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Ask HN: Will we see a change in SEO strategy to optimize for Bard/ChatGPT?

10 points by bmau5 ↗ HN
I personally have already shifted to using AI driven chat for search instead of Google in many applications. As this becomes more common, I'm wondering how SEO strategies for businesses will shift towards being featured in those responses vs. more traditional search engines?

7 comments

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nickfromseattle
Too early to tell, but it might have negative implications for the startup ecosystem.

The HN discourse towards Google Search has been been very negative the last few years, and I never see HN users giving Google credit for:

- It's often the #1 source of referral traffic for many businesses.

- The value of the ecosystem built on the back of Google Search is probably in the same ballpark, if not higher than Google's own market cap ($1T+).

- The value of the ecosystem built on Google Search is probably higher than the value of the ecosystem built on every other platform combined - YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.

- It's one of the few ways startups can compete with incumbents.

Does it have problems? Yes.

Could it be better? Yes.

My concern is that if Google Search fundamentally changes and sends less traffic to businesses, is calcifies incumbents and makes it harder for new upstarts to get traction with better products.

An example might be invoicing or accounting software. If new upstarts can't leverage search to grow, everybody is just going to use Quickbooks - forever.

hammyhavoc
> It's often the #1 source of referral traffic for many businesses.

Just want to point out that people hype social media because they not uncommonly make tools for social media as the market for it was hot across a huge variety of demographics. Search engines and email can be amazing, but it hinges heavily on your industry.

jossclimb
Why would they, there is nothing for them to gain. Their content gets trained upon without being able to even consent and they gain nothing, not clicks, ad revenue etc.
hammyhavoc
Doesn't Bing cite sources?
JacobAldridge
It does, but doesn’t always get it right. I was curious so tested Bing Chat on … myself. I asked a few basic listicle questions that are pages on my website, and while it linked to the relevant page it also spat out answers that I disagree with or list items I never mentioned.

So in answering a question, it also still uses the wider dataset. The references aren’t necessarily the source of the whole answer.

muzani
I ask AI to recommend printers and where to buy food online. Presumably that's what they're SEOing for. Integration with food delivery plugins will be scary.
JacobAldridge
Absolutely, in the same way “SEO for Voice” is (was?) a thing. What that means though I’m not sure - one of my clients rates a mention on Bing Chat when discussing their industry services in my city, despite not being on the front page of normal (well, Bing) search.

So I’m curious what the parameters may be - they advertise on Bing, does that help? Or was the input drawn from my personal history or location (near their office)?

How will AIO differ from current SEO?