Artificial intelligence and the latest technologies are actively penetrating all spheres of our lives, including the marketing and business processes of companies. What challenges and opportunities do they open up? How should businesses respond to these changes? And what will happen if companies refuse to implement artificial intelligence in their work? We spoke about this with an experienced internet marketer, SEO expert Iurii Nemtcev.
Iurii, tell us a little bit about yourself, please.
I have been working in internet marketing and SEO since 2009. Over this time, I have participated in many large internet projects and worked with websites with millions of traffic and ecommerce portals that brought businesses from a regional level to nationwide and international scope. Currently, I serve as an expert and consultant for international companies on issues related to SEO and internet marketing. I’m also the founder of several digital agencies in the U.S. and UAE.
What key trends are currently being observed in internet marketing in terms of implementing new technologies?
Without a doubt, artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions are at the forefront today. A variety of tasks are already being automated with neural networks — content writing, ad targeting, analytics, and communication with users through chatbots and phone calls. These tools have become an integral part of internet marketing.
In working on website promotion, tools for automated analysis of queries, search traffic, and user behavior on the site are increasingly being applied. Effective optimization today is hard to imagine without them. Image recognition technologies are actively used as well, for example, for automatic analysis of photos and videos in social media and subsequent optimization of content marketing. Here, AI works more accurately than humans, as it is capable of performing mundane, repetitive tasks thoroughly from start to finish, whereas any person gets tired and loses attention when doing monotonous work.
These are just some examples of how AI is used in internet marketing, but there are many more.
What is your vision for the further development of this direction? What processes can we expect to see automated in the coming years?
I’m confident we’ll see an even greater integration of AI technologies into marketing and business. We’re talking about a full replacement of routine human labor with neural networks. For instance, I expect automation in generating creative assets like photos and videos for advertising, the development of personalized recommendations for company clients, and the emergence of AI services for full-fledged work with search queries and traffic. I believe that in just a couple years humans will be left with only oversight and adjustment of AI systems.
These trends are especially important for large international brands. AI will allow them to bring products and services to new regional markets with a speed and scale previously unavailable, for example, by automating the localization of ad campaigns based on the specifics of any local audiences around the world.
In your opinion, how important is it for internet marketers and businesses as a whole to adapt to these new technologies right now?
I believe it’s critically important for remaining competitive. Companies that ignore these trends will find themselves outsiders in the market. AI and machine learning unlock tremendous opportunities for optimizing business processes and expenses. Missing out on such advantages would be irrational. Therefore, strategies need to be formed right now to implement these tools, and personnel need to be trained.
In my teams at digital agencies in the U.S. and UAE, I actively implement new AI-based technologies and instruments. For instance, this allowed us to increase the speed of developing high-quality landing pages in the Dubai real estate niche, where competition among agencies is immense. Now it takes one working day to create such a landing page instead of 3–4 previously.
Moreover, we learned how to promote new landing pages to the top of Google in 24 hours, surpassing the websites of major industry players. Of course, artificial intelligence doesn’t completely replace our work, but it significantly simplifies many tasks, saving precious time.
What main difficulties does business encounter when integrating AI solutions?
One of the key issues is a shortage of top-tier talent in this field. Businesses need specialists who understand the intricacies of AI technologies well and know how to properly integrate them into companies’ existing systems.
Another common challenge is the lack of a comprehensive strategic approach to implementing AI. These tools can’t be applied haphazardly — a clear roadmap is needed to achieve maximum effect.
What advice would you give to our readers — experts in internet marketing and entrepreneurs — on effectively integrating AI technologies into their work?
I would first and foremost advise diving deep into this topic — studying the latest research and use cases in the field, reading extensively, talking to colleagues who are already actively using AI, and watching videos by other experts. Unfortunately, as with any in-demand field, “professionals” appear who only know how to talk about it but provide no useful, practical information since they remain only theorists and not practitioners. It’s best to steer clear of such courses and videos.
It’s important not to be afraid of experimenting and implementing initial AI solutions in your projects, tracking efficiency, and gradually scaling directions that deliver results. Befriend AI so that it becomes your instrument and assistant; otherwise, it may replace you. For instance, ChatGPT emerged just a year ago and has already turned internet marketing upside down today. Imagine what things will look like in 2 years, in 5 years, etc.
Action needs to be taken now. Otherwise, it’s easy to fall behind the rapid progress in this sphere, surrendering the leading edge to competitors.