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🎒 AI-Generated Images Redefining Product Placement, Combating MFA sites, and more

Author

Shaival Mehta
August 06, 2024

Your AI curated newsletter

6th August 2024

Using the power of AI to save you hours skimming through unimportant articles.

TOP RANKED ARTICLES OF THE DAY

1. How AI-Generated Images Could Redefine Product Placement

Emerging Opportunities with AI

AI-generated images are opening new doors for product placement, creating both challenges and opportunities for marketers. These images can subtly influence consumer decisions, as seen with the author’s experience of buying sunglasses after seeing them in an AI-generated image.

Strategic Trade-offs

AI image generators often require subscriptions. A potential future scenario includes discounted rates in exchange for incorporating branded items into generated images, linking directly to sponsors’ websites.

SEO-Like Tactics

Marketers can leverage SEO-like tactics for AI imagery by optimizing image metadata and prompts. This could ensure that branded products appear more frequently in AI-generated images, subtly promoting the brand.

Considering the potential for brand safety issues, it’s vital to manage digital assets effectively. This new landscape requires strategic planning to balance visibility and brand integrity.

2. Why Marketers Must Combat the Hidden Threat of MFA Sites

Understanding MFA Sites

Marketers face a growing threat from "Made for Advertising" (MFA) sites. These sites, designed solely to attract ad dollars, offer low user engagement despite high metrics like viewability. This impacts marketers by:

  • Diluting ad effectiveness

  • Enriching fraudsters

  • Eroding user trust

  • Creating brand suitability issues

Impact on Legitimate Publishers

Legitimate publishers struggle as they are forced to increase ad density to compete, risking misclassification as MFAs. This issue is worsened by the nuanced distinction between quality publishers and MFA sites, leading to financial and reputational damage.

Improving Criteria for MFA Identification

Current broad criteria for identifying MFAs can unfairly target high-quality publishers. It’s crucial to develop nuanced standards that consider content quality and user engagement, not just superficial metrics.

Recommendations for Marketers

  1. Prioritize Quality: Focus on user engagement metrics over sheer volume.

  2. Support Legitimate Publishers: Invest in publishers providing valuable content and collaborate on ad placements.

  3. Industry Collaboration: Work together to refine guidelines and create transparent auditing systems.

Combatting MFA sites ensures ad dollars support quality content, fostering a healthier digital advertising ecosystem.

3. Query Refinements: How Google Helps Users Find Products Faster

Google's query refinements, often seen as "pills" at the top of search results, help users quickly narrow down their search queries. These refinements act like dynamic filters, adjusting in real-time based on current search trends. For example, when searching for jeans, you might see options like "wide leg" or "bootcut," reflecting the latest fashion trends.

How Query Refinements Work

Analyzing over 28,000 shopping keywords, certain patterns emerge in query refinements. Common refinements include:

  • Gender: Terms like "women" and "men" appear frequently, ensuring the product is relevant to the user's needs.

  • Location: "Nearby" is a popular refinement, especially on mobile, leveraging the device's GPS to show local options.

  • Attributes and Price: Refinements often specify use cases (e.g., "for running") and include terms like "sale."

These refinements heavily overlap with product filters on desktop and are visible on mobile, albeit with fewer options due to screen size constraints.

Interesting Insights

  • Focus on Product Attributes: Refinements are strictly about product specifics, not user intent. Terms like "reviews" or "Reddit" are absent.

  • Exact Match: Refinements do not include synonyms, ensuring clarity and relevance.

  • Low Search Volume: Many refinements don't have significant search volume or CPC, emphasizing behavior-driven search optimization over traditional keyword metrics.

Key Lessons for Marketers

  1. Create Specific Pages: Develop tailored product and category pages for different demographics (e.g., men, women, kids) when relevant.

  2. Utilize Query Data: Use query refinements and autosuggest for keyword research to discover relevant variations.

  3. Monitor Refinement Ranks: Track the ranks by query refinement to guide indexing and understand user preferences.

  4. Look Beyond Search Volume: Incorporate onsite search data, surveys, and qualitative research to identify target keywords.

  5. Compare Clicks: Analyze the impact of product filters on desktop and AI Overviews on mobile to optimize user experience across devices.

By leveraging these insights and refining your approach to e-commerce SEO, you can enhance user experience and drive more effective product discovery on Google​

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