5 Things You Need to Know About Search GPT

There's a lot to unpack, and if you're interested in how this impacts your real estate business, let's grab a virtual coffee and chat. Email trista@ftlom.ca!

1) 🔎 SEO has evolved: It's no longer just Search Engine Optimization—it's now Search Everywhere Optimization. In 2020, 98% of searches were conducted via traditional search engines. Fast forward to 2024, and that number has dropped to 61%, with social media searches growing from 1% to 17%—and it's only climbing.

2) 🌐 Search GPT is in its infancy: Much like when ChatGPT first launched it has it's bumps! We can likely expect a quick craze and then a slow adoption as the kinks get worked out. One analogy shared during the seminar compared it to Tesla's self-driving cars—while people expect 100% accuracy, anything less than that can lead to mistrust. Search GPT is still in beta and can provide incorrect information with full confidence, which could push users back to Google until it becomes more reliable.

3) 🤳 Authority in content: Search GPT aims to pull from the most recent and authoritative content—whether it’s podcasts, social media, or blogs. Unlike traditional search engines, social media doesn't rely on backlinks, so the criteria for rankings are shifting.

4) 💪 Strengths and weaknesses: Compared to Google, Search GPT and Perplexity (another AI-powered search engine currently in use):

Accuracy: Google is still more precise.

Recency: While Google has more up-to-date content, Perplexity excels in real-time information as well with less depth. Search GPT, on the other hand, struggles with recency.

Integrations: Google offers robust features like booking flights and checking prices. These integrations aren't as advanced on newer platforms. That doesn't mean they won't get there in time. Remember Google has been around for 26 years... thats a lot more time for refinement & trust building!

5) 🌊 One thing remains constant: people will always search for information, but the way they do it is changing. We should not ignore Search GPT but rather seek to understand and learn more.

Remember, these tools are still growing. Search GPT's goal is to refine the search process by learning from each query rather than starting fresh each time. It aims to provide answers directly, not just a list of links.

It’s no longer just about ranking on Google—you need an omnipresent ranking strategy across platforms. It's Search EVERYWHERE Optimization!