How will AI Affect the Dominance of Google Search in Digital Marketing?

On August 1, 1981, MTV made its cable television debut and became the go-to platform for music. The first music video the channel aired was a song called, “Video Killed the Radio Star” acknowledging a shift from radio to television, and video becoming essential in the promotion of new music. Just over a decade later, the world wide web would change the music industry again with on-demand streaming. Music fans now create their own playlists on music platforms, and artists reach their audiences through social media channels.

The evolution of how people listen to music is just one example of the way digital technology has revolutionized the way people gather and disseminate all kinds of content. This information exchange has relied heavily on search engine technology.

Google Dominates Digital Through User Experience

Google has been at the forefront of search engine technology development since the beginning of internet availability in the public space. Since its incorporation in 1998, Google has reigned as the most popular search engine worldwide for over 20 years. The company, which restructured in 2015 to become Alphabet, now manages multiple subsidiary products, including Youtube and Android, each with billions of daily users.

As a search engine, Google’s ongoing mission has been to continually enhance user experience. Through constant innovation and adaptation to user preferences, the company has basically defined online search, and today the dictionary considers “google” a verb.

Google’s success has largely relied on its ability to continually reinvent the search experience in response to consumer trends. An example of this is the way the demand for video content has influenced search results.

Google Leverages the Popularity of Video Content

Video has long been a popular medium for content consumption, as evidenced by the growing popularity of social media apps like Instagram and TikTok. Since it purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006, Google has continued to integrate video content into search results, making them more engaging and interactive. Users can now find video snippets, previews, and full-length videos directly within search results, providing them with a richer and more immersive experience.

As artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT now step into the spotlight, the digital landscape is changing yet again.

Will AI Replace or Redefine Google Search?

If you ask ChatGPT if it will replace Google search (and I did) it will tell you that an AI language model like itself would not be able to “completely replace the Google Search Engine.”

ChatGPT has been developed to understand and generate human-like text responses. It has limitations in terms of accessing and organizing vast amounts of information the way a search engine would do. Unlike an AI language model, Google Search employs various algorithms, web crawling, indexing, and ranking techniques to provide users with what it determines to be the most relevant and up-to-date information from across the web.

How does Google view AI? They have actually been at the forefront of AI research and development. AI’s integration into search algorithms has significantly impacted search result personalization. By analyzing massive amounts of data, Google’s AI algorithms have come closer to understanding user intent, context, and preferences, allowing them to deliver more relevant results.

Ways that Google is Using AI

Google has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence research and development. They are using advancements in machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and other AI-related fields to further their mission of enhancing user experience. The following are some of the ways Google is harnessing the power of AI to deliver better products:

Expanding Google Assistant

Google Assistant performs tasks, answers questions, and interacts with users through voice commands. AI helps this technology to offer a seamless and personalized experience.

Enhancing Search Experience

AI and machine learning techniques allows Google to better understand user intent and provide more relevant answers. New features in search results, such as rich snippets, knowledge panels, and featured snippets provide instant information to users.

YouTube and Social Media

By introducing features like community posts, stories, and live streaming, Google is improving the social media experience on YouTube. AI technology enables YouTube to recommend personalized content and improve user engagement.

Google Cloud Platform

Google offers a cloud computing platform, known as Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which provides various services, including AI and machine learning tools. GCP lets businesses use Google’s AI infrastructure and develop their own AI-powered applications.

Leveraging AI Powered Google Search for Digital Marketing

For many companies with limited time to keep up with the latest digital developments, it can feel like ever-evolving tech is killing their small business marketing star. Actually, the advancing technology is providing more effective and affordable opportunities for all businesses to compete in the digital marketplace.

Enhanced with AI, Google becomes an even more powerful platform for digital marketers. Google is now better equipped than ever to read and truly understand the text content and media that appears on websites. As a result, well-optimized online content will be easier for our target customers to find and engage with. As Google integrates AI into Adwords, Analytics, and other Google products, we will be better able to target our advertising and understand our audiences at a deeper level. We can catalyze this data to deliver even more personalized, dynamic web experiences to our customers – to result in richer brand experiences and motivate quicker, more seamless sales processes.

Enlisting the guidance of an experienced digital marketing partner is the best way to keep your business seen, relevant, and competitive online. Upright Communications is here to be your personal marketing team. We’ve spent over 25 years perfecting an effective marketing formula to grow our clients’ businesses. Let us help you generate leads and sales to grow your business.