The author acknowledges Google's efforts to adapt, such as integrating search into its own AI chatbot, Bard, and enhancing its search results with features like featured snippets and shopping results. However, the author warns businesses relying on SEO to start considering the implications of this shift, as the decline in search engine usage could happen within the next 12 months. Despite these concerns, the author remains optimistic about the future of SEO, citing potential solutions like Google successfully integrating search into Bard, and the possibility that winning search engines could also win in answer engines.
Key takeaways:
- The author suggests that Google's dominance in search may be disrupted due to the rise of AI-powered "Answer Engines" that provide direct answers to user queries, rather than directing them to other web pages.
- AI writing tools are contributing to a decline in the quality of search results, as they often produce content that is optimized for SEO but low in value or accuracy for the reader.
- Answer Engines like Perplexity and Consensus are gaining popularity as they provide a more efficient route to answers than traditional search engines.
- While Google is making efforts to transition into an answer engine, it faces the challenge of balancing user demand for instant answers with its business model's need to generate click-throughs to other sites.