AI Search: Reshaping Digital Marketing

AI search engines are causing significant shifts in how users find information and interact with digital content. Traditional search methods are being disrupted as AI tools consolidate information from multiple sources into comprehensive answers, changing user behavior and expectations.

• AI tools like ChatGPT are changing how people research by consolidating information from multiple sources
• Google search results now feature AI summaries pushing organic listings further down
• Users increasingly trust AI-generated answers without clicking through to source websites
• Tourism clients see potential benefits when AI accurately presents their destinations in search summaries
• Content strategy should focus on providing well-structured information that AI can easily interpret
• Despite 1,950% increase in AI search referrals during Cyber Monday, traditional search still dominates
• Digital agencies must monitor these trends as they may impact where clients advertise in the future
• Habit shifts from Google to AI search will likely happen gradually as users adapt to new technologies

The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director WHD
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're back with brand news, Welcome back.
So a couple of articles totouch on today.
The first one the rise of AIsearch engines and their impact
on traditional search.
Very important for us as agencyowners who carry out
performance campaigns for ourclients.
Do you use AI tools such asChatGPT or Perplexity to do
search now, personally?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I do Not for product, obviously.
I think that it's more frominfo-seeking, something I'm
currently planning for a bit ofan extended holiday coming up,
and so I've been using ChatGPTbut not the search function,
more so just ChatGPT standardchat side of things.
I would say no, I have notactually used ChatGPT search.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, I am leveraging the fact ChatGPT is connected
to the internet and can getcurrent and real information.
I'm asking it to reference itsfindings, but I'm using it to
solve problems, like you know,if I'm trying to put together
contracts for my office orpolicies based off Fair Work,

(01:09):
I'm asking it to referenceinformation on Fair Work or
reference information on the ATOwebsite to provide an answer or
feedback.
So it is using the search, butI'm getting it to combine with a
question so that the answer isdriven by the knowledge on those
websites.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yes, so it wouldn't be a traditional search,
Obviously quite a differentintent to what you would
normally use, say yourtraditional Google search for.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, that said, I'm going to New York soon.
I'm using it to create ideasfor itineraries, but it's
actually bringing in restaurantsand where they're based to go
to and their reviews.
It's bringing in venues orthings to do that are near those
restaurants and open on thatparticular day.
So it's kind of skipping pastthe need to search, get all

(01:56):
those things together in a listand then using ChatGPT to plan
the itinerary.
It's going and finding relevantthings based off their distance
to each other.
So, yes, I think the way I'musing the internet is changing.
I'm not needing to go and doall the searches beforehand to
do the heavy lifting, but Ihaven't used it to sort of

(02:16):
determine the next best phone orlaptop to get or in the ways I
think about Google search.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah.
So my friend who runs an SEOagency is constantly sending me
messages about how Google isfucking up the search results in
terms of, well, first of all,the amount of new ad placements
that they're testing and stuff.
So I guess, from an organicpoint of view, how much harder
it is to actually get rankingsactually in front of people now,
because your first sort ofstuff now is coming through all

(02:44):
the AI recommendations andeverything.
Then you've got your layers ofads and then you finally will
get down to your organic searchresults and so it's really
making things challenging and adifferent landscape on the SEO
side of things.
But I find that the whole, Iguess, search function even on
Google now seems so different towhat it was only six months ago
.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Absolutely, and I would expect nothing less from a
search engine optimizationspecialist to be annoyed at this
change.
However, I've found the resultsreferenced in the Google search
summaries, or AI summaries, sowhen you're reading the answer,
you can see what site it's fromor where it's drawn it from.

(03:23):
I don't take it as gospel.
I take it as a summary of whatGoogle's found.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Are you clicking through, though?
Are you then taking the nextstep from looking at the
references and then actuallyclicking through and reading
content on that site?
Or you're like, okay, well,that looks legit enough.
I'm going to take that ascorrect.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
If I trust the link that it got it from, I'm going
to take that as correct If Itrust the link that it got it
from.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I'm definitely not clicking through.
I don't want to Exactly.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
So, yeah, it's impacting organic search and
traffic and traffic.
Yeah, but you know some of ourclients in the tourism space.
This is a big factor for themand they're asking well, what
does it mean?
They need to have the rightanswers to add to those
summaries.
Their end goal isn't so muchthe traffic, it's the change in

(04:09):
user behavior, or customerbehavior to pick these locations
for their next holiday.
So having the answers displayedin AI summaries, it's just the
user getting to the right answerthat they've produced sooner.
Ai summaries it's just the usergetting to the right answer
that they've produced sooner.
So it's changing the perceptionthat you need that traffic on

(04:29):
your site If they don't need toconvert on site and they just
need that information for theirresearch.
Sometimes it's pretty helpful.
It's.
Also there's a lot of unknownsI'm finding about how many of
the searches are displaying withthe AI summaries.
I know we've switched from AIsearch engines to Google's AI
summaries, but this is a hottopic too.
Well, it's all related, yeahit's all quite related, but I
think what this article is aboutis the shift away from

(04:54):
traditional search engines.
So Google's introducing theseAI summaries to try to keep up
with the likes of ChatGPT.
I'm going to keep trying thisfor myself.
This article states thatthere's a 1,950% increase in
referrals to those AI searchengines during Cyber Monday, but
that's a great number.

(05:14):
But compared to the volume oftraffic in search and knowing
that search traffic in total isstill growing, I don't think
it's diminishing.
I don't think they're stealingenough for this to be a problem
for advertisers and marketers.
But it is more and moreimportant that you have the
right content and answers onyour site so that when these

(05:35):
bots are crawling it to try togive an answer to its users,
that your information iswell-structured and easy to find
and can add to the conversationwhen it's had in AI.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yep.
So I guess, in terms of AIsearch, we are obviously very
excited to see where things aregoing because it's going to have
a direct impact on our digitalagencies, because if people stop
using Google, it's going tomake some big shifts in terms of
where our clients are going tobe advertising.
So can't see it actuallyhappening in the short term, but
it's definitely something thatwe are paying attention to
because it is going to be well.

(06:07):
It contributes to the changinglandscape that we're always
facing.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Absolutely, We'll keep an eye on it.
I'll start using ChatGPT forsearches.
I would typically do to see howthat goes for a little while,
but I think we're just going tosee the use of these AI.
You know GPTs and agentsincrease dramatically over time
and I'm here for it.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's a habit shift though, isn't it?
Sorry, this is like an outro,but I'm like I can't.
It's just so used to pushingthat Google button to search for
something out of habit.
So I think that there will be ashift, but it's sort of.
I guess it has to blow yourmind in terms of how much better
it is to then make that a thingyou go back and do again and
again and change that habit.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Absolutely.
And if the answer you'reexpecting is simple like what's,
where is this business?
Or, um, what's the name of thecafe up the road?
You know you're not going toneed the power of artificial
intelligence to help answer.
So, yeah, interesting to seewhere we go.