Google has announced that they have recently put together a team of engineers, designers and executives to build a new AI-powered search engine aiming to provide users with a far more personalised search experience compared to what is currently offered.

While Google Bard – Google’s response to their competition by the likes of OpenAI’s Chat GPT and Bing’s new AI assistant – received mixed reviews, this new project titled “Magi” is said to be far more ambitious with the potential to revolutionise and reimagine the search experience and is likely to begin rolling out to users within the next month. This game-changing project will focus on more refined personalisation, conversational search product recommendations, and even directly handling transactions.

The tech giant has not yet revealed much official information about their new search engine, but here is what we know so far in terms of its implications on the industry, the end user and challenges and opportunities for marketers.

Google’s Vision for Redefining Search Through AI

So how does it work?

Simply put, this search engine will be driven through Artificial Intelligence to continuously learn user preferences so as to better customise recommendations and solutions offered.

The search engine will work as an innovative chat-like interface, somewhat like a ChatGPT interaction or an Alexa interaction but in a far more sophisticated, refined and tailored manner as it gains more user insight along the way. Search and results will flow as more of a conversation of sorts offering more specific and relevant results, unlike the traditional 10 results per page model.

Capabilities and Unleashing its Full Potential

While it is speculated that the project and some of its features are to be rolled out soon, it is interesting to think about its applications, capabilities and potential with further development

For example. transactions such as shopping and booking flights will soon be possible directly through Magi and gone will be the days of surfing through results pages when the chat interface offers users exactly what they are looking for based on their unique preferences and specifications. This would also seamlessly integrate with services such as Google Pay.

Project Magi: Driving a New Wave of Marketing & SEO

The launch of Magi has also sparked much conversation within the marketing community as it is likely to have significant implications in terms of SEO in terms of both challenges as well as new opportunities.

Here are a few speculations;

The need to adapt your SEO Strategy – There will be a need to optimise your content for AI-generated responses for more visibility in order to offer users more relevant solutions.

Personalisation – In-depth and detailed analysis of your market, more insight into user behaviour and purchase patterns, predictions, and very specific segmentation will enable marketers to leverage this technology to effectively reach their target audiences in a more meaningful way.

Conversational optimisation – Given the chat-like nature of Magi, your content will have to also be optimised for voice search and natural language queries.

Adapt to new metrics and ranking factors – Your overall strategy will have to take into account the new metrics, measurements, and performance benchmarks relevant to this type of search.

Revamping engagement and retention strategies  – The user experience of your website would need to be interactive in order to retain and engage audiences.

All in all, the possibilities of Google Magi, are virtually endless, and it will be interesting to see how this adaptive and transactional search engine could evolve in the coming years.

So what are your thoughts on Googe’s new project? What do you think of its potential impact and implications for the future of search?