Seismic shifts have been rocking the e-commerce landscape in recent years. From the way we shop, to how businesses target their audiences, technology continually drives change. At the core of such a transformation lies Artificial Intelligence (AI). When optimizing e-commerce operations, AI offers game-changing tools, especially in areas like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Ads, and Google Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Below are some examples of how AI can be used to speed up processes:
AI in Ecommerce - Impact on SEO
There are so many elements related to SEO that you need to keep in mind with an ecommerce site, but with the recent launch of SGE, writing quality content is most important. A few impacts on ecommerce sites include:
- Shopping Ads appear before SGE – need to consider a Google Ads Shopping Campaign. By working with your PPC team, you can attack the SERPs from two angles and increase the likelihood of shoppers clicking through to your site.
- Greater competition in the SERPs
- What usually ranked in Google (e.g. optimization for specific keywords), is not what is ranking in SGE currently (sites with greater domain authority seem to be winning)
- All this leads to a potential decrease in organic traffic and click-through rates
Focusing on E-E-A-T in your content will help your ecommerce website continue to perform well with this shift in Google search results. In addition to content and E-E-A-T, use AI to help you:
- Write Schema
- Keyword Research
- Develop Blog Topics
- Create Content Outlines
- Write Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
- Generate FAQs
Unique content is key when it comes to SEO for ecommerce websites. Be creative! One idea is to create comparison tables of different products or different brands. This information is useful to buyers and will help them make a purchase.
AI Use Cases in Ecommerce - Google Ads
For Google Ads, you can use AI to help you:
- Write Product Descriptions
- Keyword Research – Filter for User Intent
- Analyze Demographics to Curate Personalized Content
- Refine Content
- Write Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
- Analyze User Trends
Let’s now dive deeper into the waves AI is creating in the digital marketplace.
1. Enhanced Customer Experience
In the e-commerce sphere, the user experience is paramount. AI facilitates a smoother, more personalized shopping journey. Virtual shopping assistants and chatbots can guide a customer through their shopping journey, answering queries in real time and offering product recommendations based on the user’s behaviour. This not only improves user satisfaction but can directly influence purchasing decisions.
However, the online consumer is becoming increasingly discerning and expects the information they read to answer their specific questions. For example, if an e-commerce platform is reviewing cars, potential buyers would be interested in the mileage, resell value, etc. While AI tools cannot offer the current data of such values, they can be invaluable in identifying the range of questions users have.
2. Predictive Analytics
Gone are the days of guesswork in e-commerce. With AI-driven algorithms, businesses can now anticipate customer needs. By analyzing user behaviour, search patterns, and purchase histories, AI can predict which products a user is more likely to buy. This foresight means e-commerce businesses can tailor their inventory, adjust pricing strategies, and fine-tune marketing campaigns for maximum efficacy.
3. SEO – A Smarter Way to Rank
SEO is the backbone of any online business. With billions of searches conducted every day, ranking higher on search engines can significantly impact a company’s visibility and sales.
AI-driven Content Creation: Today, AI tools can generate content that’s not only easily digestible but also SEO-optimized. By understanding the latest keyword trends and user intent, AI can help businesses craft content that is more likely to rank higher on search engines.
However, it’s important to note that most AI-generated content, such as those produced by ChatGPT, isn’t ready to use the first click of a button. For content that truly aligns with a brand’s voice and messaging, thorough prompting and training of the AI tool is essential. Without this, businesses may find that the content sounds unnatural and robotic and does not resonate with their audience. Additionally, businesses should not always rely on AI tools to produce accurate information. Models like ChatGPT can generate false statistics and “facts” that aren’t rooted in reality.
Google has gone on record about how it plans to identify and evaluate any AI-written content. At the moment, no penalties will exist for content written by AI; however, Google will continue to focus on “helpful, reliable, people-first content” in its search engine rankings.
Voice Search Optimization: With the rise of voice-activated devices like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home, voice searches are becoming increasingly prevalent. AI algorithms can now optimize content for voice search, ensuring that e-commerce businesses remain ahead of this emerging trend.
Search Generative Experience: SGE is a new feature that integrates generative AI capabilities with Google Search, aiming to provide users with efficient, AI-powered answers to complex or multi-step searches. In light of SGE being launched, we should prioritize writing content that provides value to the reader and that demonstrates E-E-A-T.
4. Smarter Google Ads with AI Ecommerce
Paid advertising, especially through platforms like Google Ads, is the foundation of e-commerce marketing. AI is making this platform more intelligent and more efficient.
Automated Bidding: Rather than manually adjusting bids, e-commerce businesses can use AI to automate the process. The algorithms analyze a plethora of factors, from the time of day to user behaviour, to determine the optimal bid amount for maximum ROI.
Ad Personalization: Generic ads are a thing of the past. With AI, ads can be tailored to individual users. By analyzing past behaviour, interests, and other demographic information, AI can curate personalized ad content, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Performance Analytics: Understanding which ads perform well and which ones don’t is crucial. AI-driven analytics tools provide a deeper insight into ad performance, allowing businesses to refine their strategies continuously.
How using AI on Google Ads boosts Performance Max Campaigns:
Performance Max is a new goal-based campaign type that allows performance advertisers to access all of their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. It’s designed to complement your keyword-based search campaigns to help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels like YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
Performance Max helps you drive performance based on your specified conversion goals, delivering more conversions and value by optimizing performance in real-time and across channels using Smart Bidding. Performance Max combines Google AI technologies across bidding, budget optimization, audiences, creatives, attribution, and more. They’re all empowered by your specific advertising objective, for example, if you have a CPA or ROAS target and the creative assets, audience signals, and optional data feeds you provide.
We love this blog post on PMax campaigns.
On the topic of Google Ads, we’ve recently seen that Google has “loosened” their definitions for match types – it’s now super loose (too loose for me). For example, I had the word Psychologist as a phrase match in my account and this keyword was matched to Dr. Doe. I looked up this Dr. and they don’t even work in the mental health space! That might have been a match for broad match but there is no way that query is relevant for a phrase matched keyword – but hey, it’s more money for Google.
So that being said, keep an eye on your Google match types.
5. Fraud Detection and Prevention
Online security is a significant concern for both e-commerce businesses and consumers. AI systems can monitor user behaviour, detect unusual patterns, and flag potentially fraudulent activities. This not only saves businesses money but also builds trust among consumers.
Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce - Get the Help You Need
AI has hit the ecommerce space quick and hard – let us help you make the right choices for your SEO and Google Ads.
- About the Author
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Darlene is a search marketer, analyst, speaker, trainer, and owner of DriveTraffic Digital Marketing. She has been working in the digital marketing industry since the mid 90s and has narrowed her specialty to SEO, Google Ads and Google Analytics. She is especially interested in Google’s new Search Generative Experience and how businesses will need to adapt to remain visible. Want to see how DriveTraffic can help? Let’s chat!
