5 New SEO Ranking Challenges You’re Facing Right Now [& A Fix] via @sejournal, @bright_data

This station was sponsored by Bright Data. The opinions expressed successful this nonfiction are the sponsor’s own.

Struggling to accommodate your SEO strategy to ever-changing AI-driven SERPs?

Have the astir caller Google updates near your rank-tracking methods outdated?

What happens erstwhile you tin nary longer present cardinal accusation connected postulation sources?

Generative AI (GenAI) technologies similar Google Gemini and Bard are reshaping hunt results.

This is creating unprecedented challenges, particularly erstwhile it comes to the elephant successful the room: “The New Position 0.”

In this article, we’ll assistance tackle the cardinal ways to:

• Update your rank-tracking process.
• Prepare your SEO strategy for future AI changes.

Table of Contents

1. 1. The Latest Google Updates & What They Mean For You
2. 2. New Changes To SERP Layout Makes Ranking & Organic Clicks More Difficult
3. 3. Dynamic & Lazy-Loading SERP Content Hides Key SEO Data
4. 4. Google’s Anti-Bot Measures Removes Your Visibility To Rankings
5. 5. Personalized & Regionalized SERPs Removes Control Data
6. 6. Evolving Answer Content & Embracing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
7. 7. How To Gain Traffic From Position 0 & Regain Organic Traffic from SERPs
8. 8. What Tools Track AIO "Rankings" & AEO Data?
9. 9. Conclusion

The Latest Google Updates & What They Mean For You

Just this week, Google rolled retired unexpected changes to SERP structures, causing wide disruptions for galore SEO strategies that trust connected SERP rankings.

These updates led to outages and inaccurate information crossed the industry, forcing galore businesses to rapidly accommodate to debar prolonged disruptions.

“The disruptions caused by Google’s latest SERP changes near galore platforms incapable to present close information to their users. Our clients, however, were unaffected acknowledgment to our contiguous effect and robust infrastructure. If not for the media and hunt community, they wouldn’t person known determination were immoderate changes.” – Ariel Shulman, VP Product astatine Bright Data

Generative AI has fundamentally altered however hunt engines present results.

Classic SERP features person go cardinal to knowing idiosyncratic intent and the idiosyncratic journey.

Until now.

The SERP layout we cognize and emotion has changed.

These wide changes contiguous challenges for rank-tracking platforms tasked with capturing and analyzing SERPs:

• Dynamic Content: AI-generated answers often diagnostic multimedia, conversational snippets, oregon interactive elements, making parsing and analyzing information progressively complex.

• Personalization: Search results present set based connected idiosyncratic history, geography, and instrumentality type, requiring platforms to seizure nuanced, context-specific data.

• Position-Zero Dominance: The increasing prominence of presumption zero highlights the request for precise tracking and optimization insights tailored to this feature.

The situation for rank-tracking platforms is clear: accommodate to these AI-driven shifts oregon hazard leaving users without the insights they request to thrive.

What Is Position 0 On Google?

Position 0 connected Google refers to immoderate of the featured snippets that look astatine the precise apical of the hunt motor results leafage (SERP), supra each integrated hunt results.

It’s a peculiar container that highlights concise accusation successful effect to a query, often successful the signifier of a paragraph, list, oregon table.

For example, if you hunt for “How to necktie a tie,” the featured snippet mightiness show step-by-step instructions straight astatine the top. Being successful Position 0 tin boost your SEO strategy importantly since it’s considered premium existent property successful hunt rankings.

The featured snippet is designed to supply users with speedy answers to their questions without requiring them to click connected a website. It’s highly coveted by website owners due to the fact that it importantly increases visibility and click-through rates.

However, it’s becoming much hard to way what is ranking successful presumption 0 owed to 5 antithetic issues that baffle the existent MarTech stack.

So, let’s dive deeper: What did Google alteration that you’ll request to change?

1. New Changes To SERP Layout Makes Ranking & Organic Clicks More Difficult

As we’re seeing successful real-time, AI technologies similar Google Gemini (previously Bard) and Microsoft’s Bing AI are reshaping SERP layouts.

So far, SERP structures are evolving rapidly with AI updates.

Elements similar conversational answers oregon affluent media snippets look inconsistently, requiring you to perpetually accommodate your SEO strategy and information postulation methods.

The New Order Of Search Results

Instead of seeing Google Ads placements, featured snippets, positions 1-3, and People Also Ask, we’ll present beryllium seeing:

1. Google Ads instrumentality up much space, with up to 4 results that could besides incorporate further expanded tract links.
2. Google AI Overviews (AIO) present predominate the SERP supra the fold, pushing positions 1-10 beneath interactive snippets.
3. Featured Snippets instrumentality the abstraction wherever positions 1-3 utilized to live, pushing presumption 1 down further.
4. People Also Ask besides comes earlier presumption 1.
5. Position 1 starts here.

However, this is not its last state. The new layout of SERPs is dynamic; it volition proceed to change, and you person to beryllium ready.

Position 1 No Longer Dominates

With presumption 1 pushed down astatine slightest 3 scroll lengths, this is nary longer the apical clicked result.

Additionally, the layout of a searcher’s query volition besides alteration based connected caller advances successful SERP personalization.

Now, clicks are imaginable successful galore caller locations connected the SERP, specified arsenic successful a cited nexus for Google’s AI Overview (AIO).

These are not arsenic easy trackable nor attributable.

SEO analysts and SEO strategists volition spot a monolithic interaction connected their postulation information and however they optimize their contented to show supra the fold.

Google’s AI Overview (AIO) Steals Top Clicks

Finally, presumption 1 connected Google SERPs has seen its diminution from providing astatine slightest 33% of integrated hunt clicks to conscionable 11% arsenic of January 2025 depending connected the hunt term.

Organic CTR declined ~70% erstwhile an AIO was contiguous connected the SERP.

AIO not lone makes it hard to get clicks, but 1 last alteration has made it astir intolerable to property clicks to positions.

In short:

• You volition suffer traffic.
• You volition suffer visibility into wherever your postulation is coming from.
• You volition suffer the quality to strategize your contented for visibility connected SERPs.

What does this mean?

Google AIO and different dynamic SERP features are the caller Position Zero.

2. Dynamic & Lazy-Loading SERP Content Hides Key SEO Data

Many SERP elements, particularly those influenced by AI, load dynamically based connected idiosyncratic interaction.

As we cognize from past SEO knowledge, dynamic and lazy-loading contented cannot beryllium seen by bots and scrapers until thing triggers the contented to load.

Therefore, to retrieve each the indispensable data, you’ll request to simulate interactions similar clicks and scrolls, which adds complexity and latency.

3. Google’s Anti-Bot Measures Removes Your Visibility To Rankings

As you tin spot truthful far, dynamic and personalized hunt results are much prominent.

Your favourite SEO keyword probe and rank-tracking tools trust connected bots to crawl the web for cardinal information to assistance you physique your SEO strategy.

However, Google has removed a ample portion that makes that information scraping possible: bots.

Google’s evolving anti-bot measures further complicate real-time information collection, pushing platforms to the brink of what their systems tin handle.

Sophisticated anti-bot defenses, specified arsenic CAPTCHA challenges, IP-based blocking, and JavaScript obfuscation, marque real-time information postulation a important hurdle. Many accepted scraping tools cannot conscionable these challenges.

4. Personalized & Regionalized SERPs Removes Control Data

Control information is thing that remains the aforesaid from 1 experimentation to another. It enables you to person nonstop comparisons to physique conclusions from erstwhile you’re gathering your SEO strategy.

The aged SERP’s power information was the standardized layout. SERP layouts and results were akin capable for the aforesaid hunt query, meaning you could comparison aggregate searches for the aforesaid query to make conclusions that drove your strategy.

Now, user-specific factors similar location, language, and instrumentality benignant make unsocial SERP views with vastly antithetic orders of results.

It’s nary longer elemental to look astatine SERP information for [What is simply a 5-star hotel?] and cognize which nexus was clicked from which position:

• User 1 could person been served your nexus successful an AIO, which would not amusement up successful classical SEO tools.
• User 2 could person clicked connected your nexus successful presumption 1, which would amusement up successful classical SEO tools.

Capturing this variability astatine standard portion maintaining accuracy is captious yet immensely difficult.

5. Evolving Answer Content & Embracing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

AI-generated responses are perpetually updated, with position-zero contented shifting based connected caller information and context.

These AI-generated responses are portion of an improvement of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).

You’ll request tools that person been updated to extract information from Answer Engines successful real-time.

How To Gain Traffic From Position 0 & Regain Organic Traffic from SERPs

To regain your mislaid traffic, you’ll request to notation to much blase tools to summation entree to caller SERP information streams to pass your integrated postulation strategy.

Tools that antecedently helped you recognize your presumption connected SERPs are present outdated.

Rank-tracking platforms that person upgraded should beryllium acceptable and capable to cod information utilizing much modern sources that align with the roadblocks above.

These tools don’t conscionable request to cod data, they request to present actionable insights to assistance their users optimize for “The New Position 0” based connected the information and AIO’s champion practices. By extracting the close information and presenting it clearly, platforms empower users to amended their strategies effectively.

Here’s however platforms are leveraging Data from GenAI results:

1. Emphasizing Content Designed for AEO

Platforms volition request insights into which contented types (e.g., FAQs, schema markup, and structured data) are prioritized by AI-driven hunt engines. This volition assistance their users make concise, authoritative contented that aligns with SERP preferences, improving visibility and relevance successful presumption zero.

2. Focusing connected Position Zero Metrics

They volition request metrics specified arsenic click-through rates (CTR), impressions, and engagement circumstantial to presumption zero. These metrics volition assistance their users show show and refine their strategies to support oregon amended their rankings.

3. Supporting Regional and Device-Specific Insights

Platforms volition request geo-targeted and device-specific information to supply segmented insights. This volition assistance their users tailor their optimization efforts to circumstantial regions, languages, oregon devices, ensuring their strategies are much precise and effective.

4. Adjusting to Conversational Queries

They volition request information connected conversational and intent-driven hunt queries. This volition assistance their users align their contented with however ample connection models prioritize conversational patterns, resulting successful higher engagement and relevance.

SEO tools utilizing Bright Data’s toolkit person entree to each this information successful real-time and astatine scale. That’s wherefore the starring SEO tools take Bright Data arsenic their go-to information provider. Platforms leveraging these insights presumption themselves arsenic indispensable tools for helping their users predominate “The New Position 0.”

Conclusion

As “The New Position 0” continues to redefine search, rank-tracking platforms look mounting challenges successful delivering accurate, actionable data. Choosing the close information postulation spouse is nary longer optional, it’s the cardinal to staying ahead. Platforms leveraging Bright Data’s SERP API are equipped to conscionable these challenges, empowering their users to win successful an AI-driven hunt landscape.

Bright Data’s proactive attack meant their clients experienced uninterrupted services during the disruptions that affected galore successful the industry. SEO tools leveraging Bright Data’s SERP API maintained seamless operations, continuing to present accurate, real-time insights to their users without issue.

Integrating your level with Bright Data’s SERP API is speedy and straightforward. Want to spot what it’s each about? Check retired the documentation here oregon trial it retired successful the SERP API playground to spot if it’s the cleanable lucifer for your SEO tool. When information matters, companies take Bright Data.

This nonfiction has been sponsored by Bright Data, and the views presented herein correspond the sponsor’s perspective.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Bright Data. Used with permission.