ChatGPT + Bing vs. Google

The episode explores the relationship between ChatGPT and Bing, investigating how Bing powers ChatGPT's search results and the implications for Google and SEO. We delve into the criteria ChatGPT utilizes for selecting content and the adaptive nature of SEO amidst these changes. 

[0:24] ChatGPT + Bing vs. Google
[3:22] Does Bing use Google?
[4:38] Hey Google, please shut up
[5:33] ChatGPT vs. Google & other AI Tools
[6:33] SEO is Dead?
[7:00] How Does ChatGPT Search Work?

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Meredith's Husband
https://www.meredithshusband.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last episode.
Do you remember what we talkedabout last episode?
No, I'm not surprised.
We talked about the new searchengine from ChatGPT and how
people were saying, oh, it'slike this is going to kill
Google, this is it Right?
And we you and I talked aboutwell, how do you suppose ChatGPT

(00:21):
is searching the web, right?
And what that might mean forGoogle and Google's future,
right?
And I sort of suggested that,yeah, chatgpt probably uses
Google to search the web, soit's not going to kill Google.
And people wrote in to let meknow that ChatGPT uses Bing, and

(00:42):
that is correct.
They do use Bing.
So I'm going to go a littledeeper into that today.
I think that's a good idea.
So they do use Bing, and Ibelieve Microsoft was a
substantial and is a substantialinvestor in OpenAI, the company
that created ChatGPT.
So it makes sense for ChatGPTto have a close partnership with

(01:04):
and use Bing.
Bing is owned by Microsoft.
Okay, wait, I don't understandwhy it makes sense.
It makes sense becauseMicrosoft owns Bing.
Bing is Microsoft's searchengine.
Microsoft invested heavily inChatGPT.

(01:24):
Oh, search engine.
Microsoft invested heavily inchat GPT.
So part of that arrangement,I'm sure, is you use our search
results.
Now, that is true, I am surethey do use Bing.
What I am saying and this is notbased I do not work for either
of these companies.
I cannot say definitivelyexactly what's happening, but
based on my experience andknowing what these companies do

(01:45):
and things they say, and thenseeing what they actually do,
this is based on my experience,seeing that and we're going to
game this out a couple ofdifferent ways I could be
imagine that I'm just totallywrong about this.
We'll imagine that.
You know, every so oftenthere's a yellow moon.
Yeah, do you remember that?
You remember that one time Iwas wrong about something, that

(02:06):
one time I was wrong about thatone thing?
No, that was the only time.
No, you're usually always right.
I'm glad I was recording that.
You can listen to that.
We'll talk after.
I'm going to have an easybutton that plays that clip.
Yeah, anyway, back to my story.
What was my story?
Yeah, anyway, back to my story.
What was my story?
Your story was what somebodysays.

(02:27):
So, absolutely so, let's saythey do use Bing.
They don't say that theyexclusively use Bing.
Obviously, they're never goingto say that they get search
results from Google.
They can't do that.
They'd get sued immediately.
So, again, based on myexperience, I bet they are also
using Google.

(02:47):
But let's say they're not.
Let's say they are only usingwe don't know, we'll never know,
right, we don't know.
Let's say they are only usingBing, yeah.
So let me back up a handful ofyears to a little experiment
that Google did.
Okay, okay, so Google, theyhard-coded a specific search.

(03:08):
What that means is if you did asearch for, and they just put
together a string of lettersthat are so long that nobody
would ever search for it, okay.
And if they set it up so thatif somebody did do that search,
only a single website would comeup and it would have nothing to
do with the search.
So there is no way that thiswould ever make sense.
If you saw this result, thenthey waited a few months and

(03:31):
they went to Bing and they didthat search and guess what came
up?
That website, that website.
So that was a very obvioussignal.
It was proof.
It was like there was.
It could never happen that Bingwas feeding up Google results.
Now, what happened as a resultof that?
I don't know exactly.

(03:52):
I assume there was some sort oflawsuit, but what the consensus
was at the time is that, morethan anything.
It's just really embarrassingfor Bing because they were
saying we don't use searchresults.
We have our own, and theyprobably do have their own, but
everybody supplements thingswith Google.
That's one of my points.

(04:12):
Okay, let's say for the sake ofargument that ChatGPT is only
using Bing and Bing is no longerstealing information from
Google search results.
Google is like totally out ofthe picture.
Their information is not beingused at all.
Then my second point from lastepisode was Okay, google's going

(04:33):
to adapt, right.
Right, I do remember you sayingthat.
I will be the probably not thefirst to admit, but I will
definitely agree that if you goto ChatGPT and try to have a
conversation and do a search forthings, it's better than the.
Is that Google is answering forme?
Does this all the time?

(04:55):
I never have a Zoom call whenthis doesn't happen.
Google, how's my phoneFinishing the podcast for us?
Okay, what was I talking about?
You were talking about?
Oh, right, I admit.
Yes, chat GPT is better thanthe similar generative search
results that you get from Google.
Google is doing the same thing.

(05:17):
If you notice at the top, whenyou do a search of the search
results page, they're going togive their own AI-generated
result.
Yes, I've noticed that it's notthat great right now, but what
is the difference?
And I've asked people whospecialize in it.
I've asked one guy who taughtthis stuff at MIT and I ran into
him in Truro walking the dogsAre you serious?

(05:38):
Yes, I am.
What is?
I asked him.
This was like a year ago.
What is it that ChatGPT isdoing so differently from Google
and everybody else trying to dothis?
And he said and also, I'vespoken with people at Google and
they say the same thing.
They just have a headstart.
They're not doing anything thatdifferent.
They just they're ahead ofeverybody.

(05:58):
Right, they're the first.
So you know, they absolutelyhave a head start, a noticeable
head start on Google andeverybody else.
My point is Google will adapt.
Yeah, when people say Google isdead or SEO is dead or et
cetera, et cetera, the thingabout SEO is that it adapts, it
changes.
The only constant in SEO isthat it's always changing.

(06:20):
So as long as people are outthere searching for things,
looking for things on theinternet, seo is going to adapt
and adjust to whatever thatmeans.
Right, that makes sense.
So I have a little bonus today.
Oh well, hello, bonus.
So I went to chat GPT thismorning.
Yes, and I said dear chat GPT,how do you choose which results

(06:46):
from the internet to display inyour responses?
How about that?
Because, so, let's say, excuseme, so remember, let's say did
you hear the podcast?
Let's say that chatPT is usingBing.
They're still, they have accessto the same internet that
Google does and they're gettingall their information ultimately
from the same places.
How is it that they are going tochoose how to answer people?

(07:08):
Right, because everybody'sgoing to want to know this,
because SEO is going to move inthis sort of direction, whether
it's ChatGPT or whether it's theAI version of Google.
You want to get into thatresponse.
Right, because there's nolonger going to be, eventually,
a search results page likeGoogle, where there are like 10

(07:29):
different websites that you seeand you've got to choose one.
It's just going to summarizeeverything for you.
That's what chat GPT does.
That's what Google does.
Chatgpt is doing it better, butthe question for businesses is
how to be one of those websitesthat ChatGPT chooses.
Right, and so that was thereason I asked and, and it

(07:49):
described the criteria that ituses.
Okay, and it's all the samestuff as SEO.
It literally talked aboutkeywords.
It talked about relevancy.
It talked about trustworthiness.
It talked about all the samestuff that you would do if you
want to get to the top of Google.
All the exact same stuff.
Not all of it, but the stuffthat it mentioned was the same

(08:10):
Predominantly.
So the rules right now are thesame Right now.
Right now.
Now, talk about a cliffhanger.
The rules right now are thesame Right now.
Right now.
Now, talk about a cliffhanger.
I want to get into this alittle more deeply, about what
ChatGPT said in response to myquestion how do you get your
website into ChatGPT results?

(08:30):
I'm going to have to tacklethat in the next episode, so
topical.