🔎 SMARTER SEARCH

🔼 Pound sterling. It hit its highest level against the US dollar in over a year, as currency traders bet that the Bank of England will raise rates higher and faster than the Federal Reserve will »» 

🔽 Demand for Sonos speakers. The company laid off 7% of staff as a result »»

💬 “A treasure trove, which felt more akin to walking into your cool, older sister’s wardrobe than a snooty luxury store.” How the indie Liverpool boutique Cricket brought high fashion to the North of England »»

🛫 From the lavender fields of Provence and the beaches of the Côte d'Azur to the vineyards of the Rhône Valley, here are some of the endless reasons to visit the South of France this Summer »» 

👗 Take a look at the Air Jordan 1 “Satin Bred.” The highly sought-after 2016 colorway is rumored to be coming back »»

💎 Pick up this VIP-configured 2010 Airbus ACJ318 Elite for US$26.5m »»

A Parisian AI startup raised the largest seed round ever »»

There are “growing concerns among policymakers” about China’s economic recovery »»

America’s 10 best new restaurants, ranked »»

Supreme’s sales slumped in 2022 »»

Attention Founders: Here are 30 questions investors ask during fundraising (and how to answer them adequately) »»

Synthesia secured a US$90m round for their AI-generated avatar service »»

Apple TV+ renewed Silo —its most popular drama— for a second season »»

The Toyota Land Cruiser may return to America »»

A leaked document of Amazon's ideas for using ChatGPT and AI at work lists 67 ways to take advantage of the ChatGPT boom »»

Heard of Capital Tacos? It’s a small-town taco shop that became a nationally-acclaimed Tex-Mex restaurant franchise in the US. Now, to make the brand even more accessible to prospective franchisees, they’re officially embracing the food trailer format. It’s an unusual move, and a significant development in the sector »»

Twitter owes 3 months’ rent to its Colorado landlord. A judge just ruled that they can be evicted »»

UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled designs for a luxury condo with a glass-bottomed swimming pool in Surfside, Florida. It will go up on the site of a structure that collapsed in 2021 »»

Most clothing brands do a lousy job on the environmental front. Unfortunately, most consumers aren't doing their part either »»

Temu’s overtaking Shein in the States »» 🔐

Rishi Sunak wants to lead the world on AI. The world ain’t listening »»

London’s National Portrait Gallery is reopening next week after a multi year refurb »»

Perhaps more than at any other point in its history, wine is in flux. Get to know the producers, trends, ideas and even objects that are shaping wine right now »»

The 2024 Paris Olympics organizers are courting LVMH as the games’ main sponsor »»

Hyatt plans to triple its Saudi portfolio over the next 5 years »»

An unprecedented revolution in the search experience is unfolding right now. Here's what you need to know about it to stay ahead

AI, SEARCH. SEARCH, AI

Last month Google officially announced that they’re bringing AI to search.

Soon, when you Google something, instead of ads and a list of articles and blog posts, you'll get an AI-generated summary on a nice looking pastel color background, that offers up a bit of context along with the answers you're looking for.

Before we dive in, a bit of context ourselves:

ChatGPT’s instantaneous, global success caught Google out. Since the end of 2022, they’ve been working flat out to roll out generative AI products of their own, starting with their own ChatGPT clone, called Bard.

But Google’s search engine marketshare is estimated to be >92%. Given that, Google’s upgraded search experience —not Bard— is poised to become the firm’s most popular/most used AI product.

RIP, SERP?

Google thinks their upgraded search tool (nicknamed SGE, for “Search Generative Experience”) will significantly change our expectations of search engines —and possibly even the entire Internet.

They say SGE will bring better info, and a greater level of personalization, to the Search Engine Results Page (aka SERP).

Will it? And, if so, how will SGE impact marketing and advertising? Let’s game things out.

SEO UNCERTAINTY

As others have also written, it is totally plausible that Google’s new SGE could reduce the number of clicks on both organic links (things like blog posts and articles) and on sponsored content (those ubiquitous Google ads at the top of the SERP). That’s because users will simply find the answers they want within that nifty, AI-generated summary up top.

No need to click through to anything, right?

Well, in reality, the situation is more nuanced than that.

CAPITALISM MOVES FAST

Zoom out: new products and services come to market every minute of every day. And their prices are dynamic too.

Trouble is, generative AI is not naturally amazing at staying on top of super timely info like that. That’s because generative AI is a computational system, meaning it works by analyzing a tremendous volume of existing material, and then uses statistics and probability to generate new material to answer specific queries.

And while generative AI can of course work with fresh data, rapidly evolving, dynamic inputs can lead to unstable, or even incorrect, outputs.

HUMAN TO HUMAN

But there’s something else worth thinking about as we ponder the future of search: sometimes we humans don’t want or even need hard answers to our queries. Sometimes, what we really want are opinions. Ideally, from other humans.

And while Google has clearly integrated real time, live search and its generative AI engine, the fact remains that AI is better at answering questions itself than it is letting users know what other humans think about things.

But we know that, for a lot of searches —especially those that involve purchases— people really want to know what other humans think.

One reason we know this because (as this newsletter has written) users are increasingly appending the word "Reddit" to their Google searches, so they can click through to read human written answers on Reddit’s comment boards.

Sidebar: Reddit itself is in the news these days because subreddit administrators are making their groups —and the collective knowledge they contain— private to protest some recent pricing changes.

OK, WHAT'S ALL THIS MEAN FOR MARKETERS?

For starters, when it comes to generating marketing content, humans (still) matter. A lot.

SEO and marketing experts believe that AI powered search will increase the importance of generating unique, entertaining, and informative content —with a human voice, experience, or opinion behind it.

Meaning: as generative AI gets better and better at creating quality content, marketers will need to use it in conjunction with talented, opinionated humans, in order to help ensure that their content is fresh, likeable, clear, actionable, and valuable.

BRANDS V AI

But here's the rub: brands are not only going to want to "compete" with AI generated content, they're also going to want to feed it. Talk about a frenemy.

Today, brands should start preparing for SGE by optimizing their online presence, and structuring their content in a way that makes it suitable for AI consumption.

Brands should also start embracing ever more natural-sounding language in all of their content. Funnily enough, this has always been a copywriting rule. Today, it’s more apt than ever: sound human.

On that front, brands should also train their focus on super conversational keywords, as well as so-called "long tail" queries. (Long tail queries is just fancy SEO speak for search queries that get a super small number of searches. These tend to be longer and super specific—and they also have high conversion rates.)

ADAPT OR PERISH

Google bringing generative AI into search is huge. The pros for users are clear: faster, more streamlined answers.

The pros for marketers and advertisers are less clear. If you’re selling anything, adapt your strategies now. Here’s the cheat sheet: unique, informative, likeable content with a human take is more important than ever.

More:

What Google Search Generative Experience means for marketers »»

The ongoing Reddit blackout, explained »»

You don't have to face the AI revolution alone. Fate v Future has been working with AI marketing tools since long before ChatGPT came on the scene. Our expertise goes beyond this newsletter —we're helping brands turn the tide in their favor in the era of AI-optimized search. Want to help ensure your brand thrives in this new landscape? Simply reply to this email with "ai". We’ll tell you all about how we work with brands to reinvent their online presence, elevate their content creation, and implement the right strategies for this new digital era. Don't just watch this AI era unfold, be a part of it. Reply with "ai" to start.

Written by Jon Kallus. Any feedback? Simply reply. Like this? Share it!