By Dan Dalton
ChatGPT Search officially launched on October 31, 2024, for ChatGPT Plus and Team users. This launch signals OpenAI’s entrance into the landscape of search engines, currently dominated by Google, looking to bridge the gap between canned search results and conversational search queries. ChatGPT Search actively pulls information from the web, allowing it to respond based on the latest data, news, and updates across the web. This contrasts with the current ChatGPT functionality, which relies on a static knowledge base trained on data from before a specific cutoff date (typically September 2021 for older models and 2023 for GPT-4). ChatGPT Search is currently accessed through a blue globe toggle button in the search box of ChatGPT and is only available to paying ChatGPT subscribers and SearchGPT waitlist users.
OpenAI plans to extend access to Enterprise and Edu users in the coming weeks, with a broader rollout to all free users over the coming months. ChatGPT Search is also available as a Chrome extension, which makes ChatGPT Search your default search engine within the Chrome browser. The Chrome extension has the potential to make ChatGPT Search the primary search engine of current ChatGPT subscribers.
The advent of AI-powered search engines, such as Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT Search, presents advertisers with both exciting opportunities and pressing challenges. As these innovative search engines reshape how people search for information online, they’re bound to significantly impact brand visibility, SEO strategies, and user engagement metrics. So, what does this mean for advertisers, and how can brands best prepare for the AI-driven future of search?
AI-powered search engines’ impact on SEO
The ability to derive conversational answers from a search engine may shift user behavior in that the need to directly visit traditional websites will decrease. This could lead to a natural decrease in organic traffic for advertisers who rely on search engines for lead generation.
To maintain visibility, companies must adapt their content strategies to align with AI-driven search algorithms. This involves creating high-quality, authoritative content that AI models recognize and prioritize. Emphasizing clear, concise information and structured data can enhance a brand’s presence in AI-generated responses. AI-powered search engines cite reference domains and rely on domain authority and credibility to prioritize which websites they use to source information.
AI-powered search engines’ impact on paid search
Paid search faces the same potential challenges as organic search with reduced traditional search usage. Paid search listings with AI-powered search engines are still in their infancy and are evolving. While ChatGPT Search has not yet introduced advertising, Perplexity and Google Search have explored integrating advertising into their platforms.
Google has incorporated advertising into its AI Overviews, allowing for monetization through traditional ad placements within the AI-generated content. Google also continues to integrate AI capabilities into its search ad creation. While the lack of transparency in AI-powered search ads is a consistent issue, there is promise in this function and we are continuing to monitor performance.
What it means for your business
As with all digital innovations, it is important to closely monitor the real impacts on qualified website traffic. Employing tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Search Console can provide valuable insights into how searchers are discovering your site and content. There will likely be early indicators into how your site is being viewed by search engines and monitoring those trends will be crucial for any brand to adapt to the new AI landscape.
Vladimir Jones is actively following the changes to the online search ecosystem and monitoring the impacts of the changes listed above. While we don’t know exactly what the future holds, we are optimistic and energized by the possibilities the innovation of AI brings to our portfolio of services.
