Everything’s changing thanks to ChatGPT.
Microsoft estimates that 50% of search queries could go to chat instead of search. If SEO is your main acquisition strategy, that could be a devastating outcome.
For how fast the shift will happen, look at the record-breaking adoption of ChatGPT. 100 million active users in January, just 2 months after launch. It took the viral sensation TikTok 9 months to reach 100 million active users.
And once Bing rolls out a proper chatbot, potentially as early as next month? Search traffic and SEO will never look the same again.
Here are 6 trends that’ll take hold this year:
Rise in Gated Content
We’re going to see more content that isn’t available online. People’s and company’s best ideas will be kept away from web scrapers and the AIs that could be trained with that content.
Private email lists and communities will grow.
Power in Influencers
Paying to access someone else’s audience will become even more powerful than it is already.
Influencer sponsorship rates will rise, and influencer partnerships will become commonplace.
Combined AI + Search
Large language models are still problematic in returning results that sometimes look correct, but are wrong.
A fact-checking component will emerge that makes it easier to compare the AI’s answer to what else is available on the web.
Rise of Paid Subscriptions
Monetization from search traffic alone will no longer be an option for many publishers and creators.
Businesses big and small will need to shift to paid subscriptions or other monetization methods to survive.
The Fall of Major Publishers
Websites that have been staples of information for the last 2 decades will be forced to close or sell.
Larger entities that can endure the storm will buy up many smaller publishers at fire-sale prices.
Better Resource Libraries and Tools
Free tools and template libraries have always been strong marketing assets. With AI, they become even more so.
Even better, train your own AI model and offer it as a free tool that provides better results than standard ChatGPT.
There are still many topics where search wins because the information is 1) more recent and 2) has a human point of view.
But many strategies that were once viable with search soon won’t be. This puts audience-building back on the table as one of the next best acquisition strategies.
Whatever business you’re in, there’s a decent chance you need to begin preparing for this inevitability now. If you don’t, you’ll be caught up with everyone else as the SEO rug is swept out beneath your feet.
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