries has decreased significantly, from 37% to 26%, which reflects a stabilization of results. This can be particularly interesting for businesses looking to optimize their SEO strategies during the holiday season, as it could mean greater predictability in search results.
The importance of video content
In summary, the data shows that video content and visual content will become essential elements to consider in any SEO strategy. The rise of YouTube citations in Google’s AI results highlights the importance of creating multimedia content. As the shopping season approaches, investing in the production of quality videos and optimizing those already available on YouTube could prove to be a major strategic asset for businesses wishing to improve their online visibility.
To take advantage of these new trends, marketers are recommended not to neglect traditional SEO strategies while integrating more video content into their plans. This could offer a double opportunity: to stand out in organic results while maximizing the chances of appearing in summaries generated by Google’s AI.
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