Goodbye blue links, AI Search has arrived
Google Search was a trillion dollar monopoly for the best part of two decades, until ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and the way people discover information was changed forever.
Today, an estimated 200-300 million daily queries are handled by Answer Engines like ChatGPT or Perplexity and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Consumers love AI Answers because they save time and reduce the pain of decision making.
Future of search
And as the world witnessed in the past with previous shifts like digital, mobile and social, AI Search is shaping up as an ‘adapt or die’ ultimatum for any brand that relies on web traffic.
This isn’t a problem that can be kicked down the road, this change is happening right now - with folks already reporting a decline in traffic. And it seems like it will only continue to intensify; a recent Gartner report states: "By 2028 brands’ organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace generative AI-powered search".
Right now is the time for brands to start monitoring, analyzing, and optimizing their content for AI Search. Much like SEO in 1992, the players that get ahead now will reap the benefits for years to come.
To illustrate the importance of AI Search Strategy, let’s look at an example of a consumer using ChatGPT to research running shoes:
As you can see, the user is presented with multiple product recommendations, each with supporting rationale.
Unlike traditional search, ChatGPT synthesizes nuance to give better, more relevant answers; accounting for the running distance, the user’s gender and even the inferred request for additional arch support. ChatGPT also memorizes key points which will be stored and used for context in future searches.
Inconsequential to brands
At a glance, this new search format may seem inconsequential to brands, but look again and ask: where is Nike? As you can see, ChatGPT did not suggest a single product from Nike - a company that spends $4bn per year on marketing (footwear being their #1 category).
For Nike executives, this is a critical issue. For every other marketing executive, it highlights a nascent opportunity created by AI Search.
A thoughtful AI Search Strategy is the antidote. By establishing a continuous feedback loop with the Answer Engines, brands can ensure content is optimized for LLM training and retrieval (RAG) systems, resulting in more frequent and favorable citations in AI Search.
This is the problem we are solving at Profound, the first dedicated platform to help enterprise brands monitor, analyze, and optimize their AI Search results.
Profound interrogates AI Search platforms with millions of questions daily to understand how your brand is being represented and then uses a proprietary algorithm to suggest improvements.
Reach out to team@tryprofound.com if you are interested in improving how your brand shows up in AI Search.
