3 Myths About the Future of Search You Should Leave in the Past
Are you holding on to the past? With the introduction of AI chat and its integration into Google and Bing, our relationship with search has forever changed. Gone are the days of relying on keyword-based queries and manually sifting through a list of search results. Today, AI enhances how we interact with search engines and source information.
There is no doubt that AI-based search continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Take, for example, the speed of OpenAI's integration of ChatGPT into Bing or Google's not-so-elegant introduction of Bard, its AI chatbot. It is expected that AI-based search will continue to develop rapidly, including even more refined natural language processing to allow for a better understanding of user intent. This was the case recently with the announcement of Google’s PaLM 2 - a large-scale language model said to outperform OpenAI's GPT-4.
With the litany of AI advancements happening at breakneck speed, how we perceive and approach search must also change. It is for this reason I offer three myths about the future of search you may want to leave in the past:
Myth #1: SEO-optimized content will continue to be a significant driver of website search traffic.
The fact is that AI-based search does not rely solely on traditional SEO factors to source answers. Instead, it focuses on what Google terms, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Going forward, AEO appears to be the standard for how to optimize content that AI search engines can source to provide answers to user queries. Going forward, AI search results will likely be less dependent on search engine indexing and more dependent on things like knowledge graphs.
To that end, a few of the early suggestions for influencing AI search offered by SEO platform provider Milestone Inc include: Using schema and structured data to optimize content for entity recognition; treating images as entities and including full metadata information, reducing file sizes and ensuring no duplicate images are in use across locations and channels; and maintaining up-to-date and complete profiles for all product and local listings.
Myth #2: Google will continue to dominate search.
While Google has long been the undisputed leader in search, the landscape is changing. In just two months, ChatGPT gained roughly 100 million monthly users, making it the fastest-growing consumer internet application in history. Users who prefer OpenAI's ChatGPT may continue to opt for Bing over Google, particularly if ChatGPT becomes the AI of choice for plugins and app integrations.
With Microsoft’s recent introduction of Copilot (AI chat from any Windows taskbar), Microsoft Plugins (software modules that extend the knowledge and capabilities of Microsoft AI applications), and the core integration of Bing search data into ChatGPT, Microsoft and OpenAI are helping to shape consumer preferences around how users will source answers to questions. As importantly, developers who prioritize data privacy may seek to build on top of alternative platforms like Bing and ChatGPT.
That being said, it’s important to concede that while competition is heating up, Google's vast user base and established position in the search market still represent a significant challenge to any alternative. Today, even after the integration of ChatGPT into Bing Search, Google still maintains 93% of the search market.
Myth #3: People will go to search engines to get their questions answered.
As mentioned, AI is now being seamlessly incorporated into various central desktop applications and mobile apps, including Microsoft 365 (which includes Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office) and Google Workspaces. This is In addition to improvements across virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana. The result of all this is that users can more easily research from their home screens without the need to visit search engines. Based on this fact, it is likely that AI copilots, assistants and apps will replace search engines as the primary source for answers - Much the same way Google search began to replace internet directories (like Yahoo! Directory) starting in 1998.
The bottom line.
The speed, capabilities and convenience of AI-powered search are coming closer to home and transforming how we source answers and interact with information. Or, as AI expert Shelly Palmer so eloquently put it: "The way we approach SEO could be turned on its head. Moreover, if users find the [AI chat] summaries sufficient, the frequency of clicks may decline, potentially affecting the entire web business model. Google knows that conversational AI (chatbots) is going to dramatically reduce human web traffic. Bots don't see or click on ads, and page views by bots mean nothing. Finding a way to preserve search revenue is existential for Google."
So let’s embrace the new reality quickly so that we can make the most of the advancements in AI and better adapt to the evolving search landscape, no matter where we encounter it or which providers lead the way.
