The way we browse the web is changing at an astonishing pace, raising the bar so high that we sometimes fail to notice how intuitive and intelligent Google has become. Just take a look at the way it communicates with you. Once you type a question into its Search box, it not only gives a direct answer to this question to you, but also provides a list of questions related to a keyword you searched for.

So, how does Google know what answers are relevant to you?

In 2015, they launched the RankBrain algorithm, a machine learning system capable of answering users’ questions like a real person. Such a revolutionary approach to search engines has taken the ever-growing Digital Marketing landscape to a whole new level.

Let’s see what has changed so far.

Artificial Intelligence: The Big Picture

A few months ago, we had an opportunity to meet Sophia, the first social humanoid robot that has received a citizenship of any country. Namely, Sophia is capable of imitating human gestures and facial expressions, answering questions directly, and even making simple conversations on predefined topics. Precisely because of this, she makes a perfect example of what we’re going to discuss right now- the connection between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep leaning.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as a field of science focused on developing artificial machines that can think, talk, and act just like humans.
• Machine learning is one of the most important elements of AI, which enables a machine to automatically learn and improve from its previous experience. Put simply, it allows a machine to learn on its own, without any specialized systems or programming efforts.
• Deep learning is a subtype of machine learning, entailing tremendously large neural networks and a plethora of algorithms that can impersonate human intelligence.

Similarly to Sophia, Google is powered by artificial intelligence, meaning that it is constantly improving and mimicking people’s way of thinking, without the need for programmers to input all the answers into its database. So, when someone says that Google is getting smarter day by day, they literally mean that.

Now that you know what AI is, let’s see how you can leverage it to give your digital Marketing campaign a boost.

1.     AMP Reduces Page Loading Time

With the rise of the mobile-first marketing landscape, the expectations of your tech-savvy customers have also grown. According to some recent studies, 40% of website visitors would abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. To meet their needs, Google launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project that has altered the way we browse the web.

Namely, Google has eliminated all elements that make a regular webpage slow, such as cookies, third-party JavaScript, and slow-loading ad networks. As a result, they created lightweight pages that load minimal data and provide an ultimately fast browsing experience. Pinterest is just one of numerous platforms powered by AMP and its representatives claim that their AMPs load 4 times faster and use 8 times fewer data than their ordinary pages optimized for mobile.

Here is how you could benefit from AMP:

• A better click-through rate. People will choose AMPs over regular mobile-friendly pages, knowing that they are faster and better optimized. According to the Washington Post, AMP has boosted their CTR by 50%.
• Improved transparency. The AMP content appears within the News Carousel, which is placed at the very top of the search feed. By jumping to the top of the Google’s first page, you have a chance to boost your website views by 80%.
• Lower bounce rates. As content in the carousel is previewed on a horizontal axis, users can skim through it without clicking the links. On the other hand, once they find an article they would like to read, AMP will make sure it loads instantly.

2.     Intelligent Chatbots Boost User Experience

Chatbots are software applications that simulate a conversation with real persons. Most importantly, today, you don’t have to have a programming experience or expensive equipment to implement them. You can make your very own chatbot using predefined, drag-and-drop features.

So, how they work? The chatbot technology is based on natural language processing (NLP). It is based on a wide range of algorithms that process the text sent by a user, interpret what a user wanted to say, and select a series of appropriate responses according to this information. Even though they still struggle with understanding the figures of speech, chatbots are becoming increasingly sophisticated and responsive. Most importantly, they are available to your customers 24/7, offering instant customer service and boosting the overall user experience.

3.     Voice Searches make Search Engine Queries more Organic

As the foundation of screenless user experience, voice searches are used by a myriad of innovative technologies, such Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s OK Google, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Now, Google claims that 70% of the Google Assistant search queries is based on a natural conversational language than on the typical keywords that are used in a regular Google search. So, when optimizing your pages for voice search, you need to identify your users’ intent behind these conversations and create pages that respond directly to their questions.

 You should also build local landing pages for every location you’re targeting. Develop local website content that would grab your target audience’s attention and keep them interested. Most importantly, make use of structured markup to make it simpler for search engines to crawl your content and understand the context of the page.

4.     A Highly Personalized User Experience

Delivering personalized content is the backbone of boosting user experience. Studies show that 77% of customers choose, recommend and pay more for brands that offer such services. Moreover, to reach their users’ needs, 33% of retailers use AI to understand their users’ expectations and offer a personalized approach.

Artificial intelligence makes collecting data about your customers a breeze. It allows you to display personalized content and offers to different groups of your users by analyzing their location, past interaction with your brand, demographics, buying habits, etc. With its help, you can also localize your digital marketing campaigns, personalize your email marketing efforts, customize your loyalty programs, make shopping recommendations based on your customers’ buying history, and create a smarter social media strategy.

5.     AI is your Key to Automated SEO

Artificial intelligence is changing the SEO ecosystem faster than you think. Of course, to get ahead of the curve, you need to do your SEO smart and help your target audience get more relevant, organic, and well-optimized results. By implementing AI with your existing SEO efforts, you will be able to:

• Make the collection, organization, and contextualization of your data faster. Instead of using a set of different SEO tools, smart reporting tools give you the opportunity to create your own digital marketing dashboard, combine important widgets from different tools, and measure only those metrics relevant to your digital marketing strategy.
• Take advantage of 3G keyword optimization (gathering keywords, grouping them, and generating exemplars). Instead of creating different landing pages for each of your keywords, you can develop just one pillar page based on an exemplary keyword that can be ranked in search engines for all similar search queries.
• Create topic clusters. This helps search engines find pages according to their topic, giving it more authority and the opportunity to rank better in the SERPs.
• Predict your customers’ shopping habits by analyzing the existing customer data.

To Wrap it Up

Both Rank Brain and the above mentioned digital marketing trends have been around for a while. In other words, we have already entered the era of AI-powered digital marketing and implementing it is not optional anymore. It’s necessary for all digital marketers that want to stay relevant and take their customer experience to the next level.

 


Nate Vickery is a marketing consultant and an online author mostly focused on startups. He is also the editor at BizzmarkBlog and an author on The Next Web.

The post How Is AI Revolutionizing the Digital Marketing Space appeared first on Marketing Funnel Automation.