Welcome to Part II* of Edition No. 68 of my weekly newsletter, providing practical analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
Part I is coming soon.
Friday Five
I. You Can Block This Google Bot without Hurting Your Search Rankings
II. Here’s How the Threads Algorithm Works
III. Google vs. ChatGPT: Bard is Now Gemini
IV. Meta’a Move To Mitigate AI Deception
V. As if TikTok Weren’t Already Addicting
VI. Other Important Updates
Despite the hilarious typos, I love this image.
I. You Can Block This Google Bot without Hurting Your Search Rankings
“Google uses crawlers and fetchers to perform actions for its products, either automatically or triggered by user request.”
“Google's common crawlers are used for building Google's search indices, perform other product specific crawls, and for analysis.”
This part of the documentation was update:
“Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Gemini Apps and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products. Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion or ranking in Google Search.”
🛠 Why does this matter?
By blocking this crawler, you can prevent Gemini (formerly Bard; see below) from crawling your website.
That is, ingesting the information and using it to help train Google’s AI product.
Many news sites have in fact blocked crawlers associated with chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT.
This update from Google gives publishers reassurance they can have their cake and eat it, too:
The AI chatbot’s crawler can be blocked from ingesting publisher content
ANDDoing so will have no affect on organic search rankings. (They say.)
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II. Here’s How the Threads Algorithm Works
Meta published a high-level guide to its Twitter-/X-competitor’s algorithm:
Threads utilizes an advanced AI to curate feeds, blending followed accounts and recommended content based on user interactions.
The AI assesses content relevance through factors like user engagement with similar accounts and content types. This dynamic system prioritizes posts likely to interest or engage the user.
Threads offers features like unfollowing, muting and hiding posts to tailor the feed. These tools help users control their content exposure, influencing the AI's content recommendations.
-Meta
(The ability to save posts, a surefire algorithm-influencer, is also being tested on Threads.)
🛠 Why does this matter?
These algorithm factors are very similar to what we know about other platforms’.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not worth paying attention to.
You can experiment with different content formats (text, photos, videos) that align with your audience's preferences. Diverse formats can capture wider interest and cater to varied user engagement behaviors.
Here are a couple of the other ways your rankings can be influenced:
The AI evaluates how frequently you've engaged with similar content or authors, using this to tailor your feed with more of what you like.
The more users interact with your content, the more likely they are to see it in the future.
Recent activity on Threads, including which authors you've followed and how active you've been, influences the content you see, keeping your feed fresh and relevant.
“What have you done for me lately?” Consistent, recent posting (without watering down content) makes it more likely users will see your posts again and again in their feed…so long as they keep interacting.
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III. Google vs. ChatGPT: Bard is Now Gemini
Google’s AI chatbot, formerly known as Bard, is now called Gemini.
Gemini Advanced is part of the Google One AI Premium Plan at $19.99/month, offering a two-month free trial, 2TB storage, and future integration into Gmail, Docs and more.
🛠 Why does this matter?
“Google’s rebranding Bard to Gemini is a strategic move. Including Gemini Advanced in the Google One subscription service not only adds value for subscribers but also aims to compete directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus. This development underscores Google's commitment to capture the market share back from OpenAI in the AI chatbot race.”
-Peter Bittner, The UpgradeBy offering advanced AI capabilities, Google aims to attract and retain users seeking sophisticated AI tools for personal and professional use, potentially altering how individuals interact with AI platforms.
The inclusion of Gemini Advanced in the Google One AI Premium Plan introduces a monetization strategy that leverages Google's extensive service ecosystem, encouraging adoption among existing Google users and new customers.
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IV. Meta’a Move To Mitigate AI Deception
In a move aimed at increasing transparency and trust, Meta will now label AI-generated imagery across Facebook, Instagram and Threads, extending to content made using external generative AI tools, provided it meets industry-standard detection criteria.
🛠 Why does this matter?
With elections on the horizon, this initiative could play a pivotal role in combating misinformation, making it easier for users to discern between genuine and synthetic content.
While aimed at fostering a safer digital environment, this change poses a new challenge for creators. To navigate these waters, creators should:
Clearly Mark AI-Generated Content: Proactively label any AI-created imagery to align with Meta's policy, avoiding potential penalties or content suppression.
Educate Your Audience: Use this as an opportunity to discuss the use of AI in content creation with your followers, promoting transparency and building trust.
Adapt to Evolving Standards: Stay informed on Meta's and other platforms' policies regarding AI-generated content to ensure compliance and maximize content reach and engagement.
Potential for Circumvention Tactics: Despite Meta's efforts, there's an ongoing arms race between detection technologies and those seeking to bypass them. Creators should focus on ethical practices while being aware of how this might affect content strategy.
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V. As if TikTok Weren’t Already Addicting
Now it wants users to add the search page to their device’s home screen:
🛠 Why does this matter?
TikTok is a direct competitor of Google. We have discussed multiple times how Gen Z actually uses the social network as a search engine.
Taking TikTok’s advice here would make it even easier to get directly to its search screen instead of opening the app and navigating. This, of course, would be in addition to the app’s regular icon.
While TikTok is becoming more addicting for some, others are looking to distance themselves and reclaim their time, and identity.
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VI. Other Important Updates
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