Google has been updating its algorithms over the last few months, so some tried and true but slightly dodgy marketing techniques may be out of the window.
However, one of the biggest stories surrounding Google at the moment is their new AI search function and how amazingly bad it is.
This is perhaps one of those examples where you realise that AI is not going to take over the world in a Skynet-type scenario any time soon—there’s a good chance that the Terminator robots would get stuck in a lift or have some IT-related problem like their WiFi going down.
It would not make for a blockbuster movie but this would most likely be the reality of the situation.
AI is a very powerful tool—but it can also throw up a lot of stupid stuff.
New Google AI Search Recommends Eating Rocks and Using Glue on Pizzas
In the ever-expanding void that is the section of search results, you have to scroll past to get to the ‘real’ results of actual organic searches at the end, there is now a new addition at the top.
Unfortunately, this could also be consigned to ‘that bit you have to scroll past’ as, like with many things in life, the tool is seemingly useless.
In their wisdom, Google have enhanced their searches with a new AI-based tool providing the first place result, above the paid ads.
Of course, when your highly intelligent learning tool only has the human mind and its wafflings on the Internet as its source material, the end product is chaos.
So when you type in your question, it is less like asking Stephen Hawking and more like asking Stephen Mulhern and what the user gets is a vacuous void in place of where real intelligence should be (sorry Stephen!).
Failure Gone Viral
The results of Google's new AI search tool were so spectacularly bad they have gone viral for the wrong reasons, some of which have made it into mainstream news coverage.
For example, when asking, “How many rocks should I eat per day?”, the top answer was that you should eat one or two rocks per day, slightly further down it said eating rocks may be bad for your health, although that was deemed less relevant in the search results and pushed to one side.
Similarly, asking a question about how to stop cheese from falling off pizza turned up a joke article as the top result that said using non-toxic glue is the best bet.
More Useful Google Updates
Prior to the more recent debacle with the AI search results, Google has been adding to its algorithms, with some more useful functions. And while less newsworthy than the big viral failures, these new additions are certainly of interest to those in marketing and blog writing.
For example, the new SpamBrain is an AI-based tool that acts as a spam prevention system. So what sort of things would this new algorithm pick up?
If the efficacy of this method is to be believed from the accounts of Google themselves, as everyone is well aware of how hit-and-miss AI-based functions can be, then the new SpanBrain will counter a number of unethical or black hat marketing techniques.
Whilst not strictly illegal or fraudulent as such, some of these methods were always a bit dodgy, although still effective up until recently.
Is Link Spamming Dead Now?
Link spamming is now officially dead—according to Google, the recent champion of the global rock-eating movement.
What is link spamming in terms of marketing? Over excessive backlinks that do not add quality or help the user experience but are instead used simply to alter the search results in your favour.
Experienced marketing professionals may ask the question, “Wasn’t link spamming already dead in 2015 or something?”
There have been many updates to the Google algorithms, Penguin, Panda, Pigeon, etc. and each has been installed with the aim of reducing dodgy marketing tactics that influence the results and giving credit and higher rankings to more useful content for the audience.
While some of these have been more effective than others in combating the old-school dirty tricks of the marketing trade, these methods still pervade in some form and it may be surprising to learn that some of the top names in online publications still routinely train their writers to adopt the most excessive and spammy techniques that many thought were consigned to the past.
Thankfully for professional/ethical marketing agencies and genuine content creators, these methods of link spamming are much less effective thanks to the new update. This means that genuine content can rise to the top rather than being pushed to the bottom by articles that have multiple links to them from pages that simply serve as a vehicle for links.
Apart from excessive linking or link spam as it is sometimes referred to, the new SpamBrain system also cracks down on paid links.
Where previously a business entity could pay for X amount of links and have them arbitrarily placed here and there on the Internet to drive up the apparent authority of the site, now this should be almost a thing of the past as the Google update recognises these instances somehow and neutralises their effect.
It should be noted that the system does not apply penalties for any excessive linking that is detected but simply negates the positive influence on rankings they had.
Aside from the reports on its effectiveness, you can tell the system works to some degree because lots of marketing providers have reported a drop in their traffic—most likely because they were employing some of the slightly dodgier methods as addressed in the recent updates!
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