For over two decades, Google has consistently redefined the capabilities of search engines, driven by the mission to organise and make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. The continuous advancements in AI have played a pivotal role in enhancing the understanding of information across various formats such as text, audio, images, and videos.
In line with the ongoing evolution of search capabilities, Google introduces two groundbreaking updates in 2024: Circle to Search and an AI-powered multi-search experience.
Circle to Search:
Google’s Circle to Search is a revolutionary feature enabling users to search for information directly on their Android phone screens without switching apps. Through simple gestures like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping, users can effortlessly select images, text, or videos and obtain relevant information instantly. This feature eliminates the need to interrupt ongoing tasks, allowing users to seamlessly search while texting, browsing social media, or watching videos. Marketers can leverage this by ensuring their content is visually appealing and easily discoverable, as Search and Shopping ads will appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the results page.
AI-powered Multi-Search Experience:
Building on the success of multi-search introduced in 2022, Google now enhances this feature with AI-powered insights. Users can point their cameras, ask questions, or upload images to receive results that go beyond visual matches. This enables users to ask more complex or nuanced questions, making it easier to explore and understand the world. Marketers can capitalise on this by optimising their visual content for searchability, ensuring that AI-powered overviews provide users with comprehensive information about their products or services.
Empowering Marketers in 2024
These new features offer exciting opportunities for marketers to enhance their strategies in 2024:
Visual Content Optimization:
90% of the information processed by the brain is visual, so its essential your ads grab viewers attention. Posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts, so it’s about time you product takes centre stage in your ads.
With Circle to Search, marketers should focus on creating visually compelling content to capture users’ attention and drive engagement. Ensure that images, text, and videos are easily searchable through intuitive gestures, and make sure your product has the spotlight!
With TikTok becoming a more popular search engine in the modern world, using the circle to search feature could combine your strategies across Google as well. Think about consumers screenshotting your product through UCG on TikTok and how this could translate to circle to search on Google search. Don’t forget to also include quality keywords in your listings that AI can deep dive through and use to bring your product to the circle to search forefront.
Enhanced Product Discovery:
Now we’ve already discovered consumers don’t like to work hard to find the information they’re looking for. Enter the power of AI, and why now its more important than ever to optimise the journey in your marketing. In fact, 88% of marketers working with AI say that the technology has helped them personalise the customer journey across different channels.
The AI-powered multisearch experience opens up possibilities for marketers to provide detailed insights about their products or services. Marketers can optimise product images and descriptions to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding, increasing the likelihood of consumer engagement and conversions.
80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalised experiences, which AI can deliver. It’s important to level up your Google ads with this feature and ensure all the product info your customers are looking for file into the top results.
Ad Placement Strategy:
As Search and Shopping ads continue to appear in dedicated ad slots, marketers should refine their ad placement strategies to align with users’ natural search behaviours. This ensures that promotional content remains seamlessly integrated into the user experience.
74% of Gen Z uses TikTok search as their primary search engine. Think about how you could develop TikTok UCG to become a part of your ads, which could then even link into how you display them through Amazon DSP services. Perhaps you could even include brand ambassador photos in your ad visuals!
(Which comes in handy when optimising a cross channel experience from brands like TikTok!)
Wrapping up:
Google’s latest updates in Circle to Search and AI-powered multisearch redefine the search experience and present marketers with innovative ways to connect with their audience.
Embracing these features can empower marketers to create more engaging and discoverable content in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing in 2024. Get in touch today and we can show you how to elevate the new Google for your advertising.
