Generative Search: Your New Marketing Channel?

Soundtrack: Mega Drive, Iron Fist.

Search is changing. That’s nothing new; it always has. However, now a new spectre is looming over the search landscape - generative search. I’m intrigued by it, and its possibilities for brands. Which is why I’m about to explore it in this essay…

What is generative search? 

As is always my wont when exploring a new topic, I like to begin with a definition.

So, generative search, what are you?

To answer as concisely as possible, it’s the application of large language models to Internet search.

You’ll have undoubtedly used generative search yourself (even if you don’t realise it). 

Used Gemini to find the answer to a question? Tapped away on ChatGPT to get a product recommendation or find out what brand makes the best soup maker? 

Then you’ve used generative search. 

It’s a development that has, as you can very well imagine, caused many e-commerce brands to question how their own websites will be discovered online.

Picture the scene: a potential customer goes to a traditional search engine (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo), types in a query and is presented with a list of links. 

If your e-commerce site is well optimised (via SEO and Content Marketing), and/or you are running paid search adverts, said consumer will see your site - and in the best case scenario - will click on your site, explore it, and make a purchase/enquiry.

Now, picture an alternative scene: a potential customer pulls out their smartphone and goes to their AI app of choice (Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity), and types in a query. 

At present (and I accept that this may change), their query will result in a single answer - redolent of a short blog post. 

Depending on the exact platform they are using, the potential customer may also be presented with some links (or to use the parlance of these platforms, sources). 

Take this example below from Perplexity (which is the first platform to explicitly market itself as a generative search engine).

The amount of ‘real estate’ given over to links is far smaller compared to traditional search engines.

And, what if your website is not cited as one of the sources within the generated answer? 

Well, quite. You can see why e-commerce brands are potentially worried about the rise of generative search. 

How big is generative search? 

1.6%. 

Based on an admittedly small sample size, I’ve worked out that my clients’ e-commerce sites are receiving approximately 1.6% of their monthly traffic from generative search. 

That seems like small fry. 

However, anecdotally, I am seeing small monthly increases in traffic from generative search. 

It’s growing, albeit very slowly. 

A very comprehensive (and much cited) piece of research from ahrefs reinforces this view, suggesting that 63% of websites are already receiving ‘AI traffic’. 

Generative search could eventually become a major source of traffic - and one of the primary means by which individuals search the Internet. To badly abuse a passage from Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises: 

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. 

“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, and then suddenly”.

Traditional search engines have been the dominant mode of finding information on the Internet for over 30 years.

But, as anyone familiar with the works of Gibbon (or history more generally) can attest, all empires must one day fall and crumble. 

However, that day may be a long way off. 

To give you some context, consider the following average monthly visit numbers of the major search engines and AI platforms. 

*DuckDuckGo does not actively track visits and users, so this number must be taken with a pinch of salt, however, third-party data platforms such as SEMRush have provided some solid estimates.

As you can see, AI platforms have already amassed a significant volume of users and visits - so much so that ChatGPT in particular has leapfrogged traditional search engines like DuckDuckGo. 

Yet, they still lag behind the king of search - Google.

So, what’s going to happen?

Towards a two-tier Internet?

Give the information above some thought and consideration, and you’re likely going to reach the following conclusion; are we going to see the emergence of what I’ve dubbed ‘the two-tier Internet?’.

It goes a little something like this…

All the major tech players are heavily invested in AI. As a result, they’re rolling it out everywhere. You probably know what I mean; if you use SaaS programs like Google Docs or Microsoft 365 then you’ll have no doubt spotted the recent insertion of Gemini and CoPilot into those respective platforms.

Whether you like it or not, you’re getting an AI assistant. 

And, the same goes for your hardware. 

As has just been revealed in Google’s US antitrust case, the search giant has been paying Samsung enormous tons of money every month to ensure that every Samsung smartphone comes pre-installed with Gemini. 

Again, whether you like it or not, you’re getting an AI assistant. 

Once people become accustomed to having Gemini or ChatGPT on their smartphone - it’s possible it could become their ‘go-to’ option for answering many queries (as opposed to going to Google or another traditional search engine). 

This isn’t mere conjecture, either. I have a case study. 

My 75-year-old father collared me a couple of months ago and asked, “what is this Gemini thing?”

Turns out, he’d seen one of Google’s Gemini TV adverts, and he was intrigued by it. 

Once installed on his phone, and following a (very) brief bit of tuition, my father became a devotee of Gemini. 

Now, when he has a question about something - he turns to Gemini, not Google. 

Of course, working in tech and marketing I’ve been keenly following his usage of AI and - following a few months of use - had to ask him what he thought of Gemini. 

Here are some of his key thoughts about it: 

• It’s easier and more convenient than Google. He gets the answer he wants straight away and doesn’t have to trawl through numerous, tedious long-form blogs to get the answer he wants.
  
  

• He can speak to it! Instead of having to type away on a frankly miniscule on-screen keyboard, he can just vocalise his query to Google, and it’ll speak back to him with an answer.
  
  

• A particularly interesting one - he trusts Gemini more than the typical search result. Case in point, he was renewing his driving licence and needed the answer to a particular question. Gemini pointed him straight to the DVLA website, whereas the standard Google results had numerous slightly dodgy seeming results on the first results page.
  
  

• Perhaps more superficially, there’s a novelty factor. Having an AI provide your answers is just more fun and interesting than using traditional search. Consider how many people are now anthropomorphising their favourite AI platforms. Perhaps Her is coming true?

This is admittedly only a personal anecdote - but scale it up. Imagine if this became widespread practice. The nature and landscape of search would change fundamentally.

We could be entering into an era of the two tier Internet: 

• Informational tier - informational searches e.g. those searches that begin with ‘what is’, ‘how to’, ‘why is’, will take place on generative search platforms. Traditional search engines will no longer be the go-to place for informational queries.
  
  

• Everything else tier - other types of searches, e.g. transactional searches, locational searches, navigational searches, will remain the preserve of more traditional search engines. 

In some ways, it boils down to the subjective/objective split.

Some searches have objective answers - an apple is an apple, a horse is a horse, a mouth is a mouth. Searches that have objective answers (that don’t have a vast amount of nuance or deviation) can now be adequately handled by AI. If you just want the answer to a question that has an objective answer, there’s little point heading to traditional search platforms any longer - Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude will give you the answer you’re looking for. 

But, some searches have subjective answers - not all soup makers are created equal, after all. That’s where traditional search will excel - providing a multiplicity of answers and results for users to explore - and make their own subjective minds up about.

Let’s boil it down:

• Searching for something that has an objective answer - people will use generative search.

• Searching for something that has a subjective answer - people will use traditional search.

Sometimes you just want a single answer, other times you want a multiple answers. That about sums up the dichotomy of the two-tier Internet. 

The hybridisation of search

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

I’m about to demolish the argument I’ve made above. 

If you’ve been closely following Google recently, you’ll see that they’re trying to cover all the bases; generative search and traditional search.

Yes, they’ve got Gemini, but they are exploring ‘hybridising’ the traditional Google search platform.

Or to put it in a more fun way, Google looks like they might be about to embrace the ‘why not both?’ meme.

They’re already doing this to an extent with their AI Overviews. 

Try it for yourself. Google an informational query, and you’ll almost certainly be served up a nice, pithy AI generated answer (akin to the kind of answer you’ll get from Gemini or ChatGPT). 

They may be about to go one step further, though. 

Not too long ago, Google released ‘AI Mode’; a massive re-think of how search works. 

It’s currently in testing mode, but if you have access to a VPN and Google Labs, you can try it out for yourself. 

Login and you’ll find yourself presented with something like this: 

The ten blue links of old are completely missing. All those other SERP features you are used to (think People Also Ask, featured snippets, and knowledge panels) are also gone. 

You’re essentially being presented with Gemini in search engine form. 

As the video below shows, your brand gets one bite of the cherry. If you’re not in the generated answer, you won’t appear… at all. (Which is why I’m very pleased to say that my client features in the answer below):

AI Mode is still in development, but it does look as though users will still have the option of viewing traditional search results in addition to the AI Mode. However, as you’ll see from the video below, even when you click through to see ‘traditional’ results, you’re still likely to be served an AI Overview.

And, we’ve now got fairly substantial evidence that AI Overviews reduce click-through-rates by approximately 35%. 

Tough times don’t last, tough brands do

I appreciate that I’ve covered a lot of ground in this essay; much of it speculative. 

But there are some conclusions we can draw with a fair degree of confidence: 

• Search is changing - with consumers able to obtain information from generative search platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude as well as traditional search engines like Google and Bing.
  
  

• There could be a ‘two-tier’ Internet - informational searches take place in generative search, transactional searches remain on traditional search engines. You want your brand to appear on the former, but it’s more of a brand awareness exercise. Why? Because - at least at present - you’re not going to reap a huge amount of traffic from these sources; it’s not their modus operandi.
  
  

• Hybridisation of search - market leaders like Google look to be creating an ‘all-in-one’ solution with their AI Mode embedded into the traditional Google search environment.

What should your brand do? 

Given the potentially seismic impact generative search could have on your web traffic, you need to act now. 

Here are our key suggestions: 

• Do you know how much traffic your website is receiving from generative search platforms? Do you know which pages are receiving that traffic? If you can’t answer those questions with a resounding ‘yes’, then you need to remedy this asap (Velstar can help you with this 👋).
  
  

• Are you ranking in traditional search in such a way that you’ll be included in the new AI Mode (when it inevitably rolls out). Velstar can help you with this 🤖.
  
  

• Is your site set up to assist AI crawlers in parsing your website’s content? Yep, you’ve got it - Velstar can sort this for you ✅.
  
  

• Have you got strong friendship signals set up for AI bots? (We’re not going to release our secret sauce here, but we’ve got something up our sleeve) 🤝.

There’s so much you can do to optimise your website for the new era of generative search; but barely any brands are doing it. 

Want to be one of the first? 

Then speak to Velstar now and gain that first mover advantage.