Feature
The Gist
- Google thrives on links. Traditional search relies on delivering multiple links, shaping the foundation of SEO and online traffic strategies.
- SearchGPT delivers context. AI-powered search like SearchGPT emphasizes concise, direct answers, potentially minimizing the need for external clicks.
- Impact on advertising. As SearchGPT rises, marketers may need to pivot from traditional ads to more integrated, contextually relevant strategies.
When it comes to search, SearchGPT and Google stand out as two distinct methodologies, each offering unique advantages. While Google has become synonymous with quick, comprehensive searches, SearchGPT, the new kid on the block created by OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, introduces a conversational, AI-driven approach that excels in understanding context and delivering more nuanced results.
This brings to mind the question of how will it impact Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), links to original sources and advertising. You know, the stuff you, as a marketer, stress about every day.
This article covers strengths and potential limitations of each platform, exploring how they could potentially impact marketing, advertising, SEO and consumer search.
The Search Engine We Know and Love: Google
Google has long been the go-to search engine for finding specific information across a vast range of sources, thanks to its ability to quickly deliver a broad array of links. It's got 90% of the search market share, and SearchGPT isn't even on the map yet. But there's this, too: Google's facing antitrust measures by the US government, and what it means for how Google operates is all shaking out in court as we speak in Google vs. the US.
It excels at helping users navigate the web to find what they need. In contrast, SearchGPT, first available to select premium OpenAI subscribers in the last few weeks, focuses on providing direct, conversational answers, making it ideal for complex queries where users seek context and clarity rather than a list of links. This fundamental difference shapes how each tool is used and the types of queries they best address.
Google’s model drives users to visit various websites, which has traditionally been a cornerstone of SEO strategies and web traffic. Marketers optimize content to rank highly in these search results, relying on click-throughs to engage users.
SearchGPT, however, might change this behavior by delivering comprehensive answers within the search interface itself, potentially reducing the need for users to click on external links. This shift could require marketers to focus more on content quality and relevance, ensuring their material is valuable enough to be referenced directly in AI-generated search responses.
Google’s advertising model is deeply integrated into its search results, offering extensive ad placement opportunities that are crucial to its revenue. Advertisers can target specific keywords and audiences, driving visibility and engagement.
In contrast, SearchGPT’s approach could disrupt this model by providing direct answers, potentially limiting the space and need for traditional ads. As users get the information they need directly from the AI, advertisers may need to explore new methods of engagement, perhaps focusing on more contextual or integrated advertising strategies.
Google’s seamless integration with tools such as Google Ads, Analytics and YouTube makes it a powerful resource for data-driven marketing, enabling businesses to craft highly targeted campaigns. These tools work together to offer a comprehensive view of customer behavior and campaign performance.
When comparing SearchGPT and Google, the key difference lies in how they deliver information. SearchGPT generates concise, summarized answers using deep learning and natural language processing (NLP), offering a human-like response to queries.
In contrast, Google uses a machine learning (ML) algorithm to rank sources and features, providing a list of links based on relevance, leaving it to the user to find the specific answer (though Google has been providing similar features in its People Also Ask section, shown below). Although, it should be noted that Google has rolled out "AI Overviews," which incorporates AI-generated answers within the search user experience.
Another distinction is personalization. Google customizes search results based on a user’s location, history and preferences, while SearchGPT delivers the same response to any user, regardless of these factors.
Finally, data accuracy and currency set the two apart. Google searches the web in real-time, offering updated and precise links, while SearchGPT, similarly to GPT-4, was trained on data up to April 2023, and may provide outdated or unverifiable information for events and facts that occurred afterward.
Related Article: AI Overviews, SGE and SEO: Differences, Challenges and the Path Forward
How SearchGPT Changes Information Display
SearchGPT marks a departure from traditional search engines by focusing on providing direct, contextually rich answers instead of a list of links. Leveraging its advanced AI capabilities, SearchGPT interprets user queries with a deep understanding, often delivering complete responses within the chat interface. This approach reduces the need for users to click through to external websites, fundamentally changing the way information is consumed. Users benefit from immediate, precise answers, which streamlines the search experience but may disrupt traditional web traffic patterns.
Here is a SearchGPT search for the question “What can you tell me about SearchGPT's sidebar?”
This is a marked difference from what Google returns in its results for the same question:
Related Article: Can OpenAI's SearchGPT Outdo Google?
Marketing Conundrum: All in on AI Search or Not?
The transition from link-based results to direct answers presents a potential challenge for web publishers. Traditionally, search engines like Google have driven significant traffic to websites by listing links that users can click to explore further. Google organic traffic is a business model, a lifeblood for thousands of brands and marketing teams.
However, with SearchGPT's approach, users may find the information they need directly within the interface, leading to fewer clicks on external links. This could result in a noticeable decrease in click-through rates and overall web traffic, potentially affecting revenue models for content creators and publishers who rely on advertising and visitor engagement.
In addition, the shift could force web publishers and marketers to rethink their SEO strategies. Do you invest resources into learning what "AI search discoverability" means, or do you still feed the Google train, hoping one of those Page 1 blue links is your brand's?
This evolution in search technology highlights a growing need for adaptability in digital marketing. As SearchGPT continues to develop, marketers, advertisers and publishers must stay ahead of these changes to maintain visibility and relevance.
SearchGPT has partnered with major publishers such as News Corp and The Atlantic to enhance its search experience, ensuring that high-quality content is included in results. Designed to provide direct answers based on real-time web data, SearchGPT emphasizes transparency by clearly citing sources and linking to original content in its sidebar.
Unlike its generative AI models, SearchGPT allows sites to appear in search results even if they opt out of AI training. OpenAI has equipped its publisher partners with tools to control how their content appears in search results, offering more autonomy over their visibility. Details remain unclear about how this will work, as these publishing tools have not yet become available to the general public.
However, despite these measures, some publishers, such as The New York Times, have opted to block OpenAI's web crawler, OAI-SearchBot, due to concerns over potential impacts on traffic and revenue. (not to mention the NYT has a lawsuit against OpenAI for stealing content). OpenAI has reassured publishers that the crawler does not collect data for AI model training and encourages site owners to permit the bot to ensure their content is featured in search results.
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What Is the SearchGPT Sidebar?
The SearchGPT sidebar is the saving grace for publishers, as it is where links to sources for the information that SearchGPT displays are located. The text displayed in the SearchGPT sidebar is determined by a combination of algorithmic processing and content partnerships, offering users relevant summaries, images, and videos alongside links to original sources. This approach is also mirrored in features like Microsoft Edge’s sidebar search, as shown below:
The Edge sidebar allows users to access more information without navigating away from the current page, streamlining the search experience while maintaining transparency and engagement with the original content. Similarly, the SearchGPT sidebar is a standout feature in OpenAI's AI-powered search engine prototype, designed to elevate the search experience through organized, real-time information.
The sidebar prominently displays source links, allowing users to easily verify and explore content. Media integration offers a quick way to access related images and other media, while additional results provide a broader view without navigating multiple pages. Users can refine searches with follow-up questions, and publishers retain control over how their content appears, ensuring proper attribution and linkage.
The key question is how AI-driven search engines like SearchGPT will alter consumer search behavior. If SearchGPT provides a complete answer to a query like "how do I cook a filet mignon?" users may have little incentive to click through to the original source.
In contrast, Google offers multiple relevant links, encouraging users to visit the sites, engage with detailed content and support publishers through ad views. With SearchGPT, the direct delivery of information diminishes the likelihood of users clicking on links, potentially reducing web traffic and ad revenue for content creators.
Effects on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Traditional Google SEO: Keywords and All
Traditional SEO involves optimizing various elements of a website, including keywords, metadata and content structure, to align with the algorithms that search engines use to rank pages. Google, for instance, evaluates factors such as keyword relevance, site authority, user experience and mobile-friendliness to determine the order of search results. The goal is to appear as high as possible on the search engine results page to attract organic traffic.
Google’s algorithm scans the web for content that best matches the user’s query, considering over 200 factors to rank results. These include on-page elements such as keywords and content quality, off-page factors such as backlinks from reputable sites, and technical aspects like page speed and mobile optimization. SEO strategies are designed to improve these factors, increasing the likelihood that a website will rank higher in search results.
Providing Direct Answers Without Blue Links. The New SEO?
In contrast, SearchGPT uses AI to generate direct answers, meaning traditional SEO practices may not apply in the same way. Instead, content quality and relevance in the context of the user’s query might play a more significant role in how information is retrieved and presented.
With the advent of SearchGPT, traditional SEO faces new challenges. Optimizing for AI-driven search results is more complex than keyword-based strategies. Unlike traditional search engines, SearchGPT doesn’t rely solely on matching keywords to rank content; it prioritizes context and relevance. This makes it difficult for SEO professionals to predict how to optimize content to appear in AI-generated answers, potentially leading to a shift away from conventional ranking factors.
As SearchGPT evolves, assuming it becomes popular, SEO strategies will need to adapt. The emphasis will shift toward creating high-quality, contextually relevant content that aligns with AI's understanding of user queries. Traditional keyword optimization will still be important, but the focus will increasingly be on how well the content answers specific questions or fits within broader topics. AI-driven keyword strategies, which involve understanding the nuances of how AI interprets and matches queries to content, will become crucial in maintaining visibility in search results.
Thomas Phillips, search engine expert, founder and CEO of DTCSEO Agency, an SEO agency, told CMSWire that when it comes to SearchGPT, because it’s much more conversational, the answers and results are going to be more specific.
"This means there is going to be a lot more pages that will have zero search term volume,” said Phillips. “The pages that come up will be much more targeted and really connect with the user intent rather than a more general keyword and page. Basically, you get exactly what you’re looking for in a customized way."
Content Is Still Content: Must Be Great to Win in Search
In this new era of search, content creators and marketers will need to prioritize depth, relevance and comprehensiveness to ensure that their content is recognized as authoritative by AI systems. As SEO evolves alongside AI, the importance of staying adaptable and forward-thinking in strategy development cannot be overstated.
At Phillips’ SEO agency, they’ve reduced their blog content by 95% because of AI search summarizing a specific question.
“Why would someone go to your blog post where it takes time to skim through 1,000+ words to find the answer you’re seeking when they can get a short exact summary,” Phillips said, suggesting that publishers should stop writing long and fluffy blog posts. “We’ve already made the switch to targeting transactional and commercial intent keywords. We’ve increased the focus on high buyer intent keywords. It’s always been important but now more than ever.”
SearchGPT vs. Google: Impact on Advertising
Google's AD Model: Pay for Personalization
Google's advertising model, primarily driven by Google Ads, is centered around pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Advertisers bid on specific keywords relevant to their products or services, and their ads appear alongside organic search results when users enter those keywords in a search query. The model is designed to target users based on their search intent, location and browsing history, ensuring that ads are relevant and timely. Advertisers only pay when users click on their ads, making it a cost-effective way to drive traffic and conversions.
Google's extensive ad network also allows ads to be displayed across millions of websites, apps and YouTube, further expanding reach and engagement. This model is highly effective for businesses of all sizes, providing detailed analytics and targeting options to optimize ad performance and maximize ROI.
SearchGPT AD Model: Will There Even Be One?
In contrast, SearchGPT’s approach to advertising, should it eventually come about, might challenge this traditional model by reducing the visibility of ads as users receive direct answers within the AI interface. In addition, as SearchGPT shifts away from traditional search result pages with multiple links, the opportunity for ad placements may diminish. With fewer search results displayed, the visibility of traditional ads could be significantly reduced, limiting the exposure that advertisers typically rely on. This could lead to a rethinking of how digital ads are integrated into search experiences.
To remain effective, advertising strategies will need to evolve alongside AI-driven search. Contextual advertising, which aligns ad content with the specific context of the user’s query, will become increasingly important.
“Advertisers need to consider intent over specific keywords, and really understand their audience’s way of talking and their nuances,” said Phillips.
AI-Based Search Will Need Money
Katherine Cartwright, principal at Criterion Global, an international media buying agency, told CMSWire that from her firm's perspective, AI search and "conversations" will become the new interface for how we engage with the internet.
"It's no longer 'linear', i.e. a search bar leading to a listicle of options, but 'circular' as a conversation that's self-referential and learns and evolves over time," she said.
As many others have suggested, Cartwright sees the writing on the wall when it comes to search advertising in the AI space. "It's only a matter of time before AI-based search needs to monetize by supporting brand messaging; we're ready for that shift and look to secure a first-mover advantage for our clients," she said.
As the advertising landscape adapts to these changes, the focus will likely shift toward strategies that emphasize relevance, personalization and alignment with the user’s intent. The ability to deliver ads that resonate with users in a contextually appropriate manner will be key to maintaining engagement and effectiveness in a world where AI-driven search tools like SearchGPT play a central role.
Marketing Implications of Changing Search Landscape
As SearchGPT gains traction, content strategies will need to evolve, with a stronger emphasis on creating material that AI recognizes as authoritative and relevant. Similar to a new approach for SEO, instead of just optimizing for keywords, brands will need to focus on producing in-depth, high-quality content that comprehensively answers user queries. This approach will help ensure visibility within AI-generated responses.
Nichole Hinton, founder of Inspiruption, a little bit of daily travel inspiration, told CMSWire that marketers should keep in mind that SearchGPT is based on aggregated data from the web and responds (in a conversational manner) to questions written in specific ways.
"With each new advancement in the world of search engines, it all seems very overwhelming," she said. "It's a challenge to shift from a 'tried and true' approach to more of an experimental model as nearly everyone is trying to figure this out."
Hinton said to begin with, brands must begin to think in terms of this new model where answers to questions play a larger role than traditional keywords and descriptions.
To optimize content for search engines and user engagement, Hinton suggested that brands should:
- Use ChatGPT to identify the most effective keywords and phrases for the opening lines of their web pages or videos, ensuring they’re incorporated naturally.
- Consider the key questions users might ask that would lead them to your site and revise your content to address those queries, keeping tone in mind.
- Focus on creating compelling video content, as it’s increasingly preferred over text.
- Research and stay updated on strategies before implementing them to ensure effectiveness.
Brands should also keep in mind that, as Hinton explained, while SearchGPT is a growing trend, it isn't the de facto web browser for the larger population.
“I still believe web publishers need to create for the sake of the other search engines, though refreshing the content to include more interaction, such as video, is key," she said. "Even Google is trending in that direction.”
