May Habib’s Post

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CEO of Writer.com | Enterprise generative AI | Hiring in ML, eng, design, mktg, sales + CS

Google has burned the boats. The years of handwringing around generative AI and the core search business have resulted in a conclusive decision in favor of pushing innovation. It's great for consumers but scary for businesses. AI search summaries, which Google announced will officially *replace* the just-announced SGE (which people were just wrapping their heads around), will be the main search experience by the end of the year. Marketers, your job is going to get *even tougher*. Some thoughts on this week's product announcements: (1) Augmented reality has gotten a generative AI rebrand, and it might actually stick this time! Will Google introduce ways for brands to advertise on this new Astra platform? *Probably* — but it's going to be hella discrete and not bubbles popping up on your phone as you look at something. They will have to build in a way to connect what a user's phone is looking at with who is advertising in that place or against that object. Goodbye, keywords, hello, keyplaces or keythings. What it means for brands (and I think this is exciting): branding of interactivity / real life experiences take on new importance. (2) *all thing equal* AI search summaries most certainly mean fewer clicks to your website — which is actually going to most impact B2B websites. Does that mean you stop investing in content? No. But understanding that the content is for training LLM data scrapers (for LLMs that are updated max 3-4 times a year, for now) and agents that are browsing the web on BEHALF of your users (not just Google's) is important — imo it means that you'll need to close the loop to connect your brand to your users in the channels you KNOW are more likely to be their human eyeballs and not their AI ones: the almighty social. (3) We're going to see AI-agent web lanes emerge. What I mean — websites (or parts of your website or experience) that are *optimized for AI agents doing stuff on behalf of users.* Think of this as kinda like prompt engineering — figuring out how to talk and reason with the agents that come to your website. Search engine optimization (SEO) becomes AI agent optimization (AIAO). We're going to use Writer's own beta agents to experiment on our own website and will report back. Marketers, you gotta fight AI with AI.

Daniel Fraga

Conversational AI Designer @ Accenture Song | Author & Speaker

2mo

Fascinating take May, you are spot on with the idea of "branding of real life experiences". That is the frontier for creators who want to emotionally connect to users. Feels like sci-fi to even talk about this, but branded "life-moments" will replace ads. "Moments" you talk to, you sit on, you drink from, you touch, etc.

Marc Bovenzi

Cunvert designs high-converting landing pages for B2B SaaS companies with research | data | and psychology principles.

1mo

Google has no choice but to integrate closely with AI because just recently ChatGPT has fully integrated with live search results. I got a message when I logged in the other day asking if I wanted to try it. did anyone else get that? Also, Bing is fully integrated with AI -- so it's more like playing catch up for Google. Even Apple has rebranded itself as an "AI PC" which would have been unheard of in years past. They always said they aren't a laptop or PC but a Macbook... oh how things have changed to mold public perceptions.

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Haris Spahić

Memorable TOFU content for B2B SaaS companies │ Brand & Content Marketing hybrid

1mo

Finally, a post worth engaging with :) "(2) *all thing equal* AI search summaries most certainly mean fewer clicks to your website — which is actually going to most impact B2B websites." I predicted something very similar to you. If the best thing B2B companies can hope for is getting cited in an AI summary, that's about as powerful as seeing a display ad. Which is close to zero. Creating content will evolve from feeding the SEO bots today to creating memorable and enjoyable content for buyers. Buyers will use Google for research and informational queries, but our companies have to be the hubs for enjoyable content. Everyone wants to summarize their chores, but no one would dare summarize their favorite show. They want to engage with it, savor it, and discuss it with peers.

Paul Burchard, PhD

Retired Head of R&D and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs

2mo

May Habib I have a slightly different take. If Google had truly “burned the boats”, they would be joining the other GenAI platforms who are trying to create a total information monopoly that offers no attribution, reference, or compensation to any independent information providers. But Google couldn’t really afford to kill off 99% of their revenue, so their dilemma offers businesses a preferable alternative, which still includes links to business Web sites. Perhaps businesses should be more concerned with the question, will users prefer Google’s service to ChatGPT as their interface to the world? I wrote a 3-part miniseries to explain the historical context as I see it: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/paulburchard_future-activity-7196341624170311681-oVDV

Cassandra Speich

Senior Technical Program Manager at Northwestern Mutual | Empowering Success Through Business Relationships and Cutting-Edge Technology

1mo

As business leaders and marketers, it’s crucial to adapt swiftly to these changes. Brands need to think beyond traditional advertising and embrace interactive experiences. Connecting with users in real-life scenarios will redefine branding strategies. AI search summaries will streamline user experiences, impacting website traffic. But content remains pivotal. Focus on crafting content to resonate with both human and AI audiences, especially leveraging social channels for direct engagement. The emergence of AI-agent web lanes signals a new era in digital optimization.

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Kerry Cunningham

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. — some guy who doesn't deserve credit for a spot-on idea.

1mo

also, websites need to become immersive experiences themselves. they have to offer more than what we can get from the summary. what the summaries can't offer is immersive experiences, the actual voice of your brand, and realistic previews of what it's like to be a customer and part of your community.

Adam Gordon

Senior Marketer 🌀 Climate | Tech 🌀 Accelerate growth via data, empathy, and powerful storytelling

2mo

There are a lot of questions that G's announcement (and the demo video) bring up for me. The first is: are we all going to be looking through our phones to get AR capabilities or are we going back to the future of glassholes? (LOL, but not really) Next, google *can't* do this without some kind of revenue stream; your analysis seems to imply glasses and ads alongside the AR information. That's a good first approximation, but...I bet it's not the last. How else might google monetize this? THAT might be the place we want to start thinking about and where we should be strategizing about leveraging and getting our website (or whatever it's going to be then) into that data stream. I bet that social platforms are going to look a lot different in that world than in ours. As marketers, it's our job to anticipate what that might be and be ready to use it to our client's (or employer's or our own) advantage. Great analysis, May Habib Burn the boats! A sinking ocean lowers all boats? 😎

Nick Loomis

Director of Marketing at Idomoo & idomoo.ai | Brand + Demand Marketing | B2B, AI, B2C, Web3, and Startup Experience

2mo

I truly believe there will still be not only incentive still to produce content, but even more now that the sources displayed tend to be much more enticing than scrolling through the SERP. In my experience so far as well as a few others I've talked to, when getting SGE or LLM summary content (I'm just going to start calling it AI Search because that's what I assume the general public will), if the answer covers my query well enough when it comes to B2B topics, products, or verticals in general, I'm then going into only what companies made the source list, because that's the natural progression. I think long-form, relevant, in-depth, expertise driven content hubs that read well are going to continue to win as they always have, but now we can truly stop pretending that SEO spam works at all. I could be wrong of course, but that's where I see this playing out. Great post May Habib!

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So, creating content purely for data scrapers to be used in training future machines, and nobody real visits your website, only more machines, so you have to teach another machine how to talk to those machines? Will we have reached the peak of what Graeber called the bullshit job?

Zaki B. NASREDDIN

Founder of ChipBot Innovators | Revolutionizing Semiconductor Design with AI

1mo

Google's bold move to integrate AI search summaries is indeed a significant step towards innovation, offering both challenges and opportunities. The shift towards augmented reality and AI-driven platforms like Astra suggests a new frontier for brand interaction and consumer engagement. It's an exciting development that calls for creative and strategic adaptation from marketers. The implications for content creation and SEO are profound. Content remains king, but the way we optimize for AI agents will redefine our approach. In the spirit of innovation, we encourage marketers to embrace these changes and explore the potential of AI to create more meaningful and effective brand engagements.

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