If you don’t think AI search matters to your brand… think again.
There is a search revolution happening right now that most marketers have completely missed.
Conversational AI search engines like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode are rewriting the rules of how people search online. They’re dominating search traffic. And yet most brands aren’t even aware of it yet.
Let’s take a look at:
- Conversational AI Search Explained
- What’s Driving the Growth of AI Search
- 5 Stats that will Blow your Mind
- How Conversational AI Search Impacts your Business
Conversational AI Search Explained
Google’s scraping your backlinks and chewing through keyword rankings faster than you can say “Artificial Intelligence”.
AI Search simply means asking a question conversationally and receiving a reply without clicks or external links. Type something like “best restaurants near me” into Google and you’ll get AI-generated previews called “Overviews” without visiting a single site.
Now couple that with chatbots like ChatGPT and Google’s own AI Mode that answer specific questions from customers. You’re starting to get the picture.
Zero-click searches are exploding. Today’s searchers want direct answers and AI is delivering.
It won’t be long before most searches result in AI answers. Something like 40% of searches are currently estimated to show AI enhancements in Google.
The latest AI search stats indicate AI search adoption is actually speeding up right now:
“31% of respondents say they use AI search daily, which is a higher percentage than just three months ago”
The keyword bots are hunting for? Your brand.
Bing was built on AI (let’s face it). Google is investing everything it has to catch up. And AI driven search apps like ChatGPT are receiving billions of queries PER DAY.
Suddenly citations are becoming just as important as rankings.
What’s Driving the Growth of AI Search
So why are AI search engines growing so quickly? There are four major trends.
AI search isn’t new
AI powered search engines and chatbots are mainstream.
Google’s AI Overviews are here to stay. ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s AI Mode, Perplexity AI, and other AI platforms are becoming table stakes for tech users around the world.
Some serious numbers that highlight how quickly AI search is growing:
Daily active users of ChatGPT alone are estimated to exceed 100 million.
75% of consumers are using AI search tools more today than a year ago, according to recent research.
Can your business afford to fall behind?
Google is going all in on AI.
Google quietly released a beta test of AI Enhanced search results in June of 2023.
These “AI Overviews” are now featured on over 25% of searches making Google
Google won’t wait around. They’re going all in on AI and building AI into everything they do.
Ask Google Bot an open-ended question today and chances are an AI-powered answer will pop above the traditional results. It’s why SEOs have started referring to organic results on Google as “entity cramming”.
In other words.
If Google can answer a question without directing a user to your website… they will.
Just ask Tripadvisor. Google upgraded its “Get Directions” feature with AI and watched Tripadvisor’s traffic take a nosedive.
Gen Z leads the way with AI searches
Gen Z leads the charge on AI search.
31% of searches start with AI or a chatbot instead of going directly to Google.
“The younger generations are driving AI search adoption. 42% of Gen Z customers use chatbots, nearly double that of Millennials at 24%”
Google and chatbots are now default search engines for entire generations.
5 Stats That Will Blow Your Mind
Ready for the numbers everybody is buzzing about?
Here we go…
ChatGPT is a search engine
ChatGPT is no longer a chatbot.
dentontheclick.com
By sheer volume of use ChatGPT is a search engine. That is no longer debatable.
ChatGPT now processes 2 billion queries every single day — a number that has permanently changed the definition of what a search engine looks like.
That is more searches than Ask Jeeves ever saw
The global AI powered search engine race is on. And we are only five months into 2023.
Which leads to stat #2.
AI visitors convert better
Let’s say you get 1,000 visitors from Google. How many do you expect to convert?
Do you make any assumptions about how many visitors convert from ChatGPT?
Think again.
Studies show that 14.2% of AI search visitors CONVERT to a customer. Google?
2.8%.
YES. You read that right.
Visitors from AI engines are converting at 5X the rate of visitors from Google.
SEO vs AI citations
Those are some big numbers. But there is a very clear reason brands are getting cited more frequently in AI:
They have something worth citing.
Run an SEO Citation report on SE Ranking and you’ll quickly see which brands have hundreds of thousands of quality citations to popup in AI search.
But that probably won’t come as a surprise to you…
SEMrush missed this coming!
While the smart SEOs out there were preparing for the AI revolution SEMrush was saying chatbots would account for less than 15% of search traffic by the end of 2025.
Correct.
Except SEMrush just got outpaced by Google. Bing launched a chatbot months ago too.
Let’s go back to those conversion numbers…
How big of a difference does that make if AI only accounts for 15% of searches?
A significant number when you consider searches are growing globally by leaps and bounds.
Traditional search is being enhanced… not replaced.
Google will still be around in 2026… that much is certain.
AI SEO isn’t going anywhere. But what will happen to traditional search?
The answer is obvious by now right?
Traditional search QUANTITY isn’t going anywhere. But search QUALITY is moving to AI platforms.
This isn’t going away.
How Conversational AI Search Impacts your Business
All of this matters.
Here’s the deal.
When Search turns AI-first.
And Google results start showing AI-powered versions of a website above the organic rankings… website visits will suffer.
Go ahead and Google your own brand right now and see if AI can answer the question without clicking through.
The brands that will win AI Search are already taking action.
Check your SEO Citation Profile.
AI Search is simply a new platform brands need to be visible on.
Same rules apply. Less competition. Better conversions.
Pretty sweet deal.
Let’s review:
- AI searches are converting at a significantly higher rate than traditional search
- AI tools like ChatGPT are being considered full-on search engines
- Gen Z is skipping Google altogether to start AI driven searches
- Bing and Google have both invested heavily in AI chatbots
- Search growth is being fueled by AI technology
Now ask yourself—
When will a business start losing visits to AI generated search engines and chatbots?
The answer should be a wake-up call… but it doesn’t have to be too late.
Start earning citations now.
