There has recently been a fair bit of drama about Google’s patent about generating landing pages instead of sending users to websites. While it’s true that the patent is about creating landing pages it’s absolutely not true that it’s about doing it for all pages that are low quality. In fact, the patent only describes a shopping page feature.
Google Is Not Replacing Sites With Landing Pages
Patents are not always clear about what they are about because they are often broadly worded in order to apply to the widest amount of use cases. And that’s the case with this patent that’s titled, AI-generated content page tailored to a specific user. That title offers no context for how the invention is intended to be used.
Glenn Gabe recently posted about the patent, repeating what someone else said about it on LinkedIn.
He tweeted:
“If you thought AIOs angered people, just wait for AI-generated landing pages from Google. Yes, Google could create new landing pages from the SERPs if yours isn’t good enough (based on this patent). Great catch from Joshua Squires at Amsive on LinkedIn -> AI-generated content page tailored to a specific user
And sounds like it could be used for advertising AND organic… It’s worth checking out the patent.
*The system would calculate a “landing page score” for the organization’s existing website. This score evaluates how well the current page meets the user’s specific needs.
*If the existing landing page is deemed insufficient (the score exceeds a certain threshold for improvement), the system triggers the AI generation.
*An AI model leverages the user’s search context, location, and past preferences to pull data from the organization’s site and re-package it into a new, intuitive interface.
*The user sees an updated search result page with a navigation link leading to this custom AI-generated page rather than the standard URL.”
Glenn is correct that it could be used for advertising. But the patent is not about generating landing pages for general search results.
A careful reading of the patent shows that it is really about creating a landing page for shopping search results when the landing page presents a poor user experience. The patent indicates that this can be applied to shopping pages, with much of the it implying or specifically saying that it’s intended for paid advertising use cases.
The paid advertising use case makes sense because it will help advertisers with low-conversion landing pages make more sales. The patent makes multiple references to that reason for generating a landing page.
What The Patent Says
The patent in places makes references to websites using generic words like “organizations” and “content providers,” but every example, metric, and UI feature aligns with:
- E-commerce sites
- Product listing pages
- Retail landing pages
- Paid search environments
- Conversion-focused commercial websites
The specific examples of what will trigger the generated landing pages are:
- Conversion rate, bounce rate, click-through rate as scoring signals
- Call-to-action buttons on product pages
- Product feeds
- Example of a shopper struggling to navigate a page to purchase a product
- Sponsored content placement
- Landing pages that lack product filters (which make it hard for consumers to find their product).
Patents generally begin with a broad overview of the invention, a section called an Abstract. However the more you read the more specific it becomes and that’s the case with this patent. Near the top of the patent, in a section called Background, the patent precisely describes the use case for the patent:
“In some instances, the landing pages may be difficult to navigate, which can reduce the user experience. For example, a user may struggle to navigate a landing page to purchase a product when the landing page has a user interface that is not efficiently designed for usability and engagement.”
Elsewhere the patent explains:
- “In some instances, the navigation link can be included in a sponsored content item.
- In some instances, the landing page score can be determined based on a conversion rate associated with the first landing page.
- In some instances, the AI-generated page can include a call-to-action button to a product page…”
- In some instances, the AI-generated page can include a product feed that provides an overview of a product…
- In some instances, the AI-generated page can include a sitelink to a product detail page.”
There is no ambiguity that this patent is focused on shopping related content and for sponsored advertising.
Not For Editorial Content
There are no concrete examples in the patent that are related to editorial content, news sites, academic pages, blogs, or informational content. The clues overwhelmingly point to transactional, commerce-oriented pages.
Read Google’s Patent
I have written a guide that teaches how to read a Google patent. It’s not that hard to learn and is useful to read. Every SEO should give it a read because it will be helpful for understanding how Google’s various algorithms work. Read it here.
Google’s patent: AI-generated content page tailored to a specific user
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