Rethinking the Way We Search: How AI-Powered Chatbots are Redefining the Search Landscape”

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in search engines continues to grow, advertisers and agencies are racing to adapt to the changing landscape. Gone are the days of traditional search engine optimization (SEO), where websites were optimized to rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs). Instead, companies are now focused on getting their brands to surface in results generated by AI-powered chatbots.

A New Era of Search Engine Optimization

Advertising groups and tech startups have developed software to monitor how frequently brands are surfaced by AI-powered services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Overviews feature. Companies like Profound and Brandtech have created tools to analyze the sentiment of AI models towards brands, allowing agencies to advise on how best to ensure they are mentioned by the models.

According to research from consultancy Bain, 80% of consumers now rely on AI-written results for at least 40% of their searches, reducing organic web traffic by up to 25%. With 60% of searches now ending without users clicking through to another website, agencies are spotting the opportunity to offer new services to brands as AI becomes more prevalent.

Despite the growing popularity of rival AI chatbots, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced its core search and advertising business grew almost 10% to $50.7 billion in the first quarter of the year. However, the strong results may not be enough to reassure investors concerned about the cannibalization of its search business by AI summaries and chatbots.

As the use of AI in search engines continues to grow, it’s clear that the traditional search engine optimization model is no longer effective. Companies are now focused on creating content that is relevant and useful, rather than just trying to rank high in search engine results. As one expert noted, “It is much harder to be a target of SEO because the only sort of true strategy is to be as relevant as possible and provide good content.”

Perplexity, an AI-driven search engine, is currently piloting sponsored “questions” as a suggested follow-up after a user query. This new approach allows users to ask more nuanced and precise questions, such as “can you find a quiet restaurant for a family of five in New York”. As AI-driven search engines become more prevalent, it’s clear that the future of search is in the hands of AI.