• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 23, 2024

After four inches of snow covered the towering pines and landscape in my area of southwest Wyoming last night, the sudden change of weather confused the hummingbirds this morning. They had no idea how to reach feeders I had set out earlier this week.

Watching them felt a little like the confusion over the steady stream of new search tools infused with artificial intelligence (AI).

What's a "search-a-like audience" supported by AI? In another example of AI stepping in, Captify, a search intelligence platform for the open web, says its tool supports brands using first-party data, and leverages extensive expertise in semantics and natural language processing.

The technology allows Captify to analyze and categorize page content, search data and user search behaviors. An AI-driven approach enables them to extract meaningful insights from their vast datasets, identify the audiences most likely to engage with specific content, and discern non-endemic connections between their data and user behaviors. 

The tool combines a brand’s first-party audience data with Captify’s real-time onsite search data network to reach qualified, hyper-relevant audiences.

Google Chrome, at 65%, and Apple Safari, at 18%, capture most web users, according to Forrester. "Faced with the imminent demise of the cookie-based internet, B2C marketers must explore alternative measurement methods to understand ad-level performance within and across these ecosystems," according to the best practice report from Forrester published in May titled How To Use Privacy Technology To Improve Ad Performance Measurement. It details both approaches.

Captify matches an advertiser’s audience data with its search-data network to understand the topics and content most relevant to that first-party audience. This insight is then used to find similar consumers across every channel.

Search-a-Like audiences supports advertisers by filling in blind spots and scaling audiences through deterministic search data. The goal is to help them maximize budgets, and find and engage new customers. Search-a-Like audiences can activate premium audiences within 48 hours across all channels and devices, through any demand-side platform (DSP).

Then measure the impact of their campaign against their specific key performance indicators (KPIs). Clients using this offering, per Captify, have seen a five-percentage point increase in view-through rate (VTR).

Captify historically has worked with Disney, Unilever, eBay, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Nestlé, GSK, Uber, Mars, P&G, Sony, and Toyota.

How do marketers improve on local search optimization? SOCi, a marketing cloud company for enterprises, says through Genius Search. Antiquated listing management process of ensuring accurate location data across numerous low-impact directories no longer serve business.

Going beyond traditional data updates, Genius Search analyzes top local-search ranking factors and aggregated insights from real-time local consumer activity — including search behavior, business reviews, and social media engagement — and dynamically optimizes each location's online presence, enhancing visibility across the most important local search platforms, including new generative search results.

This process allows Genius Search to deliver and execute hundreds of thousands of location-based recommendations with one click.