Bluehost launched an AI Website Creator that enables users to quickly create professional websites, an evolution of the click and build website builder that makes it easy for anyone to create a WordPress website and benefit from the power and freedom of the open source community.
The importance of what this means for businesses and agencies cannot be overstated because it allows agencies to scale WordPress site creation and puts the ability to create professional WordPress sites within reach of virtually everyone.
Point And Click Website Creation
Bluehost offers an easy website building experience that provides the ease of point and click site creation with the freedom of a the WordPress open source content management system. The heart of this system is called WonderSuite.
WonderSuite is comprised of multiple components, such as a user interface that walks a user through the site creation process with a series of questions that are used as part of the site creation process. There is also a library of patterns, templates, and an easy to configure shopping cart, essentially all the building blocks for creating a site and doing business online quickly and easily.
The new AI Website Creator functionality is the newest addition to the WonderSuite site builder.
AI Website Builder
An AI website builder is the natural evolution of the point and click site creation process. Rather than moving a cursor around on a screen the new way to build a website is with an AI that acts as a designer that responds to what a user’s website needs are.
The AI asks questions and starts building the website using open source WordPress components and plugins. Fonts, professional color schemes, and plugins are all installed as needed, completely automatically. Users can also save custom generated options for future use which should be helpful for agencies that need to scale client website creation.
Ed Jay, President of Newfold Digital, the parent company of Bluehost, commented:
“Efficiency and ease are what WordPress entrepreneurs and professionals need and our team at Bluehost is dedicated to deliver these essentials to all WordPress users across the globe. With AI Website Creator, any user can rely on the Bluehost AI engine to create their personalized website in just minutes. After answering a few simple questions, our AI algorithm leverages our industry leading WordPress experience, features and technology, including all aspects of WonderSuite, to anticipate the website’s needs and ensure high quality outcomes.
The AI Website Creator presents users with multiple fully functional, tailored and customizable website options that provide a powerful but flexible path forward. It even generates images and content aligned with the user’s brief input, expediting the website off the ground and ready for launch.”
Future Of Website Creation
Bluehost’s innovative AI site creator represents the future of how businesses get online and how entrepreneurs who service clients can streamline site creation and scale their business with WordPress.
Read more about Bluehost’s new AI Website Creator:
Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce and more, have announced a new program to woo Agencies into their ecosystem of products with more ways to earn revenue.
This new program could be seen as putting Automattic into direct competition with closed source systems like Wix and Duda but there are clear differences between all three products and services.
Automattic For Agencies
Automattic for Agencies brings together multiple Automattic products into a single service with a dashboard for managing multiple client sites and billing. The program offers a unified locations for managing client sites as well as discounted pricing and revenue sharing opportunities. Aside from the benefits of streamlining the program also offers technical support across all of the Automattic products that are a part of the program. Lastly the program offers agencies managed security and performance improvements.
According to the announcement:
“We worry about site performance and security so you don’t have to. When you connect your sites to the Automattic for Agencies dashboard, you’ll receive instant notifications about updates and alerts, so your sites stay problem-free and your clients stay happy.”
Revenue Share And Discounts
Agencies can now earn a revenue share of the Automattic products used by clients. For example, agencies can earn a 50% revenue share on Jetpack product referrals, including renewals. As part of the program Jetpack also offers discounts on licenses, starting at 10% off for five licenses and to as high as 50% off for 100 licenses.
WordPress.com, the managed WordPress hosting subsidiary of Automattic, is offering a 20% revenue share on new subscriptions and a 50% share on migrations from other hosts.
A tweet from WordPress.com described the new program:
“Agencies, we’ve got some news for you!
Our new referral program is live, and as a referrer of http://WordPress.com’s services, your agency will receive a 20% revenue share on new subscriptions and 50% on new migrations to http://WordPress.com from other hosting providers.”
New Directory For Agencies
A forthcoming benefit of the Autommatic For Agencies program is a business directory that lists agencies that are a part of the program. The benefit of the directory is presumably that it may lead to business referrals to the agencies.
The Jetpack announcement describes the new directory:
“Gain heightened visibility through multiple directory listings across Automattic’s business units. This increased exposure creates more opportunities for potential clients to find and engage with your services, helping you grow your agency’s reach and reputation.”
The WooCommerce announcement describes the directory like this:
“Expand your reach Increase your visibility with partner directory listings across multiple Automattic brands.”
Automattic Affiliate Program
The Automattic for Agencies announcement follows the rollout of a separate affiliate program which offers up to 100% referral bonus for affiliates who refer new hosting clients, with a limit of $300 payout per item, and up to 50% referral bonus for Jetpack plugin subscriptions. The program has a 30 day cookie conversion period which provides affiliates the opportunity to earn referral bonuses on any additional sales within a 30 day period.
Google published a case study that shows how using structured data and following best practices improved discoverability and brought more search traffic. The case study was about the use of Video structured data but the insights shared are applicable across a range of content types.
The new case study is about an Indonesian publisher called Vidio.
How CDNs Can Cause Indexing Problems
One of the interesting points in the case study is about an issue related to how CDNs can link to image and video files with expiring URLs. The new documentation specifically mentions that it’s important that the CDN uses stable URLs and links to another Google documentation page that goes into more detail.
Google explains that some CDNs use quickly expiring URLs for video and thumbnail files and encourages publishers and SEOs to use just one stable URL for each video. Something interesting to note is that not only does this help Google index the files it also helps Google collect user interest signals.
“Some CDNs use quickly expiring URLs for video and thumbnail files. These URLs may prevent Google from successfully indexing your videos or fetching the video files. This also makes it harder for Google to understand users’ interest in your videos over time.
Use a single unique and stable URL for each video. This allows Google to discover and process the videos consistently, confirm they are still available and collect correct signals on the videos.”
Implementing The Correct Structured Data
Google highlighted the importance of using the correct structured data and validating it with Google’s structured data testing tool.
These are the results of the above work:
“Within a year of implementing VideoObject markup, Vidio saw improvements in impressions and clicks on their video pages. While the number of videos that Vidio published from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 increased by ~30%, adding VideoObject markup made their videos eligible for display in various places on Google.
This led to an increase of ~3x video impressions and close to 2x video clicks on Google Search. Vidio also used the Search Console video indexing report and performance report, which helped them to identify and fix issues for their entire platform.”
Indexing + Structured Data = More Visibility
The keys to better search performance were ensuring that Google is able to crawl the URLs, which is something that can easily be overlooked in the rush to correlate a drop in rankings to a recent algorithm update. Never rule anything out during a site audit.
Another thing the case study recommends that is important is to assure that the proper structured data is being used. Using the appropriate structured data can help make a webpage qualify for improved search visibility through one of Google’s enhanced search features like featured snippets.
At the MozCon industry conference this week, Rand Fishkin, the outspoken former CEO of Moz and founder of SparkToro, shared his opinion on how SEOs and marketers should potentially adjust strategies based on his interpretation of the recent Google API leaks.
In a packed session with Dr. Pete Meyers, Fishkin laid out specific ways he believes the leaked information, which has not been verified, could impact best practices.
Fishkin firmly believes the leaks contradict Google’s public statements about its systems.
“Google has been unkind and unfair. They have been abusive about this,” Fishkin stated, though these are his opinions based on reviewing the leaks.
On Google’s lack of transparency, Fishkin states:
“Google has told us off and on that they don’t use clicks for ranking. And I always heard it, maybe this is charitable on my part, as we don’t use capital ‘C’ clicks for capital ‘R’ ranking. And the truth is, I think even that was charitable on my case.
And we’ve seen in not just these documents, but anyone who’s familiar with Andrew Navick’s testimony last year, it’s really confirming a lot of what we saw, a lot of what we saw with Navboost.”
He adds:
“They have lied through either omission or misinformation.”
Fishkin’s Recommendations
Fishkin admittedly speculated and provided concrete examples of how SEO strategies could change if his interpretations of the leaks were accurate.
However, these are his opinions, not directives. Among his potential recommendations:
1. Invest In Author/Entity Authority
Surprised by the continued emphasis on authorship and entity signals in the leaked code, Fishkin said brands should prioritize hiring writers with established reputational authority that Google already associates with quality content.
Fishkin said this is what he’s going to do differently:
“We’re going to hire a content marketer, basically a part-time content person, to make sure that the SparkToro blog has a couple of new posts on it every week.
And all that authorship and entity stuff made me think we should find someone who already has a profile.”
2. Supplement Link-building With Public Relations
According to Fishkin, the leaks uncovered potential evidence that Google devalues links to sites without sufficient brand awareness and search volume.
As a result, he recommends accompanying traditional link acquisition with broader brand-building efforts like PR and advertising to increase branded search demand.
Fishkin stated:
“If you get a whole bunch of links in one day and nothing else, guess what? You manipulated the link graph.
If you’re really a big brand, people should be talking about you.”
3. Embrace Geographic Nuance
With abundant references to geographic and country-specific signals throughout the code, Fishkin cautioned against one-size-fits-all global strategies.
What works for major markets like the US may prove ineffective for smaller regions where Google needs more data.
Fishkin advised attendees:
“I would encourage you to think about SEO as being more geographically specific than you think it is even for web search results.”
4. Rediscover Experimentation
More than anything, Fishkin hopes the leaks will catalyze a renewed sense of curiosity and skepticism within SEO.
On the value of experimentation, Fishkin says:
“We’ve seen it over and over. One thing we’ve lost, I feel like, is that spirit of experimentation. And with these things coming out where I don’t think we can take what Google says for granted, how do you see, how do we get that back?”
He challenged practitioners to move beyond regurgitating Google’s public statements and instead embrace testing to uncover what drives results.
Referring to an unexplained metric surfaced in the leaks, Fishkin states:
“My dream would be that if I were to come back to MozCon next year, somebody would be on this stage, and they’d be like, ‘Guys, I figured out what Keto score is. Publish that. I’ll amplify it.”
A Wakeup Call?
In many ways, Fishkin framed the leaks as a pivotal moment for an industry he believes has grown insular, conflict-averse, and too accepting of Google’s carefully crafted narratives.
His call to action left some energized and others put off by its unrestrained bluntness.
But whether one admires Fishkin’s brash delivery or not, the leaks have undeniably cracked open Google’s black box.
For those willing to dig into the technical details and chart their path through testing, Fishkin argues lucrative opportunities await those who stop taking Google’s word as gospel.
A Word Of Caution Regarding The Google API Leak
Doubts have emerged about the true nature and significance of this “leak.”
Evidence suggests the data may be connected to Google’s public Document AI Warehouse API rather than exposing the ranking system’s inner workings. The information also appears to be at least five years old.
While Fishkin’s plans to adjust his SEO tactics are interesting, they should be taken with a grain of salt, given the ongoing debate over what the data really signifies.
It illustrates the importance of vetting sources when evaluating any supposed “insider information” about how search engines operate.
As the discussion around the Google “leak” continues, be careful not to fall victim to confirmation bias—seeing the data through the lens of pre-existing theories rather than objectively assessing it.
Featured Image: Taken by author at MozCon, June 2024.
Are the days of organic SEO numbered? That’s the idea raised by a search scientist’s assessment of Google’s AI-powered disruptions.
At MozCon’s 20th annual conference, Tom Capper, Moz’s Senior Search Scientist, provided a data-driven reality check.
Capper warned attendees
“At the end of this talk, I’m going to tell you that full-funnel organic marketing is borderline impossible in 2024 for most businesses.”
He examined how Google’s AI overview results, aggressive monetization, and evolving search intents pose challenges for companies relying on SEO.
Additionally, in an exclusive interview with Search Engine Journal, Capper highlighted potential paths forward for those willing to pivot.
Photo taken by author at MozCon, June 2024.
The Zero-Click Threat
Capper opened by chronicling the rise of search “intents” like informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional queries.
Google’s new AI Overview feature, which generates direct answers at the top of the page, has proven particularly disruptive for informational searches.
“Organic is a really tough game for informational intent,” said Capper, displaying data that informational searches have the lowest share of voice for traditional organic results due to AI Overviews and other SERP features.
Photo taken by author at MozCon, June 2024.
He also noted 21% of informational searches now surface a Featured Snippet result, which can satisfy users without a click.
“You basically can’t play at the top of the funnel,” he stated bluntly.
AI Overviews A “Mistake”
In the exclusive interview, Capper cautioned that Google’s rush to implement AI overviews could negatively impact the company’s brand image:
“I think Google has gone too soon and rushed this, and yeah, I do think it’s a mistake. That is a little bit dangerous for SEO in that if Google suffers, then that’s disruptive for our industry as well.”
The Commercial Battleground
While the data is dire for informational content, Capper says commercial searches represent a “sweet spot.”
However, these valuable mid-funnel queries have become a “turbulent” and “incredibly contested” battleground.
Weighing in on the Google product reviews update and other recent changes, Capper said:
“Commercial is where a lot of this [Google’s search quality issues] plays out…it’s become an incredibly volatile section.”
Major sites like Amazon, Reddit, and YouTube dominate commercial results alongside a glut of price listings and review rich results. This raises the bar for smaller sites trying to rank.
“There are arts, hobbies, real estate – much more realistic to try and compete in here,” Capper advised.
He warned publishers who rely solely on easily answered questions,
“If that’s what you’ve been doing, you’ve probably been suffering for a long time…If you’re not willing to pivot to any other kind of content, then yeah, sure, go. Find a different channel.”
The Paid & Local Future?
At the bottom funnel, Capper described transactional searches as “pay-to-play unless you’re a brick-and-mortar business.”
Google’s monetization of product listings and its experimental map embeds for transactional queries continue to squeeze out organic visibility.
However, Capper highlighted local SEO as a promising path forward, stating:
“If you can do well in local search, I think even in a worst-case scenario AI Overview rollout, you would still be doing well here.”
Adapting To The Changing Landscape
Despite the challenges posed by AI-powered search features, Capper believes there are still opportunities for organic marketing success.
He offers the following recommendations:
Target informational queries that don’t have a featured snippet, allowing for better organic visibility.
Focus on less competitive commercial queries in verticals like arts, hobbies, and real estate.
Leverage local search optimization for transactional queries, even for businesses without a brick-and-mortar presence.
Use keyword modifiers like “best,” “compare,” “top,” and “reviews” to identify commercial intent queries.
Photo taken by author at MozCon, June 2024.
Looking To The Future
When asked about his advice for SEO professionals who may be disheartened by the AI search revolution, Capper suggests adapting and focusing on creating high-quality, authoritative content.
Capper stated in the exclusive interview:
“If you’ve got any willingness at all to write something more interesting, then I think you can still play an organic.”
Ultimately, Capper remains optimistic about the future of organic search.
In the interview, he points Google’s business model depends on sending organic traffic to other sites:
“I don’t think Google will ever reach the point where Google doesn’t send traffic at all because, ultimately, that’s its business model.
People expect when they search Google that they will end up going to other websites; if people don’t have that expectation, they won’t click on ads; if people aren’t clicking on ads, Google doesn’t make any money.”
In Summary
While informational and transactional searches have become challenging to rank for organically, Capper’s research suggests there are opportunities in commercial and local spaces.
To adapt, he recommends focusing on less competitive commercial topics, leveraging local SEO for transactional queries, and creating content beyond simply answering basic questions.
New research by BrightEdge offers a snapshot of the kinds of queries that tend to show Google AI Overviews (AIO) and provides insights into the kinds of queries and verticals where AIO are more prevalent.
The findings show dramatic differences in the amount of AI Overviews shown across different verticals in a way that reflects the kinds of queries that are common. This effect works in reverse as well, where some verticals experience less AIO search features.
Is This A Paradigm Shift?
While BrightEdge calls it the greatest paradigm shift in decades, I think that’s understating shifts to Google search in the recent past, not just the ones in 2024. Something that’s not widely understood is that Google Search has been an AI Search engine since at least 2015 with the introduction of RankBrain and other subsequent changes to the backend side of search.
The big change in Search this year is that AI is more obvious on the front-end as a Feature in Search, largely replacing the role that Featured Snippets once played. Perhaps more importantly there may have been an infrastructure change at the beginning of 2024.
BrightEdge Generative Parser
BrightEdge has a technology, called the Generative Parser, which tracks and analyzes patterns in Google’s AI search features. BrightEdge used their Generative Parser to produce research findings about Google’s new AI Overviews (AIO) search feature.
Albert Gouyet, VP of Operations at BrightEdge said this about the BrightEdge Generative Parser:
“It’s fascinating to see the BrightEdge Generative Parser™ giving marketers a front-row seat into how AI in search is developing and giving the community a glimpse into the future. For marketers who rely on organic traffic, early indications suggest that AI will help reach new customers and present new opportunities to create content that serves multiple needs and elevates brand performance.”
What Triggers AIO
BrightEdge’s report indicates that Featured Snippets and questions were likely to trigger the AIO feature. Featured Snippets are answers to questions that are created with direct quotes from websites. BrightEdge found that AI Overviews were more likely to appear when there was also a Featured Snippet.
What Doesn’t Trigger AI Overviews
The research showed that local search queries were the least likeliest to trigger an AI Overview search result. That makes sense because a user is looking for a structured search result (business names, addresses, phone numbers), information that can’t be usefully summarized.
Similarly, search queries that generate sitelinks were also less likely to trigger AIO. Sitelinks are search results related to branded searches which feature multiple links to inner pages of a website. For example, searching for the name of a clothing store can generate a search result that features inner pages for women’s clothes, men’s clothes, etc. This also makes sense because it’s the kind of search query that is best answered with direct data and not a summary.
Verticals Most Likely To Contain AIO
Search results that tended to feature AI Overviews were wildly different when compared by verticals (verticals means specific industries or topics). This likely doesn’t mean that Google was targeting specific verticals for showing more AIO. Search features are always tied to the helpfulness of the features. The helpfulness of features are tested with the Search Quality Raters, workers who test out new kinds of search results and rate them for helpfulness and other criteria.
Search queries related to Healthcare tended to generate AI Overviews at a rate of 63% of the time. That makes sense for search queries that are information-seeking.
B2B technology queries tended to generate AIO results 32% of the time while Ecommerce search queries triggered AI Overviews 23% of the time.
Interestingly, restaurants and travel related queries did not tend to trigger AIO results.
AIO Shown Less Often Than SGE
Another interesting data point is that AIO is triggered 20% less times than Search Generative Experience (SGE) answers were.
BrightEdge offered three insights related to why AIO is shown less than the experimental SGE was.
“This indicates that AI is getting more precise when generating helpful experiences.
This is likely because AI now caters better to people’s needs, such as looking for summaries, recommendations, or conversational experiences.
Ultimately, Google is getting better at selecting answers.”
BrightEdge research pointed out that Google is improving the ability to anticipate follow up questions by providing AI search summaries that more completely answer a question.
They write:
“Since Google l/O, the overlap between citations in AI and traditional results has diminished. Google is ensuring users do not get the same results in the two types of different results. It is also now delivering on its promise to do the second, third, and fourth search for you. AI is beginning to anticipate the following question and give options before a user even asks. This often happens with ‘what,’ ‘where,’ and ‘how’ intent-based queries.”
Early Days Of AIO
Google has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from users and the news media about the quality of Google’s AI Overviews, which in turn can lead to trust issues. BrightEdge’s report can be considered a snapshot of Google AIO today and I’m certain BrightEdge will be back with new data in the future when Google’s (AI) SERPs eventually change again.
Today, at its MozCon 2024 conference, Moz announced a range of new AI-driven features and product updates.
The announcements focused on modernizing tools to address the changing needs of SEO professionals.
Ethan Hays, Moz’s General Manager, acknowledges that “the search landscape has seen more turbulence this last year than at almost any point in Moz’s 20-year history. Our goal is to help our customers face that head-on.”
Modern Tools For The Future Of SEO
Moz showcased a revamped version of STAT, its enterprise SERP tracking solution, and several usability improvements to the Moz Pro interface.
The company introduced Moz AI, a suite of tools designed to streamline workflows and enhance enterprise-grade data.
Additionally, Moz unveiled new affordable API plans, including Beta endpoints for keyword, intent, brand, and link metrics
Moz AI
Moz AI is a collection of three features integrated into Moz Pro:
Search Intent in Keyword Suggestions
Domain Search Theme
Domain Keyword Topics in Domain Overview.
These AI-driven capabilities allow Moz Pro customers to optimize their SEO strategies and make data-informed decisions with greater efficiency.
Accessible & Affordable Data
Moz announced the launch of new Moz API plans, making enterprise-quality data more accessible and affordable.
Starting at $5 per month, customers can now access an expanded set of Beta endpoints, including:
Keyword Metrics
Keyword Suggestions
Search Intent
Ranking Keywords
Brand Authority.
These plans offer a cost-effective solution for businesses looking to build custom tools, dashboards, SaaS products, and apps using Moz’s robust data.
Hays emphasized Moz’s commitment to its customers, stating, “Our core commitment is unchanged: empowering SEO practitioners through software, education, and community.”
MozCon 2024
MozCon 2024, which is currently underway, will feature live demonstrations of these product enhancements. Attendees will be able to experience the new features firsthand and interact with Moz experts.
Following Moz’s presentation, we will update this article with first-hand details straight from MozCon.
In Summary
As Moz celebrates its 20th anniversary, it remains dedicated to empowering SEO professionals with tools, education, and community support.
As Moz marks its 20th anniversary, it continues to focus on providing SEO professionals with advanced tools, educational resources, and community support to navigate the constantly changing search environment.
Last week, Google Ads emailed advertisers in the United States who use Google Ads or Google Analytics with upcoming compliance changes.
Many are asking, “why now”?
As user privacy concerns are at an all-time high, many individual states enacted their privacy law provisions, which will be implemented later this year.
Read on to learn how Google is preparing its products for compliance, what this means for advertisers, and whether you need to take action.
What’s Changing In Privacy?
Two major updates are coming to the privacy landscape for the United States this year.
Five states have privacy law provisions going into effect. These states include Florida, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and Colorado.
Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) enforcements. The state of Colorado will begin enforcement of its Universal Opt-Out Mechanism (UOOM) provisions.
This means that individual states are cracking down on user privacy and how data processing occurs to those users.
This is also known as “Restricted Data Processing” (RDP), a compliance tool Google developed in 2019 to help advertisers comply with various country and state laws.
What is Google Doing To Help Advertisers Comply?
Due to these upcoming state changes, Google is making several changes to protect data and ensure advertisers are compliant.
For new U.S. State Laws going into effect
In the email sent to advertisers, Google is updating the language to these existing terms:
Google Ads Data Processing Terms
Google Ads Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms
Google Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms
U.S. State Privacy Laws Addendum
If you’ve already agreed to the online data protection terms in your Google Ads account, you need not take any further action on this update.
Additionally, Google states it will act as your service provider or processor while Restricted Data Processing (RDP) is enabled for the states above. What’s nice about this at a product control level in Google Ads is that if it’s turned on, the RDP functionality will expand as other states enact their own privacy laws.
For partners who operate in Colorado
This change is more specific to advertisers who operate in the state of Colorado.
In the upcoming Colorado Privacy Act, the Universal Opt-Out Mechanism requires that Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals opt the user out of Ad Targeting.
When users or potential customers create or receive a Global Privacy Control, they can send that signal to Google as a Privacy Parameter (like RDP mentioned above) to turn off things like:
Ad Targeting
Sale data
Share of data
To comply with this law, Google can receive GPC signals directly from users and will engage in RDP mode on their behalf.
What Does This Mean For Advertisers?
While the legal language above is extensive, let’s examine how these state law changes and Google’s response to them may affect advertisers.
#1: Less Personalized Ads inventory
One of the first apparent updates will be less personalized ad inventory.
Because of the restricted data processing updates and opt-out mechanisms, it’s easier for users not to be targeted.
If users decide not to enable ad targeting, that directly affects advertisers’ ability to personally target those users, affecting the ad inventory.
This can affect the inventory, targeting efficiency, and bidding strategies they use in campaigns.
#2: Customer Match will be impacted
Similar to the above, the match rate on Customer Match lists and other Remarketing lists will likely decline. This is mainly due to the Global Privacy Controls update.
Users must have given consent to receive marketing updates from a brand. Additionally, they won’t be tracked if they’re not logged into their Google account—or if they decline to be tracked while logged in.
If you use Customer Match lists, watch those match rates when reviewing performance volatility.
#3: Performance reporting will likely be impacted
According to Navah Hopkin’s LinkedIn post about this update, advertisers are in for a “wild summer.”
If advertisers’ ability to serve personalized ads or fully utilize Customer Match or other remarketing capabilities, performance will undoubtedly be impacted.
This could mean volatility or fluctuations in reporting regarding conversions, attributions back to campaigns, ROAS, or CPA metrics.
Navah makes a great point in the comments of her post on this matter, stating that advertisers should “get away from hard numbers” when it comes to reporting.
Simply put, there will be further limitations on what advertisers can and cannot report on, and the performance reports shouldn’t be the “end all be all” when making strategic campaign decisions.
In Summary
This isn’t Google’s first rodeo regarding user privacy laws and compliance.
What started in 2018 with compliance tools for GDPR updates in the EEA and U.K. is undoubtedly making its way to the United States.
In the ever-changing world of user privacy and data regulations, advertisers can breathe a small sigh of relief in these welcome updates from Google. They show that they’re being proactive about individual state law compliance policies and giving advertisers a heads-up before any action is needed.
Ultimately, advertisers must remember that they are responsible for ensuring compliance for their company and on behalf of the companies they advertise for.
After ten years of watching Google Marketing Live virtually from my computer, I had the opportunity to attend the event in person this year.
If you’re not familiar with it, Google Marketing Live is an annual event put on by Google that showcases its major product announcements for Google advertisers.
This year, Google unveiled 30 product updates for Google Ads! While not all of them were mentioned during the keynote, there was one core theme of the updates:
AI.
The majority of product updates can be categorized under these main components of Google Ads:
Creatives.
Media.
Measurement.
Now that the event is over, I’ve had time to digest these platform announcements and really think about how to use them as an advertiser—or at the very least, what these updates can mean in the broader scope of marketing.
Below are my top product updates I’m most looking forward to in 2024.
AI Creative Announcements
As expected, Google announced multiple updates specifically around ad creatives and functionality for advertisers. These include:
AI-powered image editing. Advertisers can edit images (including product feed). AI-generated images will appear in recommendations for Performance Max campaigns. Add and remove objects, extend backgrounds, and adjust image sizes to meet many sizes, orientations, and ratios.
New brand standard guidelines. Advertisers can provide Google AI with brand guidelines, colors, and fonts. The option to upload example images as a reference point for the generative AI will also be available.
Animated image ads for Demand Gen campaigns. If you have a Merchant Center account, you can serve animated image ads on YouTube Shorts and video ads. The animated images will be automatically generated from your product feed images.
Integrations with creative platforms. Google now has partnerships with Canva, Smartly, and Pencil Pro to integrate into the Google Ads asset library. This means you can create assets on those platforms and export them to Google Ads.
As far as timing goes, not everything announced is available right away.
According to Google, the new brand standard guidelines will be rolled out in the later months.
AI Media Announcements
During the live keynote, one of the most livening parts was Philipp Schindler’s demo with its generative AI technology.
It sparked imagination around non-traditional ways to search and interact to find new information.
Photo taken by author, May 2024
With that comes some new ad space available for advertisers.
Some of the key media announcements within Google Ads include:
Shopping ads to appear in Google Lens and Circle to Search. This is a new ad space and experience in the visual search results. Your shopping ad will showcase products when they’re relevant to the photos and screenshots users search with.
Search and Shopping ads to appear in AI Overviews. Another new placement is unlocked – in the United States for now. Ads from existing AI-powered Search and Performance Max campaigns may be able to show in the AI Overview “Sponsored” section when they’re relevant to both the user search and the output from AI Overview.
Conversational campaign creation. While this was announced last year, Google published more data showing that SMBs who use the conversational tool are 63% more likely to publish search campaigns with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ ad strength.
New loyalty promotions. Advertisers running Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns will have a way to tailor promotions like special pricing or member-only exclusive offers.
Similar to the creative announcements, not all these are live immediately.
Shopping ads and loyalty promotions will roll out over the next few months in visual search results.
By now, we’ve all likely heard some shocking outputs from AI Overviews. Google is starting this ad placement rollout as a small experiment in the United States and will take its learnings from all inputs to provide a better experience as it matures.
AI Measurement Announcements
While I thought there would be more hype around measurement improvements, there was only one brief callout about more in-depth reporting on Performance Max campaigns.
A more robust outline of measurement announcements included:
Asset-level reporting in Performance Max. In the next few months, you’ll be able to see conversion metrics for each creative asset. This is a huge win for advertisers after years of being unable to report at this level of detail.
Performance Insights in Merchant Center Next. More tailored recommendations and generated insights are coming to Merchant Center Next, along with conversational reporting requests, with more visual insights quicker.
New audience signals in App campaigns. Another huge win for app advertisers! Advertisers can now link a wide range of audience lists, including first-party data audiences. Google AI will learn from the audience inputs to show ads to users more likely to convert.
New Measurement Diagnostics hub. Advertisers can validate and troubleshoot any measurement setup within Google Ads. You’ll also see your measurement durability and readiness in this hub to build and activate first-party data audiences.
Marketing Mix Models attribution. Google announced its newest open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM), Meridian. It will help you measure the impact of your entire marketing strategy and make informed campaign decisions.
Better iOS measurement with SKAdNetwork enhancements. New reporting updates are available across the Google Ads API and third-party app attribution partners, and a new beta is available to integrate your SKAdNetwork conversion value schema into Google Ads. This will help enhance any iOS app campaigns using tCPA or tROAS bidding strategies.
Summary: What This Means For Advertisers
In the short hour and 15-minute keynote, we were presented with a wide variety of new updates. As you can see below, these updates affect many different campaign types and are either available today or will be coming in the next few months.
Photo taken by author, May 2024
So, with these updates, is there a larger theme at play?
In the grand scheme of the Google Marketing Live updates, a few major themes stood out to me.
1. Video content is key.
A lot of updates from Google Marketing Live revolved around content creation, automation, and animation.
Essentially, Google seems “all-in” on video content—specifically YouTube Shorts.
If you don’t incorporate video content into your marketing strategy, you may fall behind your competitors and see lower engagement.
Some advertisers shy away from video content because it seems tedious, too complicated, or insufficient resources.
With Google’s updates, anyone can start with video content from their phone. Google’s tools can turn images into video content.
Incorporating video into your Google Ads strategy can help you connect better with your target audience.
2. AI strategies are a must-have.
During the keynote, Google said, “AI is not a marketer.”
Photo taken by author, May 2024.
Basically, your jobs are safe right now, advertisers.
So, while AI is not a marketer, we marketers must have an AI strategy to keep up with these changes.
Trying to outsmart the Google Ads system or retaining too much control will prevent your campaigns from growing and scaling as they need to.
To have a successful AI strategy, think of a few of these main points:
Always ensure the goal and measurement setup is correct.
Set realistic bidding strategies so Google can learn from these inputs.
Send appropriate signals to Google within your campaign setup.
AI outputs are typically only as good as the inputs it gets. That’s where you, the marketer, come in.
When used correctly and strategically, these new AI tools can help scale your workload, learn faster, and make more real-time decisions to optimize your campaigns.
You can find the full recap of Google Ads product announcements in the official article from Google.
Google has addressed concerns regarding the accuracy and quality of its AI overview feature in search results.
The company acknowledges the criticism and odd results generated by the AI overviews but claims that the feature leads to higher user satisfaction and more complex queries being answered.
As Liz Reid, Head of Google Search, continues to repeat the same talking points, here’s what’s being done about AI overviews.
Background On AI Overviews
Google launched AI overviews to provide users with comprehensive responses to complex questions that would have previously required multiple searches.
The feature is powered by a customized language model integrated with Google’s core web ranking systems.
Unlike chatbots and other large language model (LLM) products, Google claims that AI overviews are built only to show information backed up by top web results and include relevant links for further exploration.
Google alleges that, in testing, the accuracy rate for AI overviews is on par with featured snippets, another popular AI-powered search feature.
Addressing Odd Results & Criticism
The widespread use of AI overviews by millions of users has surfaced some odd and inaccurate results.
Google attributes these issues to several factors, including:
Misinterpreting queries
Misinterpreting nuances in web content language
Limited high-quality information available for specific topics
In its statement, Google addresses the viral example of “How many rocks should I eat?” which generated an AI overview based on satirical content republished on a geological software provider’s website.
The company explains that this is an instance of a “data void” or “information gap,” where limited high-quality content is available on a topic.
Improvements & Updates
In response to the criticism, Google says it’s made over a dozen technical improvements to AI overviews.
These updates include:
Better detection mechanisms for nonsensical queries
Limiting the inclusion of satire and humor content
Updating systems to limit the use of potentially misleading user-generated content
Adding triggering restrictions for queries where AI overviews were less helpful
Enhancing quality protections for sensitive topics like news and health
Google’s company message is that less than one in every 7 million unique queries with AI overviews contained a content policy violation.
Why SEJ Cares
The lessons from Google’s AI overview launch will shape the future of search and have implications for the SEO industry.
The concerns about accuracy highlight the need for search engines to be transparent about how these AI features work, their limitations, and how issues are being addressed.
SEO professionals, content creators, and website owners should push for clearer communication. By actively engaging in these discussions, you can guide the responsible use of AI tools.
Google’s challenges present an opportunity for competitors to prioritize transparency, user trust, and ethical AI deployment to differentiate themselves. It will be interesting to see if anyone steps up to the challenge.
