BARD – Google’s New Search AI
You may have read a lot about Google’s new AI tool ‘BARD’ recently. Launched in March, Bard has come a long way yet still has far to go.
There’s a lot of information out there so we want to give you a rundown of what you need to know.
We cover:
- What is BARD?
- How does it work?
- Limitations
- What does this mean for marketers?
- Availability
What is BARD?
BARD stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers for Audio. It is Google’s new AI search result tool that aims to give you the most relevant response without having to visit multiple websites. Think ChatGPT but on Google’s search result page!
Using technology called ‘transformer’, Bard can create a realistic natural-sounding response. The AI also offers voice assistants, audiobook narration, and accessibility tools for individuals with visual impairments.
One of the major benefits of Google’s new AI is that users won’t need to visit multiple websites looking for the answer they need. Bard can understand nuanced language to give a simple and personalised answer.
How does it work?
Relevance
Using keyword matching, user intent, and the context of the search, Bard focuses on delivering the most relevant information to users based on their search queries.
RankBrain, Neural Matching, BERT, are AI systems and technologies developed by Google that helps understand the meaning behind search queries. It uses machine learning algorithms to interpret complex search queries and provide more accurate and relevant results.
Personalisation
Google is constantly looking for ways to improve user experience, and one way to do this is by giving personalised answers. In many ways users want Google to be able to read their minds, and with Google’s new AI they can get very close!
Bard considers factors such as search history, location, and preferences to deliver more relevant results based on the user’s context. Keeping users happy and coming back for more.
Limitations
BARD is still in its infancy therefore will have its limitations. For example:
- Results may include potential biases in different language models
- Since its launch many instances of misinformation have been reported
- Whilst bard has been ‘trained’ to handle complex queries, it may face challenges when dealing with specialised search queries.
It will likely take more time and use before correcting this issue.
What does this mean for marketers?
As mentioned earlier, the new AI has many audio capabilities. This could unlock exciting opportunities for marketers in their content. Including voice-over adverts, multilingual marketing, tone of voice personalisation, and increased accessibility!
However there will also be potential problems caused for marketers. BARD does not rely on keyword matching, so if creating content for keywords is what you rely on for search ranking, it might be time to implement some new practices.
But not to worry! We’ve got some suggestions to help you out.
- Develop content that directly addresses user intent behind their search queries by giving relevant information and solutions.
- Since Bard is designed to understand natural language, adopt a conversational tone in your content.
- Implement structured data mark-up on your website to provide explicit context about your content to search engines.
- Incorporate visually engaging content such as images and videos. The more time a user spends on your website indicates high relevance to Google.
- Optimise for mobile, over 60% of Google searches are done on a mobile therefore this is essential for visibility.
- Use social media to attract visitors to your content.
In 2022, Google introduced their ‘helpful content update’. This aimed to penalise content that was specifically designed for search ranking rather than relevancy to the user. Bard is another step towards prioritising useful and relevant content. Ultimately providing value to your audience should be your primary focus.
Availability
Whilst still labelled as an experiment, Bard is now widely available.
At its launch Bard was only accessible through a waiting list, however in May Google announced it is available to anyone who logs in with their Google account in 180 countries. Find out how to sign in to Bard here.
Did you find this useful? You might also like to read ‘Optimising Google Business Profile’
