When a company like Google is pouring billions of dollars into revolutionizing search with A.I., you can expect the CEO to offer an optimistic view about the impact of A.I. on how search engines operate.
He did just that in a wide-ranging interview on A.I. with The Verge, which you can read here.
Or, you can stay in this article and get our summary and analysis, particularly in how it relates to business owners looking to stay relevant on the web.
Google’s CEO with Comments on A.I. in Search
As reported by Search Engine Journal, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai argues that the A.I.-powered search engines are actually contributing to greater consumer engagement.
That translates to searchers clicking on more links thanks to the presentation of content on A.I. Previews.
The A.I. Previews Search Upgrade from Google
Much of this talk follows the unveiling of a very consequential new feature for Google’s search engine.
The name of the feature is A.I. Previews, which quickly creates a custom search engine results page (SERP). These custom pages can offer searchers an A.I.-generated response to the question at hand, so that it is much like interacting with a chatbot.
What is the significance of this? Well, for one, its name is appropriate, as the feature functions as a sort of preview to the future of search engines, which will more resemble interactions with assistive A.I. conversational computing platforms.
The naming of the feature “A.I. Previews” also is sort of strategic in that it ties into what Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai was arguing for, which is that the A.I.-generated and -assembled content on these newfangled SERPs are previews to content that the product carousels, featured snippets, and the like link to.
But for a number of business owners, there is concern that many searchers will treat the A.I. Previews as more like the main content and thereby engage less with content.
The Concerns from Business Owners
Many business owners share the concern that search engines that have A.I. capabilities will make it much harder to get leads from digital marketing efforts.
Much of this likely depends on the kind of search query that leads the searcher to the web site.
For instance, a searcher who simply wants a small bit of consumable information will likely be content to just look at the A.I.-generated response in A.I. Previews.
But for someone who is looking to actually purchase a product or service, then web site engagement will likely happen regardless of how high quality the A.I. preview is, by virtue of the fact that the searcher is looking to purchase from a web site.
But the downside here is that the first searcher who is looking for just information may be less likely to visit a web site and be convinced to make a purchase.
Although if Pichai is right after all, then A.I. Previews will only increase the consumerist habits of web searchers worldwide, benefitting business owners everywhere.
How Can a Business Owner Know Whether A.I. Search Is Working for Them?
It would be unwise to simply take a tech company’s word that everything will be just fine for existing business owners’ online presence in A.I. search.
Instead, the growing wisdom among the digital marketing sphere is that businesses are going to have to continually monitor their content’s performance with tools like Google Analytics.
And if the metrics point to a downward spiral in performance, then it will indeed be necessary to adapt to the new rules of Internet search, which SEO professionals across the world will be trying to sketch out once the A.I. search becomes the norm.
Still, there is reason to believe that Google will still have interest in ensuring that businesses will get revenue by advertising on Google.
How Will Google Handle All This?
It would indeed be an odd move for Google to simply leave the concerns of business owners unaddressed, considering that much of Google’s revenue comes from advertising money that business owners inject into the Google search engine.
And so, Google will still reserve some interest in ensuring that business owners will still get some returns on investing in advertising on the search engine platform.
But by the same token, if A.I. makes it more difficult to perform well on search engines, then business owners will be inclined to put more resources into advertising on that platform.
And since so many consumers use Google search, and so many other tech companies are going to be offering A.I. search engines that are much like the A.I.-powered Google engine, then business owners will indeed be in a bit of a bind in such a scenario.
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