SEO and trends in search results are quickly evolving with Google’s launch of AI Overviews, Bing’s Search Pilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT search. TikTok search is also impactful but no one can compete with ChatGPT right now. ChatGPT is responsible for approximately driving 200 million weekly average users to websites as of August 2024. Search Engine Journal’s Dan Taylor compared search results in ChatGPT, Google and Bing to find who performing well in terms of quality.
According to Taylor's analysis, there are some differences between SearchGPT and Bing, as the former can and will cite web pages that do not rank in top 200 search results of Bing. It was also observed that SearchGPT’s responses can vary even if the same query is made on the same ChatGPT account. On queries that do not have a lot of information online, SearchGPT was able to answer them correctly while Google and Bing couldn't. But Dan Taylor also said that for local searches SearchGPT engine is not very trustworthy for some queries too. Most of the results on SearchGPT are text based but some responses do trigger a map of local searches and images. SearchGPT also tends to cite some pages that turn 404 when users try to view it.
Bing is also becoming a search engine that is going to be considered important in specific sectors and target markets. Even though it is nowhere close to becoming Google’s rival, many LLMs including SearchGPT utilize Bing. It means that if a website or web page is not indexed by Bing, it will not appear on SearchGPT. If you need your website to appear in OpenAI's platforms, you might want to think about ranking high in Microsoft Bing. Even though Bing is important for ChatGPT Search it isn't the only source for content indexation.
To compare SearchGPT’s results to Bing and Google, Taylor gave a lot of queries to ChatGPT and tried using it as a proper search engine for 48 hours. What he found out was that SearchGPT has somewhat limited local search experience. When SearchGPT was asked about Technical SEO Agency, it didn't add more local enterprises and only gave three results, out of which it hallucinated on the second one. When SearchGPT was asked to search for a digital marketing agency in New York, it gave eight results but all of them were from the same source. Most of the time, search does not trigger a map response from SearchGPT too. Even if you ask SearchGPT to show results on a map, it directs users to Google Maps.
YMYL (our Money or Your Life) queries that refer to health, safety and stability of individuals are also more emphasized on search engines. According to recent data, there was a rise seen in queries related to “remineralizing gums”. Bing and Google cited different websites around the topic, while SearchGPT was seen citing only WebMD and Wikipedia. It was also observed that ChatGPT is citing websites for different YMYL queries which are not in the top 100. When the same queries were performed on a different computer with the same account and internet connection, the responses were different with different citations.
AI models are not fit for e-commerce queries but when it asked “best Christmas gifts for 2025”, SearchGPT referenced web pages which were published in the past month. On the other hand, AI Overviews referenced web pages as far back as 2017. There has been some criticism on social networks that AI Overviews mention Australian sources even in non-Australian markets so this trend was in SearchGPT too. Among some queries, SearchGPT hallucinated too.
For travel searches, queries on SearchGPT triggered images in the responses too. The travel suggestions given were also from different sources. Searching about luxury hotels in a specific area triggered a map response too. The only bad thing about travel responses was that SearchGPT tend to use the same sources which didn't make sense. Travel SEO is getting popular these past few years and many LLMs are going to affect this industry more than others.
Another search result observation made was about Google’s feature at the top of SERP showing the results of a game from a year ago and the score was of different sport, not about the sport which was searched. On the other hand, SearchGPT showed accurate and timely results by citing news sources. As Bing plays some role in SearchGPT too, its results were also similar. Live events in sports were also asked on ChatGPT search and it was found out that they are accurate and most useful too. Bing just referred the users to the websites that had the information about live news.
This all shows that many users are shifting from traditional search engines to new LLMs-based chatbots and apps to get answers for their queries. In the near future, SearchGPT isn't going to disrupt Google. If you want to do some local searches, Google and Bing are best. For recent searches, SearchGPT gives accurate information with text-driven results. But we still have a long way to get used to it.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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According to Taylor's analysis, there are some differences between SearchGPT and Bing, as the former can and will cite web pages that do not rank in top 200 search results of Bing. It was also observed that SearchGPT’s responses can vary even if the same query is made on the same ChatGPT account. On queries that do not have a lot of information online, SearchGPT was able to answer them correctly while Google and Bing couldn't. But Dan Taylor also said that for local searches SearchGPT engine is not very trustworthy for some queries too. Most of the results on SearchGPT are text based but some responses do trigger a map of local searches and images. SearchGPT also tends to cite some pages that turn 404 when users try to view it.
Bing is also becoming a search engine that is going to be considered important in specific sectors and target markets. Even though it is nowhere close to becoming Google’s rival, many LLMs including SearchGPT utilize Bing. It means that if a website or web page is not indexed by Bing, it will not appear on SearchGPT. If you need your website to appear in OpenAI's platforms, you might want to think about ranking high in Microsoft Bing. Even though Bing is important for ChatGPT Search it isn't the only source for content indexation.
To compare SearchGPT’s results to Bing and Google, Taylor gave a lot of queries to ChatGPT and tried using it as a proper search engine for 48 hours. What he found out was that SearchGPT has somewhat limited local search experience. When SearchGPT was asked about Technical SEO Agency, it didn't add more local enterprises and only gave three results, out of which it hallucinated on the second one. When SearchGPT was asked to search for a digital marketing agency in New York, it gave eight results but all of them were from the same source. Most of the time, search does not trigger a map response from SearchGPT too. Even if you ask SearchGPT to show results on a map, it directs users to Google Maps.
YMYL (our Money or Your Life) queries that refer to health, safety and stability of individuals are also more emphasized on search engines. According to recent data, there was a rise seen in queries related to “remineralizing gums”. Bing and Google cited different websites around the topic, while SearchGPT was seen citing only WebMD and Wikipedia. It was also observed that ChatGPT is citing websites for different YMYL queries which are not in the top 100. When the same queries were performed on a different computer with the same account and internet connection, the responses were different with different citations.
AI models are not fit for e-commerce queries but when it asked “best Christmas gifts for 2025”, SearchGPT referenced web pages which were published in the past month. On the other hand, AI Overviews referenced web pages as far back as 2017. There has been some criticism on social networks that AI Overviews mention Australian sources even in non-Australian markets so this trend was in SearchGPT too. Among some queries, SearchGPT hallucinated too.
For travel searches, queries on SearchGPT triggered images in the responses too. The travel suggestions given were also from different sources. Searching about luxury hotels in a specific area triggered a map response too. The only bad thing about travel responses was that SearchGPT tend to use the same sources which didn't make sense. Travel SEO is getting popular these past few years and many LLMs are going to affect this industry more than others.
Another search result observation made was about Google’s feature at the top of SERP showing the results of a game from a year ago and the score was of different sport, not about the sport which was searched. On the other hand, SearchGPT showed accurate and timely results by citing news sources. As Bing plays some role in SearchGPT too, its results were also similar. Live events in sports were also asked on ChatGPT search and it was found out that they are accurate and most useful too. Bing just referred the users to the websites that had the information about live news.
This all shows that many users are shifting from traditional search engines to new LLMs-based chatbots and apps to get answers for their queries. In the near future, SearchGPT isn't going to disrupt Google. If you want to do some local searches, Google and Bing are best. For recent searches, SearchGPT gives accurate information with text-driven results. But we still have a long way to get used to it.
Read next:
• AI Preparedness Index ranks Singapore first, with Denmark and the U.S. following in AI readiness.
• As Digital Industries are Growing, Data Centers are Storing More Online Data
