The role of AI in SEO has been evolving rapidly in recent months. Google officially launched its AI insights in May, Bing then began a generative search pilot in July. Therefore, which went fully live in October. OpenAI announced the SearchGPT prototype on July 25th, followed by the launch of ChatGPT Search on October 31st .
The launch of AI in Google and Bing
Along with the growing popularity of multimodal search (e.g. TikTok), has had a significant impact on the market. However, the launch of ChatGPT Search seems to be something else.
ChatGPT is already driving users to websites, reaching an incredible 200 million weekly users in August 2024. All this is happening at a time when artificial intelligence is gaining momentum and user trust, although skeptics still hinder its mass adoption. In February 2024, Gartner predicted that “search volume” on traditional search engines would decline by 25% by 2026. After testing ChatGPT and discovering its capabilities, we conclude that this prediction may indeed come true.
Summary of search observations
SearchGPT also cites pages outside the top 100 results on Bing: SearchGPT can cite web pages that are not ranked in the top 100 results on Bing. This highlights the importance of the difference between indexed and ranked content.
Differences between Bing’s generative results and SearchGPT answers: There are often significant discrepancies between the answers generated by Bing and SearchGPT. Therefore, which is worth noting.
Multiple pages from one domain in the response: SearchGPT may list multiple pages from one domain source in its response.
Variability of answers for the same query:
SearchGPT answers to the same query may vary, even when searching from the same account and from the same IP address.
Accuracy for specific queries: For some specific queries with limited online information, SearchGPT’s answer was more accurate than results on Google and Bing.
Poorer local search experience: Local search feels less quality and for some queries the result seems untrustworthy.
Single-source results in maps: Some results only contain sources from one page, with the number of sources decreasing as more sources are added.
Links with UTM tracking parameter:
When clicking on some links from SearchGPT, the parameter ?utm_source=chatgpt.com is added. This type of tracking (UTM) is key for analyzing traffic sources.
High Bing ranking does not mean better citation in SearchGPT: Higher Bing rankings do not necessarily mean better citation in SearchGPT, but the link to AI. Therefore, report data is still closer.
Text-focused answers: Although some answers may include a map or images (e.g., for fashion and travel questions), this is not the rule.
Inconsistent image sources in carousels: Images in results may not appear in the list of cited sources in the sidebar.
Content behind a paywall:
SearchGPT can also cite content that is behind a paywall.
Citation to a non-existent page: SearchGPT may link to a page that already returns a 404 error.
Better understanding of dominican republic mobile database time-sensitive queries: SearchGPT has a better understanding of time-sensitive queries than. Therefore, AI reports, even if the query does not directly include time data.
The growing importance of Bing for search in ChatGPT Search
Bing is quickly becoming the search engine we should start thinking about differently. In the past, it was often considered a “second-tier” player, making a significant impact only in certain sectors and among specific target groups. Although its market share still does not reach the level of Google, Bing is increasingly used within various large language models (LLMs), which also applies to ChatGPT Search.
OpenAI has been working with Bing
SearchGPT is not surprising. Rather, it is a confirmation that Bing occupies an important place in the broader search ecosystem. Today, it is necessary to stop evaluating search engines only by their direct market share.
This also means that sites that a successful corporate podcast requires planning are not in the Bing index will not appear in ChatGPT Search results. However, this does not mean that you need to rank high on Bing to appear in ChatGPT results. Similar to Google’s AI reports, sources outside of the traditional top positions are selected.
Although Bing is important to the SearchGPT ecosystem, it is not the only source.
Comparison of search results in ChatGPT
To compare search results, the research focused on queries in the areas of local search, categories, e-commerce, and some informational or time-sensitive queries.
There were frequent results that SearchGPT vs. Google vs. Bing didn’t rank in the top 100 on Bing. Therefore, suggesting that SearchGPT uses different sources. So optimizing for Bing doesn’t automatically mean you’re also cpa email list optimizing for ChatGPT and other LLMs. In AI reports, if a page appears outside the top 100, it’s usually assumed to come from Google’s overall database. But could it also be possible that OpenAI is doing something similar?
“Maps” in ChatGPT Search and local search
Local queries are crucial for many businesses, but SearchGPT has some shortcomings in this area. For example, when searching for [technical SEO agency], SearchGPT returned three results: two close to the IP address from which the test originated and a third in a random location, in another part of the country.
There are regions with a high incidence of agencies near the given IP. Therefore, but these were not included. The selected results were relevant.