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SEO AND AI – Today

While writing another piece about the future of AI and Large Language models for our blog, it hit me: I need to address today’s realities more. So here is a piece on what we have on the relationship between SEO and AI, today.

Even though AI models like ChatGPT are exceptional at generating statistically likely text, there may be better choices for creative storytelling. However, AI-generated content serves a valuable purpose in functional content creation, which can benefit industries such as e-commerce, reference materials, and more.

To effectively utilize AI-generated content, consider the following action plan:

1. Identify functional content requirements: Understand the applicable content AI can efficiently generate, such as data-driven reports, event summaries, FAQ sections, how-to guides, news aggregation, job listings, legal documents, technical documentation, and directory listings. There are certain content types that AI excels at, and we recommend that you limit your functional content to the following:
  1. - Data-driven reports
    - Event summaries
    - FAQ sections
    - How-to guides and tutorials
    - Compiling and summarizing news
    - Job listings
    - Legal and policy documents
    - Technical documentation
    - Directory listings
2. Kickstart large-scale content projects: Leverage AI-generated content to quickly create a critical mass of content for projects like recipe collections or travel guides. Building on AI content can help you reach your content goals more rapidly while maintaining quality through proper SEO and content management practices.
3. Optimize keywords with AI: Use AI like ChatGPT to explore alternative keywords, questions, or concerns related to your content and rewrite sections accordingly. Using AI to optimize your long-chain keywords will help ensure your content is more engaging and relevant to your target audience.

For example, we worked with a startup founder to successfully use ChatGPT to generate his pitch outline to present his platform, resulting in a significant increase in interest and, finally, his crucial customer’s adoption of his platform.

In summary, to create a cohesive thought and action plan, you should focus on:

- Identifying the correct type of content for AI-generated content creation
- Utilizing AI-generated content to kickstart large-scale projects
- Employing AI for keyword optimization and audience engagement

By following this action plan, you can make the most of AI-generated content to enhance your content strategy and achieve your goals.

Risk Management and the Arts

Risk Management and security are one of if not the biggest issue facing art organizations today. Unfortunately, it is not just because it may prove daunting but because it is rarely taken seriously within the organization until trouble arises.

Gone are the days when acquiring a HiTrust Certification, SOC2 type 2 auditor’s report, or an ISO 27001 accreditation was enough to defend your firm appropriately. Many seasoned practitioners knew that such a milestone was never a reliable indicator of an organization’s security posture or maturity. And it appears that the rest of the world has finally caught on.

The security threat environment is expanding in tandem with legislative and governance needs. Attacks have become more numerous and sophisticated, the number of attack channels has increased, the attack surface for businesses has increased substantially, and the complexity of our digital footprint has increased even further. In addition, the severe shortage of qualified and available workers to fill security tasks, including Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), compounds the problem.
In short, GRC leaders face numerous hurdles in today’s firms. Yet, surprisingly, I hear little talk regarding the most efficient ways to run a modern GRC or risk management program. Because each firm is unique, there may be a variety of answers. There are, nevertheless, methods for modernizing your procedures.

Do you have a Risk Management Program in place?
How are you currently managing risk?
Why has technology changed so dramatically while GRC programs have remained the same?
Is there a more efficient way to manage today’s modern GRC program?

Before we begin discussing possible solutions, let’s review the basics:
Governance refers to an organization’s statutory or contractual obligations regarding security, risk, and privacy objectives. Noncompliance can result in severe fines and even criminal prosecution in some situations.
Risk refers to managing risk within an organization, focusing on security and privacy standards.

However, this merges with Enterprise Risk Management. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is detecting, analyzing, and treating a company’s risks based on an ongoing assessment by executive management. ERM includes examining the company’s exposures in financial, credit, fraud, strategic, and operational problems.

Compliance refers to an organization implementing security and privacy controls to meet governance standards and decrease risk. Internal and third-party external audits are a significant component of compliance.
My personal experience is firmly rooted in the NPO space, having spent the last 20 years helping many of our art clients with their IT audit and compliance. Based on that, I have some thoughts.

The sheer number of regulatory requirements a modern NPO must meet can be overwhelming. Similarly, managing organizational politics in an NPO is challenging, both for and against risk containment. Security, particularly GRC, has typically been viewed as a cost center rather than a value generator. And as I have stated in previous conversations, seen as a barrier to creativity.

Personnel shortages and burnout are at an all-time high, compounding the problem. According to industry analysis, this gap will continue to increase in the near term and will be a concern for quite some time.
Every day, we hear about one breach or another, and everyone is trying to move towards a more secure posture. However, these areas have financial consequences and criminal prosecutions due to a lack of monitoring and care.

In today’s environment, the message is clear: No matter what problems companies face, they must reasonably preserve the security and privacy of the data.

Running a Risk Management Program

A comprehensive alignment among the leadership is required to establish a more sustainable and scalable approach. Accepting “growing pains,” the additional initial costs, and facilitating cross-organizational working groups are all part of this. Everyone benefits from this arrangement, and key stakeholders must understand how they may help so that they can passionately buy in and be change champions.

To start the process, you must determine what regulatory obligations your firm should meet. The correct response would be, “Ask your auditors when they come in,” however, most auditors assign their most junior, fresh off-the-robe (just out of college) individuals to manage in-house audit interactions. So your best bet is for your Finance Officer to call one of your audit firm’s senior partners and obtain a summary of the regulations you must follow.

After defining the requirements, the hard work can begin, which begins with a thorough understanding of the organization’s environment. For example, what people, procedures, and technology does the organization have? What is the organization’s culture? What is the organization’s risk tolerance?

What is the organization’s risk tolerance? If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t assess compliance adequately. During this phase, we are attempting to piece together several essential views of the organization:

Purpose, vision, and operational needs
Lines of business
Organizational Structure
Key business processes
The digital and physical footprint
Assets
Data processing and storage

Traditionally, there are numerous emails, direct messages, and meetings. As a result, all parties involved experience duplicative manual processes, exhaustion, and dissatisfaction. It’s simple to “drop the ball” or “miss the mark” on even the tiniest of tasks in the traditional way.

You will need a SecOp person to gather the data and get the closest approximation of the organizational reality. This person must have sufficient power to assemble and distill the information for executive review.

SecOps is a relatively new concept that refers to security functions collaborating with DevOps teams (Development and IT) early and frequently and incorporating “paved roads” with “guardrails” into the process.

The teams that are continually maintaining the environment, deploying updates, and keeping the “lights on” are the stars of the show here (DevOps), and it is critical for modern GRC teams (SecOps) to collaborate and integrate with these teams. The most vital connection to cultivate for a modern GRC practitioner wanting to update their program is this one. Cross-training between GRC experts and technical teams is required. Both groups can be experts in the other’s field but must grasp how things function.

Gaining a rudimentary awareness of what tools and processes are in use with DevOps offers significant returns. When we understand how these tools interact, we benefit all parties involved. Therefore, in addition to our personal growth and development, we must teach these technical DevOps teams the fundamentals of GRC. The idea here is to keep it simple; just as a GRC practitioner can’t master complex deployment and troubleshooting, neither should our DevOps teams be expected to lead an audit.

At the very least, the audit should address any commerce, ticketing, change management, and collaboration systems utilized in the teams. A modern GRC practitioner benefits immensely from working with the tools that DevOps teams are already using. Working with DevOps provides those practitioners with the ideal perspective for evaluating organizational security and, as a result, compliance with your criteria.

At the same time, the DevOps teams need to gain an understanding of the following:

The forces influencing framework or standard requirements
The distinction between completing a requirement and meeting the requirement’s intent
How and why must we manage requirements from many frameworks and standards?

What happens during the audit process, why do we gather evidence, and what efficiencies can we put in place to make evidence collecting more consistent, trustworthy, and less impactful on engineering teams
Moving to the system(s) of the record is the final key in this method. Individual file sharing is a formula for disaster.

Can you envision a modern sales team organizing their activities through spreadsheets rather than a sophisticated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system?

Certainly not! So, why do we handle our GRC initiatives in this manner regularly? First, however, it is critical to note that there will likely not be a single system of record. That is why your GRC software must integrate with other sources of a critical system of record.

Critical systems to integrate include change management systems, asset management systems, document management systems (for rules and procedures), and ticketing systems.

In short, make sure your IT and development crew know their systems, bring in an outside security person to lead the SecOps effort, and keep complete records of every process, discovery, and solution.

Sources:
GRC: The Definitive Guide (https://riskonnect.com/resources/grc-guide/)
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO GRC (https://tallyfy.com/guides/governance-risk-management-compliance-grc/)
Risk and compliance management made easier (Hitrust- MyCSF)
(https://hitrustalliance.net/documents/mycsf/mycsf_information/MyCSFRiskAndComplianceManagement.pdf)

Behnam Ataee, DWG CTO, has completed the HITRUST CSF Assurance Program certification. Certified HITRUST CSF professionals can deliver simplified compliance assessments and report for HIPAA, HITECH, state, and business associate requirements.

Update to Google Search Result Elements

Google is responding to changes in the search by boosting consumers’ capacity to analyze search results and discover diverse points of view.
Google is responding to change by changing and expanding the search result elements (announced March 28), and thus boosting consumers’ capacity to analyze search results and discover diverse points of view.

The a doption of AI necessitates modifications in the way search results are processed. Many AI enthusiasts believe that search will be obsolete soon, and Google is doing all its power to prevent this.

Google already gives substantially more accurate results than AI when measuring the value of shown material using E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust). But, with this new change, Google offers more relevant and significantly more complete information while maintaining its search features.

Just in time for the International Fact-Checking Day on April 2, Google stated this week that the following modifications are being rolled out to search results:

Introducing ‘About this author’

You may learn more about the background and experience of the authors whose content appears on Google Search by pressing the three dots on any search snippet. Google’s release does not mention where it obtained the author’s information. And as of yet, Google has not provided any further clarification. Nevertheless, this functionality will be available on English search results worldwide.

Easier access to an expanded ‘About this result’

Google’s “About this result” feature will be available in all languages where the search engine is available shortly. Visitors can learn more about the source of content and how Google’s computers judged its relevance by tapping the three dots next to search snippets. This background can assist users in determining which websites to visit and which results to believe.

Google is expanding its “About this result” function with a new section named “About this author.” Google is making it easy to find “About this page” information. Users can now enter a URL into Google Search and see information from “About this page” at the top of the results. The functionality is now available in English internationally.

Adding diverse perspectives to Top Stories

Google is launching a new feature called “Perspectives,” which will appear beneath Top Stories and display views from various journalists, experts, and relevant voices on searched topics. This section seeks to present various perspectives on news subjects in addition to the authoritative reporting available in Top Stories. A carousel will soon be available in English in the United States for desktop and mobile devices.

Advisories for information gaps

When a topic is quickly evolving, or Google’s systems lack high confidence in the quality of accessible results, Google Search will automatically provide content advisories. Google intends to expand these advisories to more languages in the coming months, including German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese.

In conclusion, Google’s commitment to accuracy and authoritative sources by giving E-E-A-T guidance and their desire to provide consumers with tools to analyze and comprehend search results is at the forefront of our search these days.

Users will get better answers and make better decisions about what they read online. By improving and expanding search elements and adding Bard (Google AI) into the search mix, Google aims to make the information more digestible and thus remain the inquiry destination of choice.

Dream Warrior Group, a Los Angeles Based web design and digital marketing Company, providing solutions for your online marketing needs. Our expertise includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Posts & Marketing & Google PPC campaigns. Call us now at 818.610.3316 or click here.

Optimize Your First-Party Data Strategy

In recent years, the digital marketing landscape has changed significantly due to evolving privacy regulations and the phasing out of third-party cookies. To adapt, businesses must now leverage first-party data for personalized and effective marketing campaigns. This comprehensive guide discusses the challenges associated with this shift, the benefits of first-party data, and the steps to create a successful first-party data strategy.

Understanding the Changing Privacy Landscape

The decline of third-party data can be attributed to several factors, including shifts in consumer perception about data privacy, privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and major tech companies (e.g., Google and Apple) implementing privacy changes. These changes create challenges for advertisers, such as inefficient targeting, measurement and attribution issues, and difficulties in monitoring reach and frequency.

The Value of First-Party Data

Despite these challenges, first-party data offers several advantages over third-party data:

1) Accuracy: Data collected directly from customers is typically more accurate and reliable.
2) Relevancy: First-party data provides insights specific to your audience, making it more relevant for marketing purposes.
3) Availability: Companies often already possess first-party data, making it readily accessible.
4) Cost-effectiveness: Acquiring and managing first-party data can be more cost-effective than purchasing third-party data.

How to Leverage First-Party Data

To successfully utilize first-party data, businesses should:

1) Segment their audience based on demographic, behavioral, and preference data.
2) Increase efforts to generate first-party data through various touchpoints like websites, social media, email, and CRM.
3) Prioritize profitability and form alliances with other companies to capitalize on combined data.
4) Personalize marketing campaigns and obtain customer consent.

Essential Elements of a Successful First-Party Data Strategy

To create an effective first-party data strategy, consider the following:

1) Develop a robust infrastructure for first-party data and MarTech integration.
2) Utilize first-party data effectively for digital activation, measurement, and attribution.

Overcoming Challenges and Creating an Implementation Roadmap

Companies often face hurdles when using first-party data for digital marketing, including organizational and data silos, lack of in-house competencies, and inadequate full-funnel activation strategies. To overcome these challenges and create a successful implementation roadmap, consider the following steps:

Step 1: Create a First-Party Data Plan

1) Dissolve organizational and data silos by centralizing data storage.

Breaking down barriers between departments and unifying data storage helps organizations access and share valuable first-party data more easily. Centralizing data storage reduces fragmentation, promotes collaboration, and enables a comprehensive view of customer data, ultimately leading to more informed decision-making.

2) Develop a first-party data strategy, including identifying data sources and opportunities for building data.

Creating a first-party data strategy involves determining which data sources to prioritize (e.g., website analytics, CRM systems, and email engagement) and seeking opportunities for data collection and growth. This process helps align the organization’s goals with its data acquisition and management practices, ensuring a strong foundation for leveraging data in marketing efforts.

3) Analyze first-party data for insights into customer behavior, preferences, and demographics.

Examining first-party data provides valuable insights into customer behavior patterns, preferences, and demographic information. This analysis allows businesses to identify trends, uncover new opportunities, and tailor their marketing efforts to better resonate with their target audience.

4) Define target audiences and create personalized campaigns.

Based on the insights gained from analyzing first-party data, businesses can define specific target audiences and develop personalized campaigns. This segmentation and customization allow for more relevant and engaging marketing communications, resulting in higher conversion rates and improved customer loyalty.

5) Measure campaign success using key performance indicators (KPIs).

Tracking the success of marketing campaigns is crucial for optimizing strategies and maximizing return on investment. By establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value, businesses can evaluate their efforts and make data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.

6) Keep data up-to-date through regular cleaning and updates.

Maintaining accurate and current first-party data is essential for ensuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Regular data cleansing and updates help to remove outdated information, correct inaccuracies and identify gaps in the data. This process ensures that businesses have access to high-quality data for informed decision-making and more impactful marketing initiatives.

Step 2: Establish a Data Infrastructure

1) Invest in data management tools, such as data warehousing, data integration, and data visualization.

Investing in robust data management tools is crucial for organizing, storing, and processing first-party data efficiently. Data warehousing solutions enable businesses to store large volumes of data from various sources in a single, central repository.

Data integration tools help streamline the process of combining data from different sources, ensuring consistency and accuracy, while data visualization tools allow marketers to present complex data in an easily digestible format, facilitating better understanding and decision-making.

2) Implement data security measures, including access controls, encryption, and data backups.

Securing first-party data is essential for protecting customer privacy and maintaining regulatory compliance. Implementing access controls helps restrict data access to authorized personnel, reducing the risk of unauthorized use or data breaches. Encryption safeguards sensitive information by converting it into an unreadable format, which can only be deciphered with a decryption key. Regular data backups ensure that businesses can recover crucial data in the event of system failures or data loss incidents.

3) Integrate data infrastructure with marketing tools, such as CRM systems and marketing automation platforms.

Integrating data infrastructure with marketing tools enables businesses to streamline marketing processes and leverage first-party data effectively. Connecting CRM systems and marketing automation platforms to data infrastructure allows for seamless data exchange and ensures that customer information is up-to-date across all systems. This integration facilitates targeted and personalized marketing campaigns while also enabling better tracking and analysis of campaign performance.

4) Use data analytics to gain insights from first-party data.

Applying data analytics techniques to first-party data helps businesses uncover valuable insights, such as customer preferences, purchasing habits, and demographic information. These insights can inform marketing strategies and enable businesses to make data-driven decisions that improve campaign effectiveness, customer engagement, and overall marketing ROI.

5) Monitor and optimize data infrastructure regularly.

Regular monitoring and optimization of data infrastructure are necessary for maintaining data quality, ensuring system performance, and identifying areas for improvement. By keeping a close eye on data storage, processing, and integration, businesses can proactively address potential issues and optimize their data infrastructure for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in marketing efforts. This ongoing maintenance also helps businesses stay agile and adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.

Step 3: Develop or Improve Capabilities

1) Evaluate your current platform

Assessing your current data management and marketing platforms is the first step in optimizing your first-party data marketing efforts. This evaluation involves examining the capabilities, features, and limitations of your existing tools, as well as identifying any gaps or redundancies. A thorough assessment helps determine whether your current platform aligns with your marketing objectives and allows for efficient first-party data management, analytics, and execution.

2) Identify your business goals

Clearly defining your business goals is essential for developing a successful first-party data marketing strategy. These goals may include increasing customer acquisition, improving customer retention, driving more revenue, or enhancing customer satisfaction. By identifying specific objectives, businesses can align their data marketing efforts with their overall goals, ensuring that data initiatives contribute to the organization’s growth and success.

3) Invest in data science

Investing in data science enables businesses to extract valuable insights from their first-party data and make data-driven decisions. Data science combines statistical analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to uncover patterns, trends, and relationships within large volumes of data. By investing in data science capabilities, either by hiring data scientists or partnering with external experts, businesses can leverage their first-party data more effectively and enhance their marketing strategies.

4) Leverage sophisticated analytics

Utilizing advanced analytics techniques helps businesses gain deeper insights from their first-party data, enabling more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns. Sophisticated analytics methods, such as predictive modeling and segmentation, allowing marketers to identify customer preferences, anticipate future behavior, and tailor their messaging accordingly. By leveraging these advanced analytics techniques, businesses can improve their marketing ROI and build stronger customer relationships.

5) Use a Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a software solution that centralizes and unifies first-party customer data from multiple sources, creating a single, comprehensive view of each customer. CDPs enable businesses to better understand their customers, segment their audiences, and deliver personalized marketing experiences across various channels. By implementing a CDP, businesses can streamline their data management processes, improve data quality, and enhance their ability to leverage first-party data in their marketing efforts.

Step 4: Work on the first-party data.

1) Effectively activate first-party data

Activating first-party data involves leveraging the data you have collected about your customers to improve your marketing efforts. This can include using data to create personalized messaging, targeting specific audiences, and optimizing campaigns. For example, if you have data about a customer’s past purchases, you could use it to recommend similar products or services to them.

2) Prioritization and personalization through segmentation

Segmenting involves dividing your audience into smaller groups based on common characteristics or behaviors. By segmenting your audience, you can prioritize your marketing efforts and personalize your messaging to each group. For example, if you sell clothing, you could segment your audience based on gender, age, or shopping habits and tailor your messaging and promotions to each group.

3) Full-funnel approach

A full-funnel process involves targeting customers at each stage of the buying journey, from awareness to purchase and beyond. This consists in creating messaging and campaigns tailored to each funnel stage and using data to track customer behavior and optimize campaigns accordingly. For example, you could create awareness campaigns to attract new customers, retargeting campaigns to re-engage customers who have shown interest, and loyalty campaigns to reward and retain existing customers.

4) Use AI/ML for a more advanced strategy (for example, predictive audiences)

AI and ML can analyze first-party data and identify patterns and insights that may not be immediately obvious. This can help you to create more targeted campaigns and improve the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. For example, you could use AI to analyze customer behavior and identify patterns that suggest a customer is likely to make a purchase soon and use this insight to create a predictive audience for targeted campaigns.

Dream Warrior Group, a Los Angeles Based web design and digital marketing Company, providing solutions for your online marketing needs. Our experts will assist you in integration of the tools you need to ensure a smooth transition. Call us now at 818.610.3316 or click here.

Search Optimization Changes: Artificial Intelligence and Search Engines – Part 2

In my previous article, I promised more specifics regarding the steps you can take to improve your search optimization for the age of AI. The funniest part of the whole process has been the repetition.

For the past several years, I have been describing Google’s shift towards better, more accurate search results. Currently Google Search algorithm seems to contain everything desirable for an AI-driven search optimization.

So, unlike my conclusions in 2021, and early 2022, they were most likely thinking about more than just accuracy. It appears that Google’s data engineers were also thinking about AI and the future of search.

The coming 18 months AI will permanently change how search engines employ and interact with us to rank content. Artificial intelligence has already altered the SEO environment, but we should expect more substantial developments in the coming months. There will be more frequent Google SERP updates as Google fends off other search engines trying to gain market share.

Here are some of the expected effects of these changes:

Voice search will become increasingly significant.

Voice search is getting more popular as smart speakers, and other voice-activated devices become more widespread. As AI advances, we should expect search engines to understand the natural language better. Such improvements mean that content authors must optimize their content for voice search by utilizing conversational language and focusing on answering particular inquiries that consumers may have. To gain more insight, refer to our article on Voice optimization.

Natural language processing (NLP) will become pervasive.

The use of NLP helps search engines grasp the intent underlying the search request far more clearly than today. Search engines should interpret natural language far better as AI advances. Extensive use of NLP means that content providers must concentrate on producing high-quality, natural-sounding information that answers particular issues that users may have.

The importance of user experienc e will be greater than ever.

As search engines improve their knowledge of user intent, they will likewise enhance their ability to measure user experience. As a result, page load speed, mobile friendliness, and ease of navigation will become even more vital for SEO. Therefore, content providers must produce material that answers user inquiries and creates a positive user experience.

Technical SEO will be even more critical.

Technical SEO (efforts that focus on enhancing the technical features of websites) will become increasingly important. Search engines will incentivize site owners to produce better user experiences: more robust UX will result in higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). As technical SEO continues to influence the user experience—and searchers’ expectations rise—technical SEO will continue to be one of the most critical factors for organizations to consider when developing their overall SEO strategy and investments.

Personalization will become more critical.

Artificial intelligence (AI) already helps tailor search results based on user behavior and interests. However, personalization will play an even more significant role in SEO. Content makers will need to focus on developing material that is targeted to specific audiences and takes characteristics like location, device, and search history into account. Increased personalization also means a greater need for second and first-party user data gathering.

Visual search will become increasingly prevalent.

Visual search is currently a popular feature on several search engines, and we anticipate it to become considerably more ubiquitous in the next 18 months. In addition, as AI advances, search engines will better detect images and videos. Therefore, visual content optimization (for search) by employing descriptive filenames, alt tags, and captions will be vital.

SEO will see an increase in the use of video marketing.

The coming year will undoubtedly be the year of video. Companies will put out more video content as they seek to garner audiences on more visual and video-based platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram; at the same time, more video and content teams will use search data to guide their tactics. This transition will also benefit people in Google’s ecosystem, as searchers pay more attention to video results.

As audience tastes alter, brands prioritize content quality over production quality (such as effects, lighting, etc.). Straightforward, mobile-recorded videos will likely be a focus because good content does not require large production.

In the next 18 months, AI will substantially impact SEO. As a result, content providers must focus on developing tailored, high-quality, natural-sounding material that answers particular user inquiries while offering a fantastic user experience across all platforms.

Companies must also optimize their content for voice, visual, and video search and consider issues like technical SEO, personalization, and natural language processing. Content providers may remain ahead of the curve by following these trends and ensuring their content is discoverable and exciting for their target audience.