How Project Magi Could Revolutionize SEO and Digital Marketing Strategies
A couple of days ago, the New York Times released an article about Google's scramble to catch up in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Google has been working on developing AI features for years but with little fanfare. Google's Bard Experiment is a good example.
However, with OpenAI's release of ChatGPT as well as Microsoft's investment in the technology, Google has been scrambling to catch up since.
Enter Project Magi.
As the world's leading search engine, Google has been a game-changer in the world of digital marketing. Google's latest project, Magi, aims to revolutionize the search engine industry once again and enhance the online search experience using artificial intelligence.
As a digital marketer, I'm interested in looking at how Project Magi could revolutionize search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing strategies, and explore the new features it will introduce.
What is Project Magi?
Google's Project Magi is not just about creating a new search engine but is also about enhancing the existing search engine infrastructure with new AI features.
Searchers (only in the United States in the early stage) will be able to use the dialogue-based search engine that can handle users' search queries without keywords, and respond to follow-up questions that explore the nuance of their original query.
Theoretically, this means that Google Search users can now find more relevant information faster and more easily than ever before.
Impact of Project Magi on SEO
We don't know a ton about Magi yet, but from what we do know, we can speculate a bit on how it might affect SEO.
Much like ChatGPT, Project Magi can understand complex language, idioms, and questions, making it easier for Google to understand users' needs and deliver personalized results instead of a list of results that you're used to.
Keyword research might very well become less critical or even obsolete over time, giving SEO professionals new opportunities to create engaging and compelling content that tells stories rather than just cluttering up web pages with keywords.
It's also likely that Project Magi will create an entirely different kind of SEO. Google is moving towards trying to keep users on the Google platform by providing personalized results, and the ability to complete transactions within your search.
While Google is moving towards a search engine that is less likely to send the search off its own platform to other businesses' websites, the information Google uses will still come from these sources.
That means there is still a need for some sort of search engine optimization because Google will still need a way to determine what the most helpful content for the searcher is. The way the information is presented will be different, and perhaps that means different rules and ranking factors, but SEO won't be going away.
Impact of Project Magi on Digital Marketing
On the digital marketing front, things could definitely look different, but Google search ads are not going away. Ads are Google's primary source of revenue.
And, just because Google might change the way searchers access results, doesn't mean there is no longer a market for your services. People are still going to search for roofers when they have a leak or banks when they need a mortgage.
It's possible the advanced AI features of Magi could even improve ad targeting for businesses using search ads.
By understanding which users are most likely to click on specific ads, digital marketers can deliver better-targeted campaigns and higher click-through rates.
Additionally, the learning capabilities of the Magi project can have a significant impact on community building for businesses. By understanding user queries better, businesses could identify their audiences with exact metrics, including demographics and behavior patterns.
If true, digital marketers could further segment their target audience and provide more personalized content, which increases user engagement.
Challenges and Ethical Concerns
While AI-based search engines can lead to more accurate search results, there will always be ethical concerns that come with collecting user data for analysis.
It is crucial for Google to maintain transparency with its users and have robust privacy policies in place to protect user data.
AI Changes Everything
Project Magi has the potential to revolutionize the digital marketing industry's SEO and search engine infrastructure in unimaginable ways.
With these new features delivering more accurate search results and enhancing ad targeting, businesses have a chance to create a competitive edge with digital marketing that was unthinkable before.
Magi's new AI features come with other benefits for the searcher too. For example, something called Tivoli Tutor will allow for open-ended conversations in which users can learn a new language. Supposedly, Google image search will have the ability to produce AI images and searchers will be able to search for audio through chat.
One thing is for certain, things are going to continue to look very different at a rapid pace. I'm interested (if not wary) to see where AI takes us.