Is SEO Dead? How Search Is and Isn’t Changing

The usage of AI tools has exploded over the last couple of years. Personally, I find myself using ChatGPT often, and its capabilities are really quite incredible. This has led to a question that our team has seen over and over again from LinkedIn to Facebook groups to Reddit and more: is SEO dead?

‍

I think it’s fair to assume that people are asking this question because as more people turn to AI for questions rather than a Google search, surely that means that fewer people will land on an organization’s website through a traditional organic search. Ironically, even googling this very question, “is SEO dead?” results in an AI Overview answer at the very top of Google. 

Disclaimer: we are a marketing and creative agency that does a lot of SEO work for clients. It’s in our DNA to answer questions by looking at data. So, to answer this question, we’re going to do what we do best - let’s dig into the data.

‍

‍Google Searches Over Time

While Google doesn’t share its search volume data, there are several sources on the web that give estimations of how many Google searches are happening. According to SEO.ai, there are about 8.5 billion searches daily, which roughly translates to 2 trillion searches in a year. 

‍

Over time, Google searches have exploded in popularity. According to this source, daily Google searches have increased by 152% between Aug 2012 and September 2024.

Google is the dominant search engine across the globe. According to this source, Google’s global market share in 2024 was 91.47%.

With over 8 billion searches per day on the most popular search engine, this means that there are billions of topics, both large and small, that are opportunities for your organization’s website to serve the answer that a person is searching for. This, in turn, is an opportunity to introduce your brand to new users.

‍

What about ChatGPT?

It’s true that people are turning more and more to AI tools for queries that they may have previously searched on Google. According to this source, ChatGPT has over 10 million daily queries. Likely this number and the number of searches on other popular AI tools will continue to grow at staggering rates. However, have you considered how an AI tool knows the answer to serve?

‍

It was announced at Microsoft Build 2023 that Bing is the search engine behind ChatGPT. The answers generated by ChatGPT are grounded by search and web data that the search engine uses.

‍

According to Semrush, Bing uses several factors in its algorithm when evaluating what content to serve in an organic search:

• Relevance - A page’s content should match the search intent, as the intention is to serve information that the user is seeking. 
• Quality and credibility - The quality, trustworthiness, and originality of the content is a critical factor. The authority of the website is measured by other sites that link to the content.
• User engagement - How a user engages with the content matters. Clicks, time spent on the site, and bounce rates are all factors.
• Freshness - Up-to-date content is favorable.
• Location and language - The user’s location and the language of the page are key factors in determining relevance.
• Page speed - A fast-loading page is prioritized over a slow-loading page, which likely delivers a poor user experience.

‍

While there are some differences between how Bing and Google rank and index websites, the same general principles apply to both search engines. If you’re interested in digging deeper into the nuances of the differences, this blog from Semrush covers the topic.

‍

Keep in mind, though, that just because ChatGPT uses Bing doesn’t mean that the end of the road is in sight for Google. I’d argue that Gemini, Google’s AI tool, has a strong presence in the market. In fact, CNET recommends Gemini in this comparison article. 

‍

‍AI Tools vs. Google Search

As we’ve dug into the data, we’ve uncovered that AI tools are powered by search engines. There are certainly tasks that AI tools can do that a Google Search cannot do such as writing content or gathering information from multiple sources and compiling it together for you. It can help with all kinds of other things too from meal planning to vacation recommendations. 

‍

When our team is assessing strategies for Search Engine Optimization, one of the factors we’re looking at in the keyword research data is intent. The tool we use, Semrush, categorizes keywords into four categories:

1. Informational - Looking for information on a topic (such as how, what, or why)
2. Navigational - Searching for a specific website or page
3. Commercial - Searching for brands or services
4. Transactional - Looking to make a purchase

‍

Intent is really important, especially in evaluating whether or not SEO is dead. For informational searches, an AI tool works really well. For navigational, commercial, and transactional intents, whether the user starts on Google or within an AI tool, they are most likely going to end up on a brand or organization’s website to learn more about services or to complete a transaction. 

‍

‍Is SEO dead?

No. SEO is absolutely not dead. In fact, I’d argue quite the opposite - whether a user starts on ChatGPT or Google Search, these tools still use the same fundamental SEO measurements to determine which website to serve as the answer to a query. Particularly if your brand or organization offers products, services, events, or other opportunities that people are searching for (which we can determine by looking at keyword data), then you should absolutely be in the SEO game. 

‍

Anecdotally, we’ve had client websites get served as recommended products or services by ChatGPT. How did that happen? Well, it’s because we follow SEO best practices on client websites. 

‍

SEO is an ever-evolving field. To stay on top of the game and give yourself the best chance of ranking high in search engine results when a user is searching for the very thing that you offer, you need a comprehensive, ongoing SEO strategy. We’ve worked with dozens of clients to do exactly that, and we’ve got the data to back it up (you can see it for yourself in our work samples). Interested in learning more about how we can work together? Let’s chat!