Is Google SGE the new SEO?

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Happy New Year Champ,

If your 2025 plans include getting more traffic, sales and reducing what you pay out in refunds, this edition is for you.

Today, we’ll briefly discuss:

• Google SGE vs. SEO: Will AI take over SEO in 2025?

• Customer returns: What’s your plan for tackling these in 2025?

• Challenge: Fix your customer returns process in 60 mins

• Trending Product: Grounding mats

Let’s dive in.

Industry: Will SGE Replace SEO in 2025?

If you’ve ever encountered these AI snippets in your Google searches, you’ve used Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE).

Google’s SGE works by providing an AI suggestion whenever you search for certain terms (doesn’t work for all searches). It pulls these suggestions using data from selected sources which may/may not be at the top of search results.

At the end of the day, SGE isn’t replacing SEO - only complementing it. ‘Searchers’ who can’t find what they are looking for in AI snippets will check out organic SEO results.

As a merchant, you want Google to cite your stores as a data source for its AI suggestions and also show your store in organic search results.

Challenge: Here’s how you can do that in 2025

Get your store referenced by Google in both SGE and standard SEO results by adding these two simple steps to your content strategy:

• Go straight to the point and answer common questions to “People also ask” questions.

• Use visuals, videos, and structured data to grab attention.

Need a personal assistant? We do too, that’s why we use AI.

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P.S: Need funds? If you’re looking to raise funds to grow your store in 2025, look out for our Wednesday newsletter. We’ll share funding opportunities (if you’re based in the US, Canada, Europe & EEC, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and LATAM)

Growth Hack: Fix your leaky ‘customer returns’ tap

How do you deal with customer returns? Do you have a system in place, or are you sweeping the matter under the rug?

Experts estimated that customers returned $890B worth of stock in 2024 - so this is a stubborn problem that won’t fix itself.

To learn what others are doing about this, let’s check the returns policies of three stores (different verticals).

1. Lithuania-based fashion store with global customers: Choice between exchange, store credit + 10%, or return (customer pays)

2. UK-based haircare brand with retail stockists: Mandatory email contact. No returns on certain lines/retail store orders.

3. Australia-based pet brand: Requires email contact. Discretionary shipping charges.

Takeaways:

• If you’re paying for returns, stop and review.

• For products damaged beyond repair, ask customers to keep them while you replace.

• Put a form or measure in place to track returns.

• Customer that changed their mind should pay for return shipping

• Clothing Brands, offer detailed sizing guides and show products from multiple angles to reduce return rates.

Tip: Add your unique issues to the points above and ask ChatGPT to create a new return policy.

Trending Product: Grounding Mats

Grounding mats are conductive pads that mimic the experience of touching the Earth. Fans claim they help reduce inflammation, heal muscles, improve sleep, and lower stress.

Search volume for “grounding benefits” has tripled in two years, perhaps thanks to research that shows 30% of Americans have insomnia and 50M suffer from autoimmune conditions.

How to ride the trend:

• Test similar grounding products e.g grounding sheets and grounding shoes

• Collaborate with influencers in the wellness or biohacking niche.

• Tap into small ad budgets to test interest in your audience.

That’s a wrap for this week!
If you found today’s insights valuable, forward this to a friend or team member who’s ready to crush 2025. 🌟

Until next time,
Ada