Two Big Search Changes To Know
The environment for brands being found on the internet is changing quite rapidly. As we follow along, we thought we’d share some of the top changes in the last couple of weeks:
Open AI – aka “ChatGPT” – announced last week that it will release a web browser to compete with Chrome. The browser will include a chat interface and enable AI agent integrations. The future of brand discovery, engagement and purchase, will live within a single ecosystem of an agentic browser. In a single browsing session, the agent will make purchase recommendations, research and display competitive pricing and complete the purchase. This is not far in the future, keeping in mind that ChatGPT already has 500 million weekly users. We are following several startups that are developing platforms to track AI sentiment and results, serving as a sort of AI “listening tool” for brands.
Content has never been more important – earned, owned and paid.
Last week Instagram started allowing Google and other search engines to index public posts from professional accounts. This includes photos, videos and Reels. This means that Instagram content could show up alongside traditional web pages and news articles. Your social and search teams should be collaborating. Top keywords and trending keywords should influence Instagram content, creating a virtuous cycle.
Shopify Setting AI Boundaries
And while AI is working to gobble up browsers, Shopify has seen the future of AI disruption. (Imagine ChatGPT enabling purchases made from within its browsers as its agent.)
Digiday reported last week that Shopify now includes a warning in the code that powers merchant storefronts, telling bots what they can and cannot do. And they definitely cannot use agentic AI systems. In fact the code tells bots, “Automated scraping, ‘buy-for-me’ agents, or any end-to-end flow that completes payment without a final review step is not permitted.”
In the meantime, Amazon is testing a “buy-for-me” feature that can purchase items from a third-party website; Walmart has launched “Sparky,” a generative assistant.
Is It Time To Eliminate the “DMA”?
| This week TVREV had an interesting thesis that it’s time to sunset the Designated Market Area (“DMA”). Quick history: The DMA has been in existence since the 1950s, meant to define which counties belonged to which TV markets. The boundary was based on the broadcast signal reach. And then it became the hub of localized media planning. Every media channel laddered up to the DMA. But does anyone have rooftop antenna for a TV signal these days? Customization of geography, demography and even behavioral preferences are standard “TV” capabilities these days. “The opportunity here is not just to tear down an outdated system, but to build something more accurate and useful in its place. A modernized mapping of media markets could leverage ZIP code-level data, audience behavior and even commuting patterns to define meaningful localities,” writes TVREV. Read more here. |