SearchGPT for dummies: 101 on how marketers can prepare for the future of search

Generative AI is quickly changing the way we do things and that includes the way we search for information online. Enter into the chat, SearchGPT: a temporary prototype of new AI search features by OpenAI that gives you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.

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What is Search GPT?

SearchGPT is a prototype of new search features designed to combine the strength of OpenAI's AI models with information from the web to give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources, according to OpenAI.

Getting answers on the web can take a lot of effort, often requiring multiple attempts to get relevant results.

OpenAI believes that by enhancing the conversational capabilities of its models with real-time information from the web, finding what you’re looking for can be faster and easier.

As a result, SearchGPT is designed to quickly and directly respond to your questions with up-to-date information from the web while giving you clear links to relevant sources.

OpenAI explained:

You’ll be able to ask follow-up questions, like you would in a conversation with a person, with the shared context building with each query.

Currently, SearchGPT is in its nascent stage, and it is only being released to a small group of users and publishers to get feedback. 

"While this prototype is temporary, we plan to integrate the best of these features directly into ChatGPT in the future," said OpenAI. 

How this could help publishers

Currently, publishers are scrambling because Google recently started testing changing up the way search works on its platform, favouring AI-generated summaries which compile information from news sites and publications.

"With generative AI, Search can do more than you ever imagined. So, you can ask whatever’s on your mind or whatever you need to get done — from researching to planning to brainstorming — and Google will take care of the legwork," said Liz Reid, VP, head of Google Search in May this year. 

"Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews," she added. 

Reid explained that with AI Overviews, people are visiting a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions.

"And we see that the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query," said Reid. 

As Google expands this experience, it said that it will continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators. "As always, ads will continue to appear in dedicated slots throughout the page, with clear labeling to distinguish between organic and sponsored results," she said. 

However, many publishers have said that this move could threaten the role of journalists and news sites as consumers have less of a need to click into sites considering that they can get their answers largely from AI Overviews. 

SearchGPT on the other hand, is committed to a thriving ecosystem of publishers and creators. "We hope to help users discover publisher sites and experiences, while bringing more choice to search," said OpenAI. 

It added that for decades, search has been a foundational way for publishers and creators to reach users. Now, its using AI to enhance this experience by highlighting high quality content in a conversational interface with multiple opportunities for users to engage.

SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches.

True enough, responses will have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links.



Additionally, OpenAI has partnered with publishers to build this experience and to get their feedback. 

In addition to launching the SearchGPT prototype, OpenAI is also launching a way for publishers to manage how they appear in SearchGPT, so publishers have more choices.

"Importantly, SearchGPT is about search and is separate from training OpenAI’s generative AI foundation models," it said. "Sites can be surfaced in search results even if they opt out of generative AI training."

"With the introduction of search GPT and increased consumer use, there will be an expected direct impact on search engine revenues and monetisation models, although Google’s recent quarterly results suggest that this has yet to be felt, according to Don Anderson, CEO of Kaddadle Consultancy.

"However, Google has been continually losing market share in search, and the introduction and expected uptake of OpenAI’s recently announced search engine and increased integration of multimodal search within all sorts of platforms – from social media sites and messaging services to search engines and ecommerce platforms – will add further pressure on the company to maintain its industry foothold," explained Anderson. 

He went on to say that we have no entered a full blown ‘search war’ era. "The monopoly that Google has had over search for the last 20 plus years has probably never been tested as much as it is being today, although their dominant position is far from over," he said, adding:

Marketers would be unwise to write Google off in this domain, however they should remain wise to what’s coming up and how the concept of search is evolving.

How can marketers prepare for SearchGPT?

According to Anderson, marketers should anticipate that more evolved and sophisticated AI-powered search options will be integral to all platforms, from social media sites and messaging services to search engines and eCommerce platforms.

"Marketers need to get ready for monetisation of more intelligent, conversational multimodal search that will be far more visual and interactive. They’ll need to be asking the platforms what their brands can or cannot do within this new environment, what new ad options are being prepped," said Anderson. 

He added that although traditional search related ad words programs are expected to remain dominant, it's crucial for marketers to start exploring new strategies now, if they haven’t already, in light of the rapid pace of change in the industry.

He said:

Marketers need to be prepared that it is going to take time for multimodal search to find its proper footing and adoption – AI-enhanced search results are not infallible and prone to AI hallucinations, which pose brand safety considerations and ongoing reviews with the platforms.

Adding to his point, Milind, an AI Scientist from Mercedes, who was expressing independent views, said that marketers will need to focus on creating high-quality, informative content that directly addresses user intent.

"With a potential move away from links, content will need to stand on its own merit. Additionally, marketers will need to adapt to a new landscape where search results may be dominated by AI-generated content," he said. 

He added that the biggest expected change is a shift from link-based search to direct answer search. "This could significantly impact SEO strategies and content marketing," he said. 

Saying that, Pramodh Rai, co-founder of Cyber Sierra, is of the opinion that there will not be much of an impact in the short-term. He explained that AI and search are quickly evolving to augment each other in ways that vastly superior user experiences to the status quo is within sight of our current generation.

"For example, we will be able to chat our way into planning our work or school days, retrieving current information, scheduling follow ups, contacting friends and more with search simply embedded into each activity. Very capable teams at OpenAI and its competitors are racing to make the above a reality for us," he said/

Rai added that when this happens, we will grow accustomed to getting more work done within modalities of AI products, likely moving us away from needing to open up a search browser to get things done. He explained:

Provenance will always remain a crucial part of search results. People and organisations need certainty to ensure the information they’re acting on is reliable and credible. The importance of links to sources will thus remain.

He added that AI products, particularly LLMs, may remain a black box or be open-source models, where weights of trained models can be understood and source code available for scrutiny. This is an evolving area where even the concepts of open weights and open source are being defined more clearly.

"Where proprietary models are concerned, marketers will need to urge for discussions on what new age optimisation techniques will look like. Just like in the times of Google Search and Microsoft Bing, this new ‘black box’ needs to be explained to some extent so the world’s information can be organised better by various parties in the ecosystem," said Rai. 

He added that where search experiences are built on an ‘open source, open weights’ approach, marketers will need to either get technical or work with experts to understand how information is being ranked and retrieved to be in position to influence attention.

Meanwhile, Ranganathan Somanathan, CEO and advisor of Publicis Media Malaysia and Singapore International broke down what marketers need to do to prepare for the future of SearchGPT in four points:

Structured data and SEO: Implementing structured data and optimising for natural language processing will become critical.

Adaptation to AI responses: Create concise and factual content that AI can easily incorporate into answers.

Brand stature: Becoming a trusted source will be critical as AI favours authentic brands.

Content quality and relevance: Brands that focus on creating high quality content that AI can recognise as valuable and reliable will be better positioned to show up in a SearchGPT environment. 

Photo courtesy of OpenAI

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