For years, Google has been synonymous with search, dominating ~90% of the market. But with the arrival of new AI search engines and the government eyeing a potential breakup of its business, could Google’s grip on search finally be loosening?
In this blog post, I’m going to break down everything marketers need to know about the rise of AI search and how it might reshape the future of SEO.
What Are AI Search Engines and How Do They Work?
AI search engines are platforms that use machine learning and natural language processing to scan the web and provide users with direct answers.
Unlike traditional search engines, which serve up endless pages of links to relevant webpages, AI search engines provide concise summaries and relevant resources for a more conversational experience.
Unlike traditional search engines, which rely heavily on keywords, AI search engines dig deeper by analyzing context and search intent. This allows them to understand those niche, specific questions that often slip through the cracks with standard search, providing results that feel more relevant and tailored to what you’re actually asking.
In recent years, the traditional Google search experience has noticeably declined, with search results increasingly cluttered by low-quality content, from SEO-driven fluff to AI-generated spam and affiliate cash-grabs. In contrast, AI search engines aim to streamline the experience, providing users with more relevant, high-quality results.
What Are the Top AI Search Engines?
There are quite a few AI-search engines out there, but the most notable players are:
Let’s examine how these AI search engines work and what differentiates one from the next:
SearchGPT (ChatGPT Search)
OpenAI’s SearchGPT, built into ChatGPT, delivers search results in a conversational format. By pulling information from multiple sources with in-line citations and relevant media, it creates an interactive experience that’s perfect for users who prefer an interactive search experience within the familiar ChatGPT interface.
Great for: Quick and interactive information searches
What’s Under the Hood: OpenAI’s GPT-4 model
How to Use It: Web/mobile/desktop app and Chrome/Edge browser extensions
Perplexity
As with SearchGPT, Perplexity is a AI chatbot search engine. However, it’s user interface and design differs from SearchGPT, delivering search results in a format reminiscent of Wikipedia. Perplexity is much more structured in how it presents information such as citations and related media. It also provides FAQ modules to help dive deeper into topics.
Great for: Quick information searches with more detail and resources
What’s Under the Hood: OpenAI’s GPT-3 & 4, Claude 3.5, Mistral Large, Llama 3, and a proprietary Perplexity model
How to Use It: Web/mobile/desktop app and Chrome/Edge browser extensions
You.com
You.com started out as an AI-search engine, but has since evolved into what it describes as a “productivity platform.” You.com is essentially an AI assistant that let’s you harness the power of all the major LLMs, like GPT and Claude, in one place. It offers multimodal AI chat capabilities, like other chatbots, along with a variety of AI modes, dubbed “Agents,” which are designed to cater to different needs.
Smart Agent: Content creation, news access, and web search.
Genius Agent: Code execution, image generation, advanced search, data visualization, and file uploads.
Create Agent: Easily transform ideas into AI-generated images with unlimited styles.
Research Agent: Perfect for in-depth research, analysis, and comparisons, with citations.
Great for: Tackling diverse tasks and research using the capabilities of today’s most powerful LLMs, all in one platform.
What’s Under the Hood: GPT, Claude, Llama, Gemini, DBRX-Instruct, CommandR, Solar 1 Mini, Dolphin.25
How to Use It: Web/mobile/desktop app and Chrome/Edge browser extensions
Google AI Overviews
Google’s much-maligned AI Overviews integrate content summaries and snippets at the top of search results, providing users with a quick snapshot of the information they seek, along with sources and media.
Great for: Concise summaries of information
What’s Under the Hood: Customized version of Google’s Gemini model
How to Use It: AI Overviews are integrated directly within Google’s search engine
Google Learn About
Google’s “Learn About” is an experimental research tool that provides an experience similar to Perplexity, offering structured, in-depth information on various topics. It offers fast, skimmable content, in a busier interface. Due it being an experiment, Learn About will most likely evolve considerably over time.
Great for: Education and research
What’s Under the Hood: Google’s LearnLM model
How to Use It: Only available via Google Learning
Microsoft Copilot for Bing
Microsoft’s Copilot is Bing’s AI-powered chatbot, offering conversational search within the Bing interface. Powered by GPT-4 and Microsoft’s proprietary Prometheus model, it combines Bing’s robust indexing with chat-driven search, allowing users to explore topics in depth while creating content on-the-fly.
Great for: Quick and interactive information searches
What’s Under the Hood: OpenAI’s GPT-4 model and Microsoft’s Prometheus model
How to Use It: Copilot for Bing is Integrated directly with Bing’s search engine, mobile app, and Microsoft’s Edge browser
It's important to note that AI search engines can produce wonky results, especially when it comes to local and time-sensitive searches. For example, it took several days after the 2024 U.S. election before SearchGPT could accurately tell me who won.
How Will AI Search Engines Impact SEO?
Naturally, AI search engines bring fresh opportunities and challenges for SEO. Let’s start with the good stuff!
Pros:
Diversified SEO Approach: With so many new channels for search, marketers can’t limit their scope to Google or Bing alone. This shift should push marketers to explore new ways to make their content visible across different channels.
Better Context Granularity: AI search goes beyond rigid keywords, which means it can better understand context and search intent. This should empower marketers to create new niche and targeted content that better resonates with customers.
Opportunity to Be More Human: As AI generated content and search summaries are becoming more common, there’s an opportunity for brands to create more authentic, human content and experiences. By enriching content with elements like podcasts and videos, marketers can better differentiate themselves from the pack.
Cons:
Less Search Traffic: AI search summarizes your content within search results, which could mean fewer clicks to your site.
Copyright Concerns: AI search pulls from tons of sources to get its information, which naturally brings up a lot of copyright concerns. It will be difficult to know how to protect your content until clearer policies are implemented.
Unclear Best Practices: Just like with traditional search engines, AI search engine ranking systems are a bit of a mystery. That said, it can take some time before tried and true best practices emerge.
Will AI Search Engines Replace Traditional Search?
Perplexity reports it processes 230 million searches per month, meanwhile Google processes 8.5 billion per day!
Google’s scale is unparalleled, so it would be foolish to think that any competitor could eclipse it anytime soon. In fact, surveys reveal that over half of U.S. adults are hesitant to switch to AI search engines. However, that doesn’t mean that Google (and traditional search as a whole) won’t see a shakeup.
Younger generations, especially Gen Z, are increasingly turning to social media platforms like TikTok and Reddit for search. In fact, TikTok even managed to temporarily surpass Google as the world’s most visited website. That’s saying something!
New competitors and looming legal challenges pose serious threats to Google, no doubt. But shifting search habits are just as pivotal. Put it all together, and it’s clear that we’re likely to see more fragmentation in the search market.
In a world where we have social media, forums, podcasts, and now AI chatbots, relying solely on Google search for information seems kinda primitive. That said, I think that we’ll see more people using all of these mediums to search for the information they need.
For tutorials and explainers, they will turn to video
For fast answers, they’ll use AI search engines
For third-party perspectives and diverse opinions, they will turn to social media, podcasts and YouTube
For detailed research and timely or localized searches, traditional search engines like Google will always have a place
Even though Google is trying to satisfy all of these search scenarios right now, it’s clearly not doing a good enough job to prevent users from looking elsewhere. If history taught us anything, it’s that trying to be everything to everyone rarely works - just ask Yahoo!
AI Search Engines and SEO's Multichannel Future
As long as platforms have a search function, SEO will be a thing. The mechanics and best practices might vary across channels, but the concept never changes.
SEO is poised to be more valuable than ever to marketers moving forward. Today, people are turning to multiple channels to find the information they need. In a world perpetually overflowing with more content than people can consume, people will need search more than ever to sift through the noise and find what they want.
If anything, the rise of AI search is a wake-up call for marketers to think beyond Google. Just like the rest of your marketing strategy, your SEO should be multichannel and tailored to where your customers spend their time. Whether that’s Google, SearchGPT, or some place else, your customers are out there searching - and if you’re not meeting them, your competitors will.
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