Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming digital marketing. These changes are motivating marketers to improve and set higher expectations for search outcomes. Its also causing havoc with complicated lawsuits around misinformation and trust issues. Here are some examples:
AI impacts rank on Google (and on AI-overviews): AI uses algorithms to determine how best to deliver relevant content to potential clients, a development not previously seen. While keywords remain valuable in written content, AI now analyzes videos and images to deliver more targeted results. These changes affect content rankings in new and unpredictable ways.
AI gets specific: It lets users ask one question and drill down to more specific ones until the best answer is found. For example, if a user is searching for Cruises to Alaska, they may want to keep asking for specific results such as “Adult-only, stopping at Juno, Best time for whale watching. Until the right cruise with all their desires pops up.
AI is forcing SEO experts to raise their game: Content optimization and competitor strategies are changing, and SEO marketing professionals need to keep up or lose out. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is one of the new buzzwords for “optimizing for AI overviews.”
SEO: What’s Real, What’s Not, and How Can You Tell?
Digital Media lawsuits are changing, too. The American Bar Association posted an article about recent developments in AI cases and legislation. As an expert witness in SEO, I’ve watched these changes, and they are happening quickly! Even an expert attorney can struggle to keep up with AI’s advances in the SEO ecosystem. Here are a few examples of how businesses can get in trouble.
AI-generated articles confuse users: Companies’ use of AI-generated content is becoming increasingly prevalent, yet it still requires human oversight. Many new cases involve patent infringement, copyright infringement, false claims, IP infringement, and false advertising.
Online documents: ChatGPT and AI can generate phony documents such as citations and misrepresented legal documents. If those documents are posted on a company website, it undermines customer trust and creates expensive legal headaches.
SEO & AI Search: Digital marketing professionals need to be vigilant when using AI content. They need to monitor how AI is changing the digital media landscape and protect their companies from AI-generated missteps. Artificial Intelligence may be a great tool, but it’s not a shortcut. If you’re an attorney with a client who’s in court for AI-related marketing violations, you need an AI expert witness in SEO. I can research the data and tell a jury what’s real and what’s not in an AI case.
