{"id":9948,"date":"2023-06-15T21:47:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T21:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/"},"modified":"2023-06-15T21:47:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T21:47:55","slug":"microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft on the future of advertising and conversational AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft is reviewing different ways to implement conversational AI within the Microsoft advertising platform, <a href=\"https:\/\/about.ads.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/blog\/author\/kya-sainsbury-carter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kya Sainsbury-Carter<\/a>, corporate vice president of Microsoft advertising, told <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/author\/greg-finn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Finn<\/a> yesterday at <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/smx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SMX Advanced<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s one thing we learned yesterday from the keynote, which explored how conversational AI might radically change search marketing. <\/p>\n<p>From higher CTRs to increased ROIs to conversational AI making an appearance in ads for the first time,  Bing Chat has been specifically designed to tackle universal problems experienced with traditional search, according to Sainsbury-Carter.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a recap of the wide-ranging SMX Advanced keynote interview.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Tackling_traditional_search_issues\" >Tackling traditional search issues<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#The_new_Bing_for_advertisers_%E2%80%98so_far_so_good\" >The new Bing for advertisers: \u2018so far, so good\u2019<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Conversational_AI_comes_to_Microsoft_Ads\" >Conversational AI comes to Microsoft Ads<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#From_keywords_to_topics\" >From keywords to topics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Rethinking_traditional_ads\" >Rethinking traditional ads<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Visual_ads\" >Visual ads<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Ads_quality_over_quantity\" >Ads quality over quantity<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Huge_opportunities_for_small_businesses\" >Huge opportunities for small businesses<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Driving_traffic_to_news_publishers\" >Driving traffic to news publishers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/15\/microsoft-on-the-future-of-advertising-and-conversational-ai\/#Bing_Chat_isnt_perfect_%E2%80%93_but_Microsoft_is_learning_%E2%80%98very_quickly\" >Bing Chat isn&#8217;t perfect \u2013\u00a0but Microsoft is learning &#8216;very quickly&#8217;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tackling_traditional_search_issues\"><\/span>Tackling traditional search issues<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The new Bing, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-bing-search-chatgpt-392789\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unveiled in February<\/a>, was designed to succeed where traditional search results can sometimes fail. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe universal problem with traditional search is that billions of searches fall short of the mark. It can be hard at times to find the information that people are seeking, and so we launched Bing Chat to bring better search results and answers to complex questions,\u201d Sainsbury-Carter said.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft has worked on solving historic search issues by combining the power of large language models like open AIs with its own search index. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is to ensure we\u2019re delivering results that are current, that are cited and, as I said, that are conversational,\u201d Sainsbury-Carter said.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_new_Bing_for_advertisers_%E2%80%98so_far_so_good\"><\/span>The new Bing for advertisers: \u2018so far, so good\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While it may be early days, Microsoft has confirmed that there have already been more than half a billion Bing Chat conversations since its launch, with more than 70% thumbs up for the answers it serves. <\/p>\n<p>In addition, people have created more than 200 million pictures with Bing Image Creator. <\/p>\n<p>Early data indicates great news for advertisers too, as Microsoft\u2019s conversational AI is driving a higher click-through rate than traditional search, which is subsequently leading to increased conversions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s because the user journey is shortened,\u00a0so there is a faster path to conversions. So far, so good, would be the summary here,\u201d Sainsbury-Carter said.<\/p>\n<p>Sainsbury-Carter did not reveal any specific numbers. But she did reveal that increased CTR applies to both search results and ads, which is promising news for search marketers. <\/p>\n<p>In more good news for advertisers: Microsoft is working on more opportunities for advertisers to further boost user engagement, which could again result in an uplift in conversions. <\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conversational_AI_comes_to_Microsoft_Ads\"><\/span>Conversational AI comes to Microsoft Ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sainsbury-Carter stressed that the company was committed to investing in integrating chat AI, noting that Bing Chat is \u201cstronger than ever\u201d. She added: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re doing a lot of work to understand how we can use Chat to drive internal efficiencies to make sure our people are working on the highest valued, most complex work. So you know there\u2019s the platform aspect of it and there\u2019s the internal aspect of it \u2013 both of which we think are very meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing\u2026Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"From_keywords_to_topics\"><\/span>From keywords to topics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft has suggested that advertisers can expect traditional keyword targeting to shift towards a topic-centric approach with conversational AI. Explaining the change, Sainsbury-Carter said: <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If I&#8217;m trying to find a dress for a wedding in Chicago in July and I type in a traditional search query, I&#8217;m likely to get results for dresses for weddings \u2013 and for Chicago. But if I put that same query into Chat, Chat can put together something that says, OK, it&#8217;s hot and humid in July in that part of the country and therefore show me a sleeveless flowy dress and a lightweight fabric.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s happening is we&#8217;re expanding our understanding of intent&#8230;rather than just matching answers to keywords and so it definitely turns the idea of keyword bids on its head. We think this offers a tremendous opportunity for ads to match the conversation better and will lead to better ROI.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rethinking_traditional_ads\"><\/span>Rethinking traditional ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sainsbury-Carter explained that Microsoft is taking a new approach when it comes to ads, the user experience and ROI scenarios:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re being more thoughtful about monetization within the experience. So, for example, in Chat mode, when you see sources cited, those citations will be a mix of algorithmic results, like you would see in traditional search, as well as some ad placements.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Visual_ads\"><\/span>Visual ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Visual ads are another major newer feature that should be of interest to marketers, according to visual ads. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The ads we&#8217;re running in the new Bing Chat experience include both text ads that appear upon hover, and then more visual ads served in line with the conversation, such as a multimedia vertical pr product ad.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft is making visual ads a huge priority and has already been trialing this feature for hotel ads. Next, it&#8217;s planning to roll out this experience for travel and real estate verticals. <\/p>\n<p>Although the spotlight is currently on conversational AI, Sainsbury-Carter said this isn&#8217;t the end of traditional search: <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Traditional search isn&#8217;t going away and there are good reasons to continue using it. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re also focusing on delivering more visual and immersive experiences, as well as new vertical ad experience that you can&#8217;t find on any other platform.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ads_quality_over_quantity\"><\/span>Ads quality over quantity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Bing Chat launched with ads and the plan is to ensure that they remain an integrated part of the chat experience \u2013\u00a0just as they are with traditional search. However, Microsoft is focusing on improving the ad experience by making sure that ads served are relevant and meet user intent. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s less about how many people are seeing the ads and more about the questions people are asking the new Bing, and how we respond to those queries. That&#8217;s how we&#8217;re thinking about it \u2013\u00a0not so much about numbers but in terms of matching queries,&#8221; added Sainsbury-Carter.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Huge_opportunities_for_small_businesses\"><\/span>Huge opportunities for small businesses<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Conversational AI is resulting in people running queries 3x the length seen on average in traditional search, meaning that they are giving more details. This extra information is helping bots to better understand user intent and so they are able to serve more detailed responses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We do see a big opportunity here for small businesses. They need that extra details because they&#8217;re not looking to cover the entire world&#8230;so that opportunity to get more detailed is key.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Small local businesses looking to improve their SERP rankings have also been advised to ensure they have Bing maps on their website. &#8220;It&#8217;s not required for ads,&#8221; said Sainsbury-Carter. &#8220;But it does help!&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Driving_traffic_to_news_publishers\"><\/span>Driving traffic to news publishers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microsoft has introduced a <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsofts-new-way-to-monetize-ai-chat-408002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chat API<\/a>, which is going to be made available to news publishers that want to implement chatbot technology in their websites. <\/p>\n<p>Whether publishers source their AI chat experiences from Microsoft or not, Microsoft Advertising can help them to monetize their services by serving relevant ads designed specifically for the chat experience. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This solution gives publishers and app companies flexibility and control over the user experience \u2013\u00a0because nobody knows their audience better than they do,&#8221; added Sainsbury-Carter. &#8220;They can choose the ad formats they believe are best for their audience and integrate that in a way that feels most natural to their native experience. We&#8217;re super excited about bringing that out into the market more broadly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dig deeper: <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-content-ecosystem-generative-ai-world-395352\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft\u2019s vision for a prosperous content ecosystem in a generative AI world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bing_Chat_isnt_perfect_%E2%80%93_but_Microsoft_is_learning_%E2%80%98very_quickly\"><\/span>Bing Chat isn&#8217;t perfect \u2013\u00a0but Microsoft is learning &#8216;very quickly&#8217;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sainsbury-Carter acknowledged that safety and privacy concerns have been a huge talking point for search marketers. She stressed that addressing these issues has been a priority for Microsoft. <\/p>\n<p>She pointed out that Bing Chat has been designed in partnership with AI experts and is in line with Microsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/ai\/responsible-ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Responsible AI Principles<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We made sure we were leveraging the expertise of Microsoft to ensure that we weren&#8217;t reinventing the wheel with this. And we are continuing to learn lessons from real world experiences and real world testing,&#8221; Sainsbury-Carter said.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft has taken many steps to prevent the abuse of its technology, such as limiting the number of sequential chats per session and limiting the total number of chats per day. <\/p>\n<p>However, while Bing Chat has been developed to Microsoft&#8217;s highest standards, Carter admitted that they are expecting teething issues. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t bring the product out and say it&#8217;s perfect or that you should use it in every instantiation of every interaction and it is going to be perfect. We are learning, but we&#8217;re learning very quickly so that we can continue to evolve our approach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/microsoft-conversational-ai-advertising-428289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft on the future of advertising and conversational AI<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft is reviewing different ways to implement conversational AI within the Microsoft advertising platform, Kya Sainsbury-Carter, corporate vice president of Microsoft advertising, told Greg Finn yesterday at SMX Advanced. That\u2019s one thing we learned yesterday from the keynote, which explored how conversational AI might radically change search marketing. From higher CTRs to increased ROIs to conversational AI making an appearance in ads for the first time, Bing Chat has been specifically designed to tackle universal problems experienced with traditional search, according to Sainsbury-Carter. Here\u2019s a recap [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}