As an SEO manager, there’s a lot of pressure to keep up with the constant changes in search, and this is primarily focused on Google updates. After all, Google absolutely dominates the search engine market.
Well, that’s what Nathan Height was willing to challenge during his session at BrightonSEO. And, as much as I’m deep into SEO and understand the Google-first mentality, his perspective made me pause and reflect. Prompting me to plan ahead for my own client portfolio.
Nathan suggested that whilst Google dominates right now, maybe we shouldn’t be relying on it as our only source of organic traffic. He set the stage by addressing the ongoing antitrust trial involving Google and the European Commission’s scrutiny over its monopoly - questioning if Google is genuinely that much better than other engines, or if its dominance is due to its gatekeeping practices. And it’s this gatekeeping that might be limiting innovation for everyone, users, SEOs, and retailers.
The main highlight that I took from this talk was that it's time to broaden the approach. SEO isn’t just about Google anymore, and while it may be the most powerful search engine, it's certainly not the only one, nor will it be forever.
Here are the actionable steps that I noted during the talk:
1. Diversify your search strategy
SEO managers need to plan beyond Google. Sure, it's our bread and butter right now, but new search tools like Perplexity are offering users experiences Google isn’t. With real-time scraping and long-tail conversational answers, they’re starting to make waves. Nathan gave the example of Perplexity seeing its traffic grow 5x over the last year - that’s not just a side note, it's a sign of things shifting.
The challenge for us is to prepare for this shift. That means building content repositories that AI and future search engines can tap into for long-tail, nuanced queries. Instead of focusing purely on Google-friendly content, think about where the search experience is going – conversational search, real-time data, and AI-driven results.
2. Optimise for intent-driven queries
Nathan pointed out a fundamental flaw many of us fall into – optimising for search volumes that don’t tell the whole story. Rather than obsessing over broad keywords, it's about catering to user intent. Think about the last time you had a specific query – the deeper, more niche searches are where we’ll see higher intent and better engagement. For marketers managing campaigns, this means shifting content strategies to answer more specific, conversational queries.
Work with your teams to gather product insights, customer service feedback, and sales conversations to build long-tail content that speaks directly to your audience's needs. Build out FAQs, use case scenarios, and content that answers highly specific questions, because that's where the future of search seems to be heading.
3. Integrate SEO with other departments
This one hit home for me – SEO can't be siloed. Nathan suggested a more integrated approach, where SEO teams work closely with sales and customer service to create a deeper understanding of the product and market. The reason? Search engines of the future, like AI-driven tools, are going to need much richer, specific data to deliver the right results. Without that knowledge, SEO content can’t go beyond surface level.
Make it a priority to involve other teams in your content creation process. It’s not enough to work with just marketing – involve sales, product, and customer service to understand your audience's pain points better and create more robust, informative content that can work across different search platforms.
4. Transparency is key
Nathan’s final point was a warning: brands that withhold information will lose out. The days of using your brand power alone to rank well are numbered. Brands need to be as transparent as possible, giving users all the information they need to make decisions. Hiding prices, product details, or holding back on key information because it doesn’t fit your marketing message is no longer sustainable.
I've seen it myself – in competitive industries, brands that are open and honest about pricing, product specs, and even shortcomings are the ones that build the most trust. And that trust translates into better rankings, higher engagement, and more conversions.
The path forward
So what does this mean for SEOs? For me, the biggest takeaway is that being too reliant on Google is a risk. Nathan’s insights are a call to action for marketers and SEO professionals to broaden their strategies and future-proof their SEO efforts.
As someone who’s used to delivering results with Google-first approaches, Nathan’s talk was a reminder that SEO is evolving, and we need to keep up. If you’re not already thinking about diversifying your organic strategy and preparing for AI-driven search, now’s the time to start. Google may dominate now, but the future of search could look very different. Let’s be ready for it.
Key takeaways:
- Scale content for conversational queries
- Structure content for LLMs (Large Language Models)
- Push content beyond your website
In a nutshell – keep an eye on what’s coming and start optimising for more than just Google. There are big opportunities in long-tail conversational search, and SEOs need to be ready to pivot.
Croud will also be sharing a whitepaper on this topic, as well as hosting workshops in London to help brands get ready for conversational search and the future of SEO.
