The future of research is asking. The future of results is response.
I like Carl Holden at Zellus Marketing describe the change in how we will all navigate the Internet:
“Since the turn of the millennium, the verb ‘search’ has dominated our interaction with the Internet, typing keywords into a box and scanning a list of results. In the last year, AI has catalyzed a move toward a new verb that will redefine our digital experience: “Ask”.
This change in verbs from “search” to “ask” has important implications (and subsequent consequences) for anyone using the Internet.
“Ask” is different for everyone, so it involves a deep understanding of user intent, personalization, predictive analytics, and contextual filtering.
I think it also runs the risk of contributing to what Ian Whitworth described as “The Great Same-ening.”
Part of this change has been happening for some time, with the rise of zero-click search, where users use search engines to bring up an answer, rather than clicking through to a website.
In 2022, Semrush Found that 25.6% of desktop searches and 17.3% of mobile searches were zero-click searches. That was a year before ChatGPT shook up the entire playing field and Microsoft and Google started a new search engine arms race.
Some predict that website traffic will drop 15-25% by 2024 as the search engine landscape changes and directs fewer people to individual websites.
“Working is more fun with markets framed on the wall”
Insight Partners recently demonstrated what Google Search Labs calls “Search Generative Experience (SGE)” to preview the next evolution of search. While the current Google results page gives the most real estate to organic links, the new SGE has much less room for organic results. One of his contributions:
“Organic traffic is likely to fight for space in a world where much less is available than in the past.”
Also, Insight Partners Found that only 57% of the links cited by Google’s new generative search experience are from the current first page of organic results. So sites that are currently doing well in SEO will not automatically gain traction in the new world.
Marketers have learned to resist every algorithm change in Google. As I once drew in a cartoon, “the algorithm gives and the algorithm takes away.” However, this change looks different.
AI optimization is becoming the new search engine optimization and no one really knows how this will work.
Here are some related drawings I’ve drawn over the years:
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