Search Generative Experience (SGE) and the End of Page One Thinking

5th September 2025

For as long as most marketers can remember, the holy grail of SEO has been “page one.” If your site appeared there, you stood a good chance of capturing clicks and conversions. If you didn’t, visibility plummeted. Entire strategies, budgets, and boardroom conversations revolved around ranking as high as possible for high-intent keywords.

But in 2025, that era is ending. With Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), the very notion of page one is being rewritten.

SGE blends traditional results with AI-generated answers, placing them at the very top of the search experience. Instead of scanning a list of ten blue links, users are met with conversational, context-rich summaries drawn from multiple sources. It’s fast, it’s user-friendly, and it has big implications for how brands approach search visibility.

Why SGE Changes the Game

Traditional SEO created a relatively linear journey:

  1. A user types a query.
  2. Google displays a ranked list of links.
  3. The user clicks through, scans, and chooses where to spend their attention.

With SGE, that flow looks different. The AI-generated panel provides an answer immediately, often satisfying the user without them needing to click further. It draws from multiple sources, but doesn’t always make it clear which one to trust.

For users, it’s a smoother, less effortful experience. For businesses, it raises questions: if the AI answers on your behalf, where does that leave the traffic?

The implications are profound:

  • Clicks may decline even for top-ranked sites, as the AI provides answers without requiring users to click through.
  • Being cited matters as much as being ranked. If your content isn’t good enough to be pulled into the AI summary, your visibility drops, even if you technically rank on page one.
  • Content quality becomes the differentiator. Thin, surface-level articles will struggle to feature. The AI is designed to favour richer, more authoritative sources.

Taking Content to the Next Level

This shift forces marketers and agencies to rethink what SEO content looks like. Keywords and metadata still matter, but they’re no longer the sole drivers of visibility.

Tim Horwath, Digital Marketing Specialist at Lunar Digital, puts it clearly:

“For agencies, it means we have to take content strategies to the next level. Our focus becomes creating deeper, more informative content that AI algorithms love. And that again comes back to the context-rich, trustworthy content.”

Context-rich is the key phrase. It’s not enough to answer a query with a few hundred words. Content needs to unpack the “why” and “how,” provide comparisons, cite credible sources, and anticipate related questions a user might ask.

For example:

  • A short blog on “best email marketing tools” may no longer cut it. A 2,000-word guide comparing features, pricing, integrations, and use cases, supported by data, visuals, and expert insights, has a far better chance of being referenced by SGE.
  • An article on “how to optimise landing pages” should go beyond generic tips. Screenshots, case studies, CRO frameworks, and references to behavioural psychology turn it into a resource the AI trusts.

The End of Page One Thinking

Marketers need to move away from a binary mindset, “we’re on page one or we’re invisible.” Discovery is becoming layered and multi-surfaced:

Page one still exists, but it’s no longer a single battlefield. Brands must think in terms of search presence across multiple entry points rather than a singular ranking position.

How to Prepare Your Website for SGE

Businesses don’t need to panic, but they do need to adapt. The good news? Many of the best practices align with broader digital trends we’ve already seen in 2025.

  1. Prioritise depth and authority.
     Surface-level content will struggle to feature in SGE. Invest in evergreen guides, comprehensive resources, and expert-driven content that AI sees as trustworthy.
  2. Optimise for context, not just keywords.
     Think beyond the single query. Anticipate follow-up questions and related searches, and structure content to address them. FAQs, schema markup, and semantic optimisation all help.
  3. Leverage multi-format content.
    SGE doesn’t exist in isolation. If your brand is producing video explainers, infographics, or interactive tools, these increase your chances of being referenced across discovery surfaces.
  4. Build topical authority.
    It’s no longer enough to have one strong article on a topic. Clusters of related content demonstrate expertise and give the AI a reason to cite you repeatedly.
  5. Trust matters.
    Transparency, accuracy, and credibility will win. Cite sources, avoid clickbait, and prioritise user value over search tricks.

What This Means for the Future of SEO

The arrival of SGE signals a broader shift: SEO is no longer just about search engines. It’s about search experiences. Users don’t care whether their answer comes from Google, TikTok, Instagram, or a generative AI interface. They care that it’s fast, relevant, and trustworthy.

For brands, this means embracing a more holistic approach to discoverability. A successful content strategy in 2025 isn’t just about ranking, it’s about being cited, referenced, and recommended across multiple platforms.

The end of page one thinking isn’t the end of SEO. If anything, it’s a chance to reset. Those who see SEO as a broader discipline, one that touches content, UX, social, and authority-building, will thrive. Those who cling to yesterday’s tactics risk fading into the background of AI-generated answers.

Bringing SGE into the SEO Framework

Search Generative Experience is reshaping the rules of online discovery. Users are getting faster, richer answers; businesses are being challenged to create content that holds up under greater scrutiny.

It’s no longer enough to think in terms of rankings. The new measure of success is whether your brand is visible, trusted, and referenced within the AI-powered future of search.

The opportunity is there, but it belongs to the brands willing to raise their game.