Navigating The AI & Marketing War
In marketing, two bombshell moments happened this week with AI and SEO that can impact your growth.
#1: Google Declared War on GenAI content
Google warned a while ago that using GenAI solely for content goes against their guidelines for a good experience.
Last week, Google severely penalized large sites for using large amounts of GenAI content. Knocking them from page 1 to page 20 in the search results and causing their AdWords spend to rise because of the loss of relevancy.
Google then took unprecedented steps and issued a warning. They will be getting more aggressive with broader penalties in May, essentially saying to follow our E-E-A-T guidelines or roll the dice.
This says two things:
Google is saying it can accurately detect AI-written content.
Relevance, not quantity, will remain the benchmark for marketing.
#2: Sam Altman Shot Back and Had Open AI Declare War on Marketing.
Sam Altman said AI "will do "95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today." That AGI (artificial general intelligence) will be a reality in "5 years, give or take, maybe slightly longer."
Two things to note:
If AGI can do nonlinear creative thinking better than a person, I hope they find better uses than marketing.
Marketing has been heavily reliant on AI for seven years. That is how ad exchanges, Facebook ads, and much of the data analysis are done.
No matter which side you take in the marketing AI war, there is a clear path you need to tread:
You have to use AI; it gives you a competitive advantage.
You have to follow guidelines, or your growth and revenue can suffer.