How Generative AI is Disrupting the Search Engine Ecosystem

Category Artificial Intelligence

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Google, Microsoft, and other tech conglomerates are turning to generative AI to improve online search. As users no longer need to visit search engines to find the information they need, the consequences for traditional search engine optimization are dire. Generative AI offers a sea of opportunities for users, but important potential drawbacks must also be noted.


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Google, Microsoft, and others boast that generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT will make searching the internet better than ever for users. For example, rather than having to wade through a sea of URLs, users will be able to just get an answer combed from the entire internet. There are also some concerns with the rise of AI-fueled search engines, such as the opacity over where information comes from, the potential for "hallucinated" answers, and copyright issues. But one other consequence is that I believe it may destroy the $68 billion search engine optimization industry that companies like Google helped create.

Generative AI in online search is becoming increasingly powerful as natural language processing advancements are made

For the past 25 years or so, websites, news outlets, blogs, and many others with a URL that wanted to get attention have used search engine optimization, or SEO, to "convince" search engines to share their content as high as possible in the results they provide to readers. This has helped drive traffic to their sites and has also spawned an industry of consultants and marketers who advise on how best to do that.

Generative AI algorithms are being designed to identify the intent and context behind the searches

As an associate professor of information and operations management, I study the economics of e-commerce. I believe the growing use of generative AI will likely make all of that obsolete.

How Online Search Works .

Someone seeking information online opens her browser, goes to a search engine and types in the relevant keywords. The search engine displays the results, and the user browses through the links displayed in the result listings until she finds the relevant information. To attract the user’s attention, online content providers use various search engine marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization, paid placements, and banner displays. For instance, a news website might hire a consultant to help it highlight key words in headlines and in metadata so that Google and Bing elevate its content when a user searches for the latest information on a flood or political crisis.

The shift to generative AI puts more pressure on content providers to constantly update existing content or create new content as per the demands of the generative AI algorithms

How Generative AI Changes the Search Process .

But this all depends on search engines luring tens of millions of users to their websites. And so to earn users’ loyalty and web traffic, search engines must continuously work on their algorithms to improve the quality of their search results. That’s why, even if it could hurt a part of their revenue stream, search engines have been quick to experiment with generative AI to improve search results. And this could fundamentally change the online search ecosystem.

Generative AI is expected to reduce the need for banner displays and contextual advertising to promote online content

All the biggest search engines have already adopted or are experimenting with this approach. Examples include Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing AI, Baidu’s ERNIE, and DuckDuckGo’s DuckAssist. Rather than getting a list of links, both organic and paid, based on whatever keywords or questions a user types in, generative AI will instead simply give you a text result in the form of an answer. Say you’re planning a trip to Destin, Florida, and type the prompt "Create a three-day itinerary for a visitor" there. Instead of a bunch of links to Yelp and blog postings that require lots of clicking and reading, typing this prompt into Bing AI will result in a detailed three-day itinerary.

Generative AI can provide users with more meaningful information from a single search query in comparison to traditional search engine results that require additional clicks

Over time, as this technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, users no longer need to visit search engines to find the information they need. They just have to type their prompt on the nearest device and get back a text answer from a generative AI-powered search engine.

Generative AI in online search is becoming increasingly powerful as natural language processing advancements are made. Generative AI algorithms are being designed to identify the intent and context behind the searches, and to provide users with more meaningful information from a single search query in comparison to traditional search engine results that require additional clicks.

Generative AI also has the potential to alter the landscape of customer service, providing a more natural way to interact with customers

The shift to generative AI puts more pressure on content providers to constantly update existing content or create new content as per the demands of the generative AI algorithms. Generative AI is also expected to reduce the need for banner displays and contextual advertising to promote online content. In addition, generative AI has the potential to alter the landscape of customer service, providing a more natural way to interact with customers.

Overall, generative AI offers a sea of opportunities for users. At the same time, it's important to note the potential drawbacks as well as the potential solutions to tackle them. We may even see an entirely new landscape of search engines emerge – one that uses generative AI for content curation.


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