Search engines are no strangers to trying to combine AI with their search products, with both Google and Bing have trialling AI features on their search platforms. Now, ChatGPT creators OpenAI are seeking to solve the problem from the other side – adding search functionality into their existing AI platform with the newly announced SearchGPT prototype.
With the SearchGPT platform is currently limited to a select few, and no open waitlist for access, there’s still considerable time before it becomes readily available for everyday use. But in the competitive SEO landscape, getting ahead of the curve is essential if marketers want to ensure visibility on the platform.
We’ve compiled all the information about SearchGPT, how it’ll impact SEO in the future, and how you can start preparing for it.
What is SearchGPT?
SearchGPT is (or will be) an AI search engine powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT model.
ChatGPT has quickly become the industry leader for AI chatbot tools and is by far the most popular of any of the current tools on the market and current occupies the position as industry leader. SearchGPT will utilise the well-known ChatGPT model to provide answers for online search queries.
The aim of the platform, as with other AI search tools, is to provide a more streamlined search experience for users – giving them quicker and easier access to the results they’re seeking for.
How Will SearchGPT Be Different to Other AI Search Tools?
Search Chatbot
From what we’ve seen of the platform so far, the primary difference is that it will operate in a fundamentally different way to other AI search tools like Google’s AI overviews and Microsoft’s Copilot in Bing. While these tools attach an AI summary or answer into a traditional search results page, SearchGPT will first produce a direct answer within a chatbot interface.
Users will type in their search query into SearchGPT, prompted by the phrase “What are you looking for?” and it will provide an answer with referenced sources from websites.
Below the result isn’t a list of traditional search engine results, but the search bar – allowing users to ask follow-up or related questions. OpenAI claims this allows for users to “search in a more natural, intuitive way” – “just like you would in a conversation”.
Powered by GPT
The other difference is the model powering the search platform. ChatGPT is currently the industry-leading AI chatbot in use. It’s achieved this through its flexibility, customisability, how fast it is, and the fact it can achieve all of the above while still retaining an acceptable level of accuracy. The language style of the bot has also been improved for seamless conversation with people. All of these factors make for a model that will more effectively power the search platform than competitors do.
No Advertisements or Promotions
Another significant change is the complete lack of advertisement or promotional results within the results page on SearchGPT. Having the top of search results be dominated by advertising results is something users have become very familiar with when using traditional search and even new AI tools, but it is no doubt an irritation for many. OpenAI have pivoted on this, with their prototype lacking any ad slots or results. Instead, the conversational result begins immediately.
Since this is an early prototype of the tool, it would be speculation to say that advertisements are being left out entirely from SearchGPT. Ads make up a large proportion (76%) of the revenue generated by Google, making it a key contributor to the sustainability of their search platform – raising the question of whether OpenAI would require similar monetary support with this platform.
However, if they were to be left out, it would mark a major shift in the prioritisation of user experience while searching. With the increase of advertisement saturation in our daily lives, the prospect of a search engine without ads is big enough to really shift users away from established platforms and towards the SearchGPT.
How Is SearchGPT Used?
As discussed, the primary output of SearchGPT will be as a “search chatbot”. When users enter a search query, SearchGPT will answer with a text overview summarising the information requested – including imagery or other multimedia where necessary. The summary will include references to relevant websites and a carousel panel of sites at the bottom of the overview.
This is the first tab – but SearchGPT also provides two other response “tabs” that users can switch to. The second tab is known as “sources” and is a more traditional list of links to websites that SearchGPT crawled and used to create its summary. The third and final tab is an image results tab which does what is says on the tin – give you relevant image results in the same way a traditional search engine does.
How Will SearchGPT Impact SEO?
The answer to this question is primarily dependent on how widespread it will be used. But, if users do flock to it in the same way that they’ve flocked to ChatGPT, the impact on SEO as we know it could be phenomenal.
Unlike the other traditional SEO tools, there main output will not contain a “10 blue links” or traditional search engine results page(s). While Google’s AI overview and Bing copilot have retained the traditional search experience within their experience, OpenAI have forgone that almost entirely.
The search result is instead a text and image summary compiled by ChatGPT with linked sources to websites. If the tool enjoys widespread use, this could prove especially deadly to content and information-based websites – even Wikipedia – where the SearchGPT answer contains all the information users without the need to visit the website itself.
If this is the case, the emphasis for those working on search – like an in-house team or an SEO agency – will shift to creating and crafting useful content that can be included and then linked to within the summary; marking a monumental shift in how SEO is conducted.
In short, the bigger SearchGPT becomes, the more SEO as a practice will change.
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All the information in this article is based on the SearchGPT Prototype and may not be representative of the final product.
