The 4 categories of websites you looked at all rely on classic 'blue link' Google rankings for their traffic. I think that's a narrow perspective and, in my view, doesn't form a valid comparison to what LLMs are trying to do.
I think LLMs are better understood as a new extension of search, like maps and news were in Google. The sites that get a lot of visits from Google Maps are not always aligned with 'winners' in regular ten blue links.
Same with news publishers that achieve success in Top Stories and Discover. These are additional, expanded surfaces of the search ecosystem.
LLMs are a new expanded surface. It'll have its own winners and losers, separate from classic search, as is the case with maps and news. But it's still a part of SEO - a broader SEO that encompasses LLMs, just as previously SEO expanded to encompass maps and news and images and videos and all the other fun stuff.
Ah, I see. Which categories would you say don't rely on classic "blue link" ranks? I'm not sure I agree with the characterization because queries related to handbags mostly return Google's new shopping experience, but it was mostly my goal to compare "classic SEO" results with LLMs and which brands are present more/less in which of those to see if SEO is the same as GEO/AEO/LLMO, etc.
I agree that LLMs can do much more than search and that they're more and more used as an add-on, but in some cases also as a substitute for Google. And I think it's important to highlight that they're not all the same and the rules are similar but converging.
Agree with your takeaway, Barry!
Tell me more about "looking at winners in regular 'pure' search vs LLMs". I didn't get that :).
The 4 categories of websites you looked at all rely on classic 'blue link' Google rankings for their traffic. I think that's a narrow perspective and, in my view, doesn't form a valid comparison to what LLMs are trying to do.
I think LLMs are better understood as a new extension of search, like maps and news were in Google. The sites that get a lot of visits from Google Maps are not always aligned with 'winners' in regular ten blue links.
Same with news publishers that achieve success in Top Stories and Discover. These are additional, expanded surfaces of the search ecosystem.
LLMs are a new expanded surface. It'll have its own winners and losers, separate from classic search, as is the case with maps and news. But it's still a part of SEO - a broader SEO that encompasses LLMs, just as previously SEO expanded to encompass maps and news and images and videos and all the other fun stuff.
Ah, I see. Which categories would you say don't rely on classic "blue link" ranks? I'm not sure I agree with the characterization because queries related to handbags mostly return Google's new shopping experience, but it was mostly my goal to compare "classic SEO" results with LLMs and which brands are present more/less in which of those to see if SEO is the same as GEO/AEO/LLMO, etc.
I agree that LLMs can do much more than search and that they're more and more used as an add-on, but in some cases also as a substitute for Google. And I think it's important to highlight that they're not all the same and the rules are similar but converging.