Google: Chatbots Don't Make Your Pages Better

Sep 20, 2017 - 8:15 am 2 by

Google Chatbot

A lot of SEOs and webmasters have been buzzing about chatbots, a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Many are playing with the idea of adding one to their web site to engage with their users in an automated fashion. But it seems Google's John Mueller is not a fan of chatbots on the whole.

John said in the hangout yesterday at the 18:26 mark that "most chatbots I see are really basic and useless so." He added "I don’t think that randomly adding chatbots to the page, makes that page better."

John Mueller explained that it is not good to "artificially keeping people on your web site even though they don’t want to actually buy or convert." So don't add chatbots just because they are chatbots. If they can genuinely help your users, sure - but otherwise nope.

Here is the video embed:

Here is the transcript:

Would you guys appreciate chatbots in the future? To kind of keep the users more? To help kind of. Is that something you guys want to see in the future?

I don’t know, most chatbots I see are really basic and useless so. I wouldn’t try to artificially change these metrics because you are just kind of short selling yourself by artificially keeping people on your web site even though they don’t want to actually buy or convert. Then you are not doing anyone a favor.

If you can add value by having a chatbot there and if you know users have questions that you can’t answer proactively with your content then maybe that is an option. Maybe there are certain strategies that you can use to kind of show it at the right time, to the right people, but I don’t think that randomly adding chatbots to the page, makes that page better.

Forum discussion at Google+.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google SGE In Wild, Stop Doing SEO For Google, Maps & Shopping Features & Google Ads Safety Report - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google SGE In Wild, Stop Doing SEO For Google, Maps & Shopping Features & Google Ads Safety Report

Mar 29, 2024 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Posted Zero New Feature Announcements In March 2024

Mar 29, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Correction: Web Stories Still Show In Google Images & Google Fixes Search Console Reporting Bug

Mar 29, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles New Add Amenity To Your Website

Mar 29, 2024 - 7:31 am
Web Analytics

New Microsoft Copilot Referrer Data In Google Analytics

Mar 29, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Search Recommendation For "Google Can Help You Stand Out"

Mar 29, 2024 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google's Ranking Algorithms Dynamically Change Based On Query & Context