I Tried Google’s Generative Search. It Will Change Blogging Forever.

Creators need to adapt now

Screenshots by the author

This week, I finally got an invitation to beta test Google’s new generative AI-powered search experience, dubbed Search Generative Experience (SGE).

It's a total game-changer. SGE will likely take over the search experience in fairly short order, with profound impacts for users, web publishers, and bloggers.

Here's a look at my experience testing Google's new generative search, what it means for content creators like me, and how we can adapt and thrive.

What is Generative Search?

Before we dive in, let's cover the basics. What exactly is Google's new Search Generative Experience?

This system is a new addition to Google's search engine that uses generative AI to write what are essentially short blog posts based on a query, instead of showing external web pages, as Google does today.

For example, in a traditional Google search, if I enter the query “Why is San Francisco so foggy?” I would get a mixture of different websites. I might see one from a meteorological organization, a local newspaper in the Bay Area, or a big weather-focused publisher like weather.com.