AI search is going to change marketing… are you prepared?

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has announced they are building a search engine. It’s a move that begs two simple questions: is Google at risk and will this change how you market your business?

The answer is yes to both.

AI search engines aren’t new. Perplexity is an AI search engine with a valuation of over $1bn (£760m), thanks partly to famous investors such as Jeff Bezos.

So when OpenAI announced its search engine, to be honest, it was hardly a great shock. Given they already can access some of the internet (thanks to a partnership with Bing), it was only going to be a matter of time before they took the fight to Google.

It’s a fight that Google needs to take seriously — but how seriously?

One of the common issues with AI tools, such as ChatGPT, is that even if Bing powers them, they don’t do a great job of searching the web.

The results are often flawed and false, and it has a terrible habit of telling big AI fibs. But as Alan Turing once said: “If a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent.”

AI search is designed to be faster and provide better-quality results. But Google has impacted search results in recent years thanks to its AI overviews and ads.

AI overviews have impacted the traffic publishers can get much to their chagrin. By answering search queries directly in the SERPS (search engine results pages), they keep the traffic, and publishers lose out.

Add in that search results are often dominated by paid ads, and Google is impacting brands and publishers alike.

Which is why it was interesting to see OpenAI throw publishers a bone in this search engine arms race, when it stated:

“We are 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. For decades, search has been a foundational way for publishers and creators to reach users. Now, we’re using AI to enhance this experience by highlighting high quality content in a conversational interface with multiple opportunities for users to engage.”

In reality, AI search engines aim to reduce the results you get from searches. The less is more approach. Perplexity already does this, as you can see below.

And I suspect this is what all AI search engines will do. They will limit the amount of results to bring you the ones they think are best. In other words, there is no page two in AI search engines, it is just a follow-up question.

But this isn’t what Google should be worried about.

Search where you are

I went to Rome the other week with the family.

For weeks, I’ve had to endure TikTok and YouTube research by my better half and my daughter. Every night, they’ve been sharing videos with me that showed the best food locations in the city. And within a few weeks, we had our ‘restaurants’ picked out.

One issue. We couldn’t book the restaurants through TikTok.

The vloggers and Tokkers (or whatever TikTok video creators call themselves) created a wide range of content that the family absorbed with salivated tastebuds, however, we had to leave the apps and go to Google to take action.

Unless they’d added the actual restaurant links to the descriptions in the YouTube content, I was left to go back to Google. And TikTok doesn’t even have this feature.

And here lies Google’s first issue.

Right now, they are a different starting point for most journeys. Inspiration to search. The initial spark to search comes from everywhere but Google.

Google must adapt to a world where search engines are legacy technologyThe emails we read, conversations, social media, TV advertising, and the world around us. Fear of missing out. Internal and external triggers cause us to open up our phones or a new tab and search.

But thanks to AI search engines, they need only plug their technology into the places where external triggers happen.

AI search in social media.
AI search on your TV screen.
AI search in your phone.
AI search in TikTok.
AI search in Facebook.

You get the idea.

I’m watching TV and an advert for dog food appears with a sign saying, “Speak to order.” Next, I’m telling my TV screen, “Show me the cheapest prices for (insert brand).”

AI search opens and gives me the three cheapest retailers online. “Order me five tins”.

This is what Google has to worry about.

We can book the restaurants, check the prices and order straight from the shops while on TikTok. TripAdvisor installs AI to search for videos of the hotels you’re considering booking on TikTok or YouTube.

You get the idea. In this world, Google plays a lesser role because someone got in first.

The platforms could use AI search to stop the need to leave. That is what should terrify Google.

There was a time before Google

Google is massive. But we must remember that there was a time when Google didn’t exist, and it wasn’t that long ago.

Google might own YouTube today, but that also might change. And if that changes, you have to ask yourself, does Google have a starting point for search?

Google Plus was a disaster. Gemini is all over the place. Google has Docs, YouTube, Discovery/News and Gmail. And they are great places to use AI search.

But once you remove YouTube from the equation, these aren’t social media or great ad platforms. Search is going to be a lesser part here.

Compared with TikTok or other social platforms, where we are bombarded with content that increases wants, you start to see the issue.

Even LinkedIn has started to do this now. Their emerging AI search tool, powered by Bing and user content, is designed to keep you from leaving.

So, how do you prepare for this?

Brand marketing…it’s back

Google has gotten people drunk on incorrect attribution and created a world where effective brand marketing has been reduced. Their search ads platform has caused a bidding war between brands.

But in an AI search world, we are back to marketing fundamentals. Building mental and physical/ digital availability matters. You tell people you exist through advertising and publicity.

But how are you going to show up for an AI search? What are the rules?

Contextually relevant search within the moment of inspiration will mainly be fuelled by inspiration. This often comes in the form of publicity, influence, and advertising.

My daughter runs down the stairs demanding that I take her to Aldi to check out the latest ‘beauty dupes’ which she found out about from a TikTok influencer.

My wife starts to search for holidays because she saw the latest Jet2 TV ad.

My son searched for a new game for his console because a YouTuber did a walkthrough of the first level.

‘Share of model’ is the new marketing measure for the AI eraInspiration is everywhere. The question is where we search. Google seems to be ignoring that battleground.

All it will take is for platforms to strike a deal with Open AI, and suddenly, they will even the playing field.

Search could be everywhere: every article online, social media post, online video, podcast, TV ad.

And in this world, it’s brand marketing that wins. Because brand marketing fuels search.

As I always say, it’s better to be searched for than found through search. And in an AI search world, that will become even more important.