316 questions asked and only 11 links shown
Especially in the e-commerce space where organic+paid traffic makes around 50% of total traffic
Anyone thinking of optimising for conversational/ generative AI for their websites?
11 links shown out of 316 questions gives us the opportunity for traffic from those questions a paltry 3.48% of the time. As those of us cited in Wikipedia understand, being cited as a source produces very little traffic. Though I expect being cited in AI responses to be higher than Wikipedia, traffic from citations will likely be very low for informational queries.
Historically Bing seemed to follow Google's lead, but I think in the case of AI Google will follow Bing because Google is so far behind. I would expect Google to provide external links to informational sources at a rate equal to or less than Bing in the near future. As it relates to ecommerce, I would expect in the future for AI responses to prioritize product sources for their owner's offerings in Bing or Google Shopping instead of linking out to external sites. What I forecast are "organic" results leading to Bing or Google Shopping where they earn a commission from each sale and the only links to external sites being paid ads.
I use AI to ask questions on "where can I buy..." and the results are Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. To AI small businesses do not exist. Even for those obscure products which are not sold at any of the big marketplaces, AI is reluctant to cite a small business. I believe what we see in these early days of AI is mediocrity where shopping responses are tailored to favor large marketplaces/big brands much in the same way an algorithm does.
Getting to your question about optimizing for conversational/generative AI, I don't think many small ecommerce businesses will benefit from it as your test of seeing an external link 3.48% of the time clearly demonstrates. As it is now, AI is directing shoppers to marketplaces/big brands which is likely the easiest thing for AI to do. I think for small ecommerce businesses to survive, they will have no choice but to sell highly unique products that aren't sold in the marketplaces/by big brands. Those with products that are sold in marketplaces/by big brands, or with suitable alternatives existing in marketplaces/sold by big brands, may be best to increase their prices 20% and sell on those marketplaces. For businesses to survive in these marketplaces, the base commission (15% Amazon as an example) + 5% for policy compliance (returns, buyer fraud, etc.) should be factored in to the retail cost of each product for a good starting point to not go broke.
Sorry for the long response, but I don't see anything positive for us smaller sellers coming down the road. We've been herded like cattle and put out to pasture by algorithms, and now it's AI's turn to try to squeeze even more money out of every sale we make. This is not a free market but a market controlled by dystopian rulers.
