Google's AI Stumble at the Olympics

This Week

It's all about the Paris Olympics and AI Search this week! 

We have OpenAI’s launch of a new search rival, Neil Patel’s advice for showing up on ChatGPT, and Sparktoro’s latest data on Google search trends. You can also read more about Google’s AI efforts at the Paris Olympics and how marketers are using AI to optimize for seasonal events.

Read on!

Google’s AI Stumble at the Paris Olympics

In the race to revolutionize Olympic marketing, Google has sprinted ahead with AI-powered tools—but not without stumbling over a few hurdles. As the tech giant unveils new features for the Paris 2024 Games, from AI-generated summaries in Google Discover to Gemini's personalized content creation, it's clear that the finish line between innovation and ethical concerns is blurrier than ever. 

The recent backlash against Google's AI-focused 'Dear Sydney' ad is a good reminder that in the high-stakes arena of Olympic marketing, even gold-medal ideas can falter under public scrutiny. 

Google and its AI model, Gemini, are no strangers to controversy. Earlier this year, Gemini was ridiculed after it generated unrealistic images of racial minorities, prompting Google to pull the feature hours after launch. When it first released AI Overviews users reported bizarre answers to questions, including advice to use glue on a pizza.

Despite these stumbles, Google is racing to release new AI functionality to users and brands. Here are a few they highlight from their recent blog:

• Discover Updates: Google Discover now provides AI-generated summaries, including competition outcomes and medal tallies.

• Gemini Answers: Users can ask Gemini for personalized Olympic-themed ideas.

• Game Recaps: AI-generated daily recaps of the competition are now narrated by AI versions of people such as sports commentator Al Michaels. As a side note: the real Michaels told Vanity Fair that when he heard his machine-generated voice, he realized he’ll soon be obsolete: “I just sat there and thought, ‘In the next life, I’m going to need a new profession.’”

As Google pushes the boundaries of Olympic marketing with its AI-driven tools, the line between innovation and ethical concerns grows ever blurrier. Balancing innovation with responsibility is key to winning the marketing race.

Majority of Consumers Want Strict AI Regulation

A study by Optimizely reveals that over half (51%) of marketers are using AI to plan and enhance their marketing strategies around major events like the Olympics. Marketers are using AI to optimize content creation, experimentation, and personalization, claiming it’s now an essential tool for improving digital experiences. 

Here are the top findings of the study:

• 70% of consumers want strict regulation of AI usage

• 62% of marketers say optimization is the most important factor when using AI

• 60% of consumers are happy for marketers to use AI if they respect their privacy

• 59% of marketers are using AI for experimentation

Shafqat Islam, CMO at Optimizely, said: “AI is a powerful tool to help marketers optimize their strategies, especially around major events like the Olympics. These types of seasonal events are extremely competitive, making it easy for brands to get lost in the noise. 

Read all the stats at Performance Marketing World. 

OpenAI Launches Search Rival

OpenAI is launching a new search platform called SearchGPT. 

Similar to Google’s AI Overview and Perplexity, SearchGPT is an AI search tool that gives users what it’s calling “up-to-date” answers with clear links to sources. OpenAI says it’s powered by the ChatGPT models and real-time web searches and allows for follow-up questions in a conversational style. 

OpenAI is also featuring its partnerships with news outlets, saying in the announcement: “We are committed to a thriving ecosystem of publishers and creators. Now, we’re using AI to enhance this experience by highlighting high quality content in a conversational interface with multiple opportunities for users to engage.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has made it clear he has no interest in copying Google Search. Instead, he plans to create a new user-friendly search that combines LLMs and search without drowning users in advertising. 

While most SEO experts say it's too early to know whether ChatGPT will become a Google Search killer, they all agree this will impact Google’s dominance to some degree.

If you're interested in trying SearchGPT, sign up for the waitlist.

6 Tactics for Ranking on ChatGPT

Neil Patel, search expert and founder of NP Digital says there are six key factors for ranking on ChatGPT. 

They are:

1. Brand Mentions: Increase the frequency of your brand name in online conversations and content.

2. Reviews: Accumulate positive reviews to enhance credibility and user trust.

3. Relevancy: Use relevant keywords that match user queries and content topics.

4. Age: Maintain a long-standing online presence; older, established sites often rank higher.

5. Recommendations: Get backlinks and recommendations from other reputable sites.

6. Authority: Build domain strength and a robust social media presence to establish authority.

“You need to optimize your products and services, so ChatGPT recommends your company. If you don’t, you are missing out on 1.4 billion visitors potentially buying from you each month,” says Patel.

While accuracy issues remain for chatbots like ChatGPT, integrating the above tactics can improve your chances of being recommended by AI platforms.

You can read the full article here.

Top 5 Findings on Zero-Click Search

The 2024 Zero-Click Search Study by SparkToro shows some important trends for marketers relying on Google search for their website traffic.

The most alarming finding is that in the US, only 36% of searches result in clicks to external websites. 

That means, after Google has siphoned off most of the search traffic to its own properties (YouTube, Google Maps, Google Flights, etc.) or answered a question with AI Overview, you’re left fighting your competitors for a third of the original searches. 

Here are the most interesting findings of the study:

1. Low Click-Through Rate: Only 360 out of 1,000 Google searches in the US lead to clicks on non-Google websites. 

2. Zero-Click Searches: A significant number of searches end on Google's search results page without further action.

3. Dominance of Google Services: Users frequently find answers directly from Google properties like Knowledge Panels and Featured Snippets.

4. Search on Repeat: Almost 22% of searches result in another search.

5. Google Search is Growing: Searches per searcher are rising and were at historic highs in the spring of 2024.

For all the stats and analysis, visit Sparktoro.

Perplexity Launches Ads After Publisher Debacle

Starting later this quarter, Perplexity will let brands buy ads based on users' search queries. The answers will be embedded within the answer content but clearly labeled as sponsored. This is a different approach from Google, which runs ads alongside its AI Overview answers but not within them.

Perplexity was recently criticized for scraping publishers’ content to compose answers to user search questions. Now Perplexity says it’s modifying its processes and products based on feedback from publisher partners, which include Time, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and German news site Der Spiegel. 

Perplexity intends for advertising to be its main source of revenue, and says its goal is to break the search engine model, which historically has not provided media partners with a revenue share model.

Perplexity has yet to disclose the fee associated with these ads. 

You can read more at Fast Company and Search Engine Land.