Things continue to move fast in the world of AI and search, so here’s an end-of-Q1 summary of some things I’m observing in the landscape of search.
First and foremost, it’s important to remember that although AI search continues to grow, Google search still accounts for a huge proportion of search traffic.
How to compare AI queries to ‘traditional’ search queries
When we look at stats relating to AI generative models, we also have to remember that the capabilities of AI are far greater than just being a competitor to a search engine.
So not every query that is entered into an AI generative platform is the kind of query that is taking traffic away from search: it’s actually helping to increase the overall volume of queries that are happening.
Think of the different uses of AI generative engines:
- To carry out research
- To write reports
- To compile charts and graphs
For these types of queries, there is no competitor.
But when you’re asking for recommendations like these, AI search is competing with search engines:
- What’s the best Italian restaurant within 30minutes of my home?
- What’s the best spa experience in New England?
- What’s a good luxury hotel for a romantic weekend away where I can also bring my dog?
And, according to the latest estimates, these types of queries account for around 31% of ChatGPT queries.
In other words, 775 million web searches per day are happening in ChatGPT that could be deemed competing with Google.
Google, on the other hand, processes 8.5 billion queries per day. So still a lot, lot higher.
And the really cool thing about this?
Google queries are only increasing.
Search is expanding. Massively.
The different types of search in AI and traditional search
Secondly, we need to look at the different types of searches that people do.
To recap, there are (very broadly) two types of search:
- High intent search, and
- Informational search
The two are very different, and need to be considered independently of one another when we’re talking about lead generation for businesses.
Informational search is what you do when you’re researching something, or looking for information. Pre-AI, this accounted for around 85% of all internet searches. In the last few months, it’s highly likely that this percentage has increased, because that’s where AI excels. Most people using AI are researching, and they’re researching more thoroughly than they used to be able using traditional search engines.
High intent search is what you do when you’ve made a decision that you need a particular product or service, and you’re now trying to solve the problem of how to receive that product or service. In short, high intent search is where the money is, regardless of platform.
So let’s talk about high intent searches and AI
For high intent services, people still click through to websites and read your content.
In traditional search engines, high intent searches typically go like this:
Google search → visit multiple websites for research → submit contact information on one or two.
With AI search, it looks more like this:
AI Search: more thorough and specific initial search → Receive fewer, better curated results → visit one or two highly targeted websites → submit contact information on one or two websites.
Both of these paths involve actually visiting business websites.
So if you’re a business and you’re looking to attract new clients through search, it’s even more important than ever to have high intent keywords on your site.
If that’s a priority for you, you can schedule a call with me here and we can discuss your best path to achieving that.
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