One of the biggest trends in digital marketing – for now and in the future – is artificial intelligence. No, we don’t mean Terminators will start writing your blogs for you. But artificial intelligence does have the potential to improve your digital marketing efforts and make things easier for your web presence to stand out. Today in our blog from BigPxl, we’ll analyze this trend and whether it’s worth implementing in your strategy.
Utilize Chatbots
You’ve seen chatbots on websites. They use artificial intelligence in clever ways. These programs ask you simple questions to guide you through an engagement process that dives deeper into your intent of coming to the website in the first place.
These little boxes bring your customer service and engagement to a whole new level. These chatbots can do a variety of things for both you and your customers. First of all, they’re available 24/7. This means your customer may be able to get a direct response to their question even after business hours, or without having to go through the trouble of calling the customer service line. Plus, if a customer gets upset or angry, your employees won’t have to deal with the issue, as the chatbot may be able to handle it and resolve the problem for you. These chatbots are also extremely useful for recording customer metrics and shopping habits. Which means more tangible demographic information that you can capitalize on.
Chatbots are one solution for your website’s digital marketing efforts using artificial intelligence.
Having a web presence with robust search engine optimization (SEO) is another.
Think About Google’s RankBrain
As always, Google is already ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing artificial intelligence. The search engine giant has been using it in their search engine since 2015. This system is called RankBrain, and it’s made to learn from the way people search. That’s why you can type in specific things like “gray trail shoes from Reebok,” and it’ll give you exactly what you’re looking for. Or you can type in “What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?” and Google displays the answer without you having to browse to another page.
Another handy thing Google does is fill in popular searches for you. You might get halfway through typing “What year was the Dec…” and then the search fills in automatically below the search bar. This happens thanks to artificial intelligence, and RankBrain’s ability to analyze information about searches and search intent.
Understand Voice Search
Voice search is almost entirely based on RankBrain, and implementing voice search into your digital marketing strategy has also become increasingly important. To optimize your digital marketing using artificial intelligence concepts, you need to make sure you’re trying to adhere to the RankBrain algorithm and thinking about how you can help your website show up in voice search results. Optimizing for voice search is simple: Rather than think like a computer, think like a human. Instead of talking like you’re typing in a keyword, ask a question like “What are the best gray trail shoes from Reebok?”
How to Stay on Top of Google’s AI Changes
To improve user experience and help people find relevant content, Google constantly updates its algorithms. As algorithms learn and change, search engine optimization (SEO) practices change as well. The SEO team at BigPxl constantly researches and analyzes Google’s algorithm updates that occur regularly. This ensures our clients’ content consistently ranks high as Google changes and improves its practices.
1) Build Content Around Concepts
Naturally, keywords will always be important to SEO. But RankBrain changes the way we approach them. Instead of building content around a single keyword, RankBrain forces us to build content around concepts. Search engine optimization experts suggest grouping your keywords into clusters that all relate to a particular subject or concept. Utilize these clusters throughout your content in a way that flows naturally.
Related Post: What Makes a Good Keyword for SEO?
One good starting point is your core products or services. Let’s say you specialize in manufacturing red bricks. What does your target audience need to know about your red bricks that is most important? Think about costs, time for installation, how many bricks they need, and how fast they can get them. Integrate all of these concepts into your website. An FAQ page is a great choice for this kind of content.
2) Write Conversationally for Voice Search
Voice search is another trend to watch for artificial intelligence and digital marketing.
Google always values authoritative, trustworthy, and updated content. But conversational writing is starting to take over. RankBrain is designed to help people find relevant content. So, write your content for people, not bots. Make sure to create content that people can understand easily. Write in an active voice using words that flow naturally. The easier it is for a human reader to understand your content, the higher it will rank on Google’s search engine if all other things are equal.
(Quick note: We do know there are other search engines out there. However, Google is responsible for more than 92% of the worldwide search engine market. Good luck dethroning the champ, Bing and Safari.)
Good writing that sounds like someone is having a natural conversation represents an excellent choice for your digital marketing efforts. Your words are easier to read, and they sound better in someone’s head.
But conversation writing goes beyond what you see on the page.
Conversational writing is vital for voice searches.
Whenever you ask, “Hey Google, why is English a Germanic language?” the results that appear should sound as if a person is speaking to you. When you consider that Google shows more than one-fourth (27%) of all smartphone searches are done through voice search, having conversational writing on your website is one relevant factor to ranking higher in a search or even getting the vaunted number one slot that shows for a Google Snippet.
What’s a Google Snippet?
More on that in another blog.
3) Think About Your Site’s Reputation by Thinking Like a Human
Building your site’s reputation takes time, making it one of the most difficult components of SEO because you want results yesterday. Although building a reputation is a long process, it may represent the most important aspect of SEO. Our reasoning is simple: RankBrain looks for “signals” of a site’s relevance and authority. The more people who visit a site, the higher it will rank. This makes engagement, measured by a click-through rate, more important than ever.
Related Post: How to Deal With Negative Online Reviews
As an optimizer, you need to develop a reputation for your site that encourages people to visit it. Perhaps you create fresh, new content, or maybe you’re a subject matter expert in your field. Regardless of your approach, the more people you can attract, the more your rankings will improve. Content includes written words, images, and videos. Your website should include a mixture of all three.
We suggest creating content that:
- Engages with your target audience.
- Provides relevant information based on search intent (i.e. What are your customers looking for?).
- Offers in-depth looks at your products, services, and company.
- Encourages your target audience to click on a web page and explore your website.
- Optimizes several elements for SEO.
Conclusions for Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing
Artificial intelligence in digital marketing doesn’t mean you should think like a robot.
It means the exact opposite.
You should always write and create content for humans, not for robots, because ultimately people are the ones who interact with your web presence and not robots. You need to create content that engages with people.
To that end, computer programs and algorithms continually improve and try to be more like human thought processes through machine learning. Their end goal is to more closely resemble what humans are thinking when they search for something on the internet. When algorithms get better at what they do, your digital marketing must adapt.
Don’t Have Time for SEO? BigPxl Does!
At BigPxl, our SEO team stays on top of the latest industry trends. To improve our digital marketing services for our clients, we continuously find ways to tweak our practices to accommodate changes in the industry. To learn how your business can benefit from search engine optimization as we stay on top of artificial intelligence trends in digital marketing, contact BigPxl today!
Not only will we customize a digital marketing plan for you, hiring our team may be easier and more cost-effective than hiring a full-time staffer. Talk to us today for more information! We look forward to hearing from you.
