If you're in the US, you might see a new shaded section at the top of your Google Search results with a summary answering your inquiry, along with links for more information. That section, generated by Google's generative AI technology, used to appear only if you've opted into the Search Generative Experience (SGE) in the Search Labs platform. Now, according to Search Engine Land, Google has started adding the experience on a "subset of queries, on a small percentage of search traffic in the US." And that is why you could be getting Google's experimental AI-generated section even if you haven't switched it on. The company introduced SGE at its I/O developer conference in May last year, shortly after it opened up access to its ChatGPT rival Bard, now called Gemini.

The new tool is now available globally in Google Ads, making it easy for advertisers to create bumper ads.

When many of us think of algorithms and machine learning models, we think of Google. And really, who can blame us? But there is a lot going on in and out of the Googleplex right now, and it's becoming increasingly important that we keep up. We'll cover some of the current uses where applicable, then move on to discuss where I see the technology going in the near-to-mid future and how it'll impact marketers. So let's dive in – starting with arguably my favorite "new release."

This feature adds the ability to use an automated machine learning system where we suggest which ad groups are the best ones for the keywords, …

Meta and HUD collaboration. The announcement comes after a year-long collaboration between Meta and HUD to develop processes for machine learning …

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Consumer sentiment has turned sharply negative as the virus has disrupted every aspect of daily American life. According to a consumer survey from Engine, 88% of consumers in the U.S. are now concerned about the pandemic. And according to another survey of roughly 2,600 U.S. adults from L.E.K. Consulting and Civis (.pdf), between 80% and 90% of adults expect a recession next year. In addition to measuring consumer sentiment, the survey explored how the coronavirus has shifted buying patterns across industries. Generally, the survey finds "significant increases in at-home activities, particularly cooking at home, watching television, browsing social media and exercising at home."

Consumers rely on search results, social media and peer reviews to perform research and gather feedback on businesses they are considering visiting or products they're thinking of purchasing. And while it can be easy to turn a blind eye on the reviews your business receives, simply ignoring those review sites can be damaging to your bottom line. While this probably comes as no surprise, 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. As they seek out peer reviews on brands or products that they're considering doing business with, they're looking for specific things. Consumers actually look for negative reviews to discover authentic feedback from real customers.

Google has informed us that you may see a spike in errors in the unparsable structured data report within Google Search Console. This is a bug in the reporting system and you do not need to worry. The issue happened between January 13, 2020 and January 16, 2020. Google wrote on the data anomalies page "Some users may see a spike in unparsable structured data errors. This was due to an internal misconfiguration that will be fixed soon, and can be ignored."