Published this unscientific chart on LinkedIn with my prediction that this will be the last decade of growth for paid search advertising as agentic AI ads steal share of consumer queries and marketer budgets.
Whether this is net positive/neutral/negative for Google remains to be seen but it certainly has a leg up given its millions of advertisers that, in theory, it could simply port over to ads within Gemini.
The question is what lengths it will go to in protecting its core business of pure search ads. Of course the other question is how good/fast a job OpenAI does with rolling out ads on ChatGPT.
Worked with my colleague Kristin Sanford to respond back on Bluesky with this take on what may become of ChatGPT once it decides subscription revenue is not enough.
It’s been a minute (ok, 12 years) since I posted here but thought I’d share my recent LinkedIn article in which I revisited the 20 Googley Lessons from my book as a blueprint for marketers to thrive in a world of Gen AI and ChatGPT.
While I may not have predicted the term we’d use was “agentic AI” or “AI agents” my prognostication around “app-sisstants” and “search-and-act engines” was on point and the key principles for brands to deploy still hold up.
I won’t rehash them all on this blog but I will take this opportunity to encourage folks to re-read Chapter 21 and get Googley!
Last week, I pulled out all the analogies in the book (hey, there’s another one!) to describe search and social marketing at the SIM Partners SIMposium at the (too legit) Wit Hotel in Chicago.
Below is my presentation and below that is my (too legit) rap…
Yesterday, I presented at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition with Sachin Gadhvi, director of search and mobile marketing at TicketsNow. The topic we addressed was “How to Turn Dynamic Inventory, Seasonality, and Promotions into an SEM Advantage” and the answer was easy… via automation. Although, as we discussed, you still need a healthy dose of human strategy and intervention because the machine needs to be properly calibrated to your business needs and goals. Methinks the rap I threw down at the end of the session could’ve used some intervention as well, particularly by way of offering any other closing line than “yeah-yeah-ee.” See below for deck and video.
2 days ago, at the Search Insider Summit, I tackled the heady topic of the perfect search engine and, after 45 minutes on stage with Alan Osetek, Jason Lehmbeck, and Vural Cifci, we made a good deal of progress but could not reach consensus on what would make the perfect search engine. At the end of the day, it appears one man’s perfection is another man’s defecation. Now we know what life is like for the engineers in Mountain View! Here’s the vid and, below that, the deck…
Yesterday, I made the trek to Boulder to speak at the inaugural PivotGuild event. The Boulder Digital Arts center was packed… and dark!
My presentation topic was Why Social Media Matters to Your Business but rather than tell people what they already know (It matters because everyone’s doing it!) I addressed that in 1 slide with a link to an AdAge column that features 50 Social Media Stats to Kickstart Your Slide Deck.
Then I got into my revised topic: MAKING Social Media Matter to Your Business. I used the 20 Googley Lessons in my book as a framework and shared successful examples (and some not so much) of social media initiatives that reflected each one. I only got thru the first 10 in my 40 minute talk. As usual, I strayed from the script and improvised. No rapping this time though. Boulder struck me as more of a rock town.
Many thanks to Alyson Miller and Don Greenfield at PivotGuild (pictured with me below) for organizing a great event and inviting me to present. Boulder’s got a great creative, digital, and entrepreneurial community and Pivot Guild is positioned nicely at the intersection.
Among the many interesting folks I met in Boulder was Russell McDougal who is a punny photographer and amazing acronymizer. He has a product called Isle of View (I Love You, get it?) that turns words into acronyms. He also has an iphone app that lets you put in your name (he has 4k total in his database) and get a custom output. He can also do them quickly on the spot. Here’s mine.
A.A.R.O.N. – Awakening Awareness Reveals Ongoing Nourishment
G.O.L.D.M.A.N. – Google Offers Life’s Directions – Manifest Answers Now
And here’s a custom card Russell whipped up for me…
Until next time, Boulder (and there will be a next time!) keep it real and keep it googley!
Update Sept. 26, 2011: Another one of the cool cats (check that, Kats) I met at this event was Brett Greene from Hip Chameleon. Here’s a quick video we ripped after my talk. Brett asked me to pick the one (just one!) great nugget from my book. I told him that’s like asking which of my children I love best! Finally I settled on one (nugget, that is, not kid!)…
Here’s the presentation I gave at SES San Francisco this week about automating Facebook ads. Sorry no rap video accompaniment. All footage of my rapping at the SearchBash and singing before my Theater Presentation (Oh Say Can You Tweet…) has been sequestered. You can scroll down for some pics from the conference, though.
I’ve gotten some feedback from people that they expected my book to provide more specific tips for creating and managing search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns. (Including one person who posted a 1-star Amazon review saying he “felt tricked by the title” and to whom I’ve offered a full refund.)
Indeed, I did not set out to write an SEM 101 book. There are plenty of search engine marketing 101 resources out there.
Instead, I wrote a book that dissects Google’s success and shows how others can implement Google’s business and marketing strategies . Along the way, I drop tidbits about pay-per-click (PPC) search and SEO tactics, such as Chapter 7 in which I cover SEO Ranking Factors.
At the end of the day, though, my book is a narrative. It’s not a how-to manual. It has some practical exercises and best practices for readers to put the concepts I discuss into play for their organizations, but it’s meant to tell a story and get the mind thinking.
In other words, as Jason McDonald observed in his 4-star Amazon review, I wrote both a “forest” and a “trees” book.
Nonetheless, I realize that there’s strong demand for introductory SEM material and I’m in a good position to deliver it having been in the space for over 10 years working with some of the biggest SEM spenders and savviest search marketers around.
So, in this week’s MediaPost Search Insider column, I laid out 20 tips for search marketing newbies. And I’ll be sharing 20 more SEMy Lessons in 2 weeks. True to form, I tapped the wisdom of crowds (chapter 2) to come up with the list. And, truer to form, there’s plenty of pun-derful (ad)word play.
