Gucci announced earlier this month that its customers would soon be able to use Bitcoin to make purchases at select in-store locations.
The pilot program will be available at its boutique stores in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and Los Vegas. And by the summer, the program will be rolled out to all stores in North America and offer a total of 10 different cryptocurrencies.
This program proceeds with its buying and (currently developing) “land” in the Metaverse earlier this year. And Gucci’s not the only company betting big on Crypto and the Metaverse, and brands such as Nike, Starbucks, Prada, Adidas, Chipolte, and more have representation somewhere within the Metaverse.
Gucci is always looking to embrace new technologies when they can provide an enhanced experience for our customers.
Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.
Marco Bizzarri, Gucci president and CEO
But what do brands’ increasing openness to Crypto and the Metaverse mean for SEOs?
In short, it’s a bit too early to say. But I predict a few things will be more commonplace in the not-so-distant future.
Read more.
1. Smaller brands will follow the ‘big boys’ lead – by increasingly opting into cryptocurrency as an accepted payment method of payment
A recent study from Brandessence Market Research found earlier this year that the Crypto payment gateway market is growing at 22.8% CAGR.
Indeed, many significant brands already accept at least one type of cryptocurrency as a payment method – Overstock, Home Depot, and Tesla, to name a few. Popular currencies include Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.
You can learn more about enabling Cryptocurrency payment gateways on Shopify and WordPress platforms.
2. ‘Metaverse’ website landing pages and sub-domains are going to become way more of a thing
While researching this idea, I found many marketers already promoting “metaverse landing pages” as a specialty skill set on Upwork. And design-related sites have already published articles on case studies and best practices.
You can check out a few examples of high-profile brands’ landing pages / sub-domains here:
“Will search engines be the gateway to getting found in the metaverse?
Having the keyword “metaverse” in a brand name, product or headline is helpful for getting found in search and social channels by those seeking that type of interaction.”
– Search Engine Journal
3. Metaverse marketing jobs / SEO specializations will increase
While a quick LinkedIn search can confirm that metaverse-related jobs are plentiful, a particular take I have on the subject is that metaverse-SEO will be a niche specialization.
I mean that editorial SEO, e-commerce SEO, technical SEO, local SEO, international SEO, ASO, etc., are all their niches. And this new landscape will call for a new type of SEO specialization for Metaverse brands’ websites – as well as being “discoverable” within the Metaverse specifically.
Same with Google Trends interest.
4. Visual search – and analytics – are going to evolve.
Kind of an extension of #3, but these changes will require marketers to develop a new way to measure engagement. Medium writer Shailey Singh points out that it will probably be eye movement behavior, which would be cool.
Meta is projecting Oculus, Cisco is showcasing Holographic Webex device, or something as simple as Ray Ban- Facebook Collaboration — the idea is plain as daylight…you need recorded eye movement behavior while customers freely navigated through a rich, open-world virtual environment.
Analytics still remains mainstream — just the method of collection changes. Remember “No analytics = No AI” – the Metaverse needs both of these . Hence, Think and Rethink your device strategy for content delivery.
Medium – Shailey Singh
5. AR/VR will become a more ubiquitous part of content roadmaps to stay competitive
Fast Company did a round-up post in March featuring some of the most innovative AR brands in the game right now – including SNAP, Google, and NVIDIA. Global Newswire also had an interesting piece on AR / Metaverse technology:
Augmented reality and metaverse technology are already impacting user’s experience on search in 2022, and soon, augmented reality will be a standard component of the Google search experience.
Just how every business should have a website, as the metaverse grows, every business will need a presence in this space. Augmented reality is having a big impact on how companies market their goods and services, so digital marketing specialists should consider aspects of search that will be impacted by the growing new era of SEO. In terms of SEO rankings and organic search traffic, the more the metaverse technology and digital world meets user’s needs, the more Google will value its input in search.
Global News Wire
I’ll update this piece as more information surrounds the industry and other predictions come to mind. But in the interim, I’d love to hear from others. What have you all observed, and what do you predict in the future?
