Digital Horizons
Welcome to Digital Horizons, where today's strategies meet tomorrow's innovations in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.
Dive deep with industry trailblazers and thought leaders as we uncover what's driving success right now and forecast the trends that will shape the digital landscape in the years to come.
In each episode, we'll decode the tactics, tools, and techniques that are transforming the way businesses connect with their audience, ensuring that you stay ahead of the curve.
From social media shifts to the newest SEO advancements, e-commerce innovations to content marketing insights, Digital Horizons is your essential guide to the future of online marketing.
Join us on this journey, and let's shape the future of digital, together.
Subscribe now, and never let the digital future catch you by surprise.
Digital Horizons
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
We're back with brand news, Welcome back. So a couple of articles to touch on today. The first one the rise of AI search engines and their impact on traditional search. Very important for us as agency owners who carry out performance campaigns for our clients. Do you use AI tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity to do search now, personally?
Speaker 2:I do Not for product, obviously. I think that it's more from info-seeking, something I'm currently planning for a bit of an extended holiday coming up, and so I've been using ChatGPT but not the search function, more so just ChatGPT standard chat side of things. I would say no, I have not actually used ChatGPT search.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I am leveraging the fact ChatGPT is connected to the internet and can get current and real information. I'm asking it to reference its findings, but I'm using it to solve problems, like you know, if I'm trying to put together contracts for my office or policies based off Fair Work, I'm asking it to reference information on Fair Work or reference information on the ATO website to provide an answer or feedback. So it is using the search, but I'm getting it to combine with a question so that the answer is driven by the knowledge on those websites.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it wouldn't be a traditional search, Obviously quite a different intent to what you would normally use, say your traditional Google search for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that said, I'm going to New York soon. I'm using it to create ideas for itineraries, but it's actually bringing in restaurants and where they're based to go to and their reviews. It's bringing in venues or things to do that are near those restaurants and open on that particular day. So it's kind of skipping past the need to search, get all those things together in a list and then using ChatGPT to plan the itinerary. It's going and finding relevant things based off their distance to each other. So, yes, I think the way I'm using the internet is changing. I'm not needing to go and do all the searches beforehand to do the heavy lifting, but I haven't used it to sort of determine the next best phone or laptop to get or in the ways I think about Google search.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my friend who runs an SEO agency is constantly sending me messages about how Google is fucking up the search results in terms of, well, first of all, the amount of new ad placements that they're testing and stuff.
Speaker 2:So I guess, from an organic point of view, how much harder it is to actually get rankings actually in front of people now, because your first sort of stuff now is coming through all the AI recommendations and everything. Then you've got your layers of ads and then you finally will get down to your organic search results and so it's really making things challenging and a different landscape on the SEO side of things. But I find that the whole, I guess, search function even on Google now seems so different to what it was only six months ago.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I would expect nothing less from a search engine optimization specialist to be annoyed at this change. However, I've found the results referenced in the Google search summaries, or AI summaries, so when you're reading the answer, you can see what site it's from or where it's drawn it from. I don't take it as gospel. I take it as a summary of what Google's found.
Speaker 2:Are you clicking through, though? Are you then taking the next step from looking at the references and then actually clicking through and reading content on that site? Or you're like, okay, well, that looks legit enough. I'm going to take that as correct.
Speaker 1:If I trust the link that it got it from, I'm going to take that as correct If I trust the link that it got it from.
Speaker 2:I'm definitely not clicking through. I don't want to Exactly.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's impacting organic search and traffic and traffic. Yeah, but you know some of our clients in the tourism space. This is a big factor for them and they're asking well, what does it mean? They need to have the right answers to add to those summaries. Their end goal isn't so much the traffic, it's the change in user behavior, or customer behavior to pick these locations for their next holiday. So having the answers displayed in AI summaries, it's just the user getting to the right answer that they've produced sooner. Ai summaries it's just the user getting to the right answer that they've produced sooner. So it's changing the perception that you need that traffic on your site If they don't need to convert on site and they just need that information for their research. Sometimes it's pretty helpful. It's. Also there's a lot of unknowns I'm finding about how many of the searches are displaying with the AI summaries. I know we've switched from AI search engines to Google's AI summaries, but this is a hot topic too.
Speaker 1:Well, it's all related, yeah it's all quite related, but I think what this article is about is the shift away from traditional search engines. So Google's introducing these AI summaries to try to keep up with the likes of ChatGPT. I'm going to keep trying this for myself. This article states that there's a 1,950% increase in referrals to those AI search engines during Cyber Monday, but that's a great number. But compared to the volume of traffic in search and knowing that search traffic in total is still growing, I don't think it's diminishing. I don't think they're stealing enough for this to be a problem for advertisers and marketers. But it is more and more important that you have the right content and answers on your site so that when these bots are crawling it to try to give an answer to its users, that your information is well-structured and easy to find and can add to the conversation when it's had in AI.
Speaker 2:Yep. So I guess, in terms of AI search, we are obviously very excited to see where things are going because it's going to have a direct impact on our digital agencies, because if people stop using Google, it's going to make some big shifts in terms of where our clients are going to be advertising. So can't see it actually happening in the short term, but it's definitely something that we are paying attention to because it is going to be well. It contributes to the changing landscape that we're always facing.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, We'll keep an eye on it. I'll start using ChatGPT for searches. I would typically do to see how that goes for a little while, but I think we're just going to see the use of these AI. You know GPTs and agents increase dramatically over time and I'm here for it.
Speaker 2: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 pushing that Google button to search for something out of habit. So I think that there will be a shift, but it's sort of. I guess it has to blow your mind in terms of how much better it is to then make that a thing you go back and do again and again and change that habit.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And if the answer you're expecting is simple like what's, where is this business? Or, um, what's the name of the cafe up the road? You know you're not going to need the power of artificial intelligence to help answer. So, yeah, interesting to see where we go.