Information discovery is the new search

Search engines, the gatekeepers of the internet, are living on borrowed time. AI is transforming how information is discovered in ways most businesses are not prepared for. With AI evolving rapidly, what does the future hold for how we discover and interact with information online?

From keywords to context to ?

Traditional search engines rely on keyword matching and backlink structures to determine the relevance of results. While effective, this method has limitations—particularly in understanding user intent, natural language queries, and context. AI-driven models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), are shifting the paradigm by focusing on:

• Conversational Search: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants enable users to ask complex, multi-layered questions in natural language and receive synthesised, context-aware responses.
• Semantic Understanding: AI can infer meaning beyond keywords, recognising synonyms, concepts, and the relationships between words to provide more accurate results.
• Personalised Results: By analysing user behaviour, preferences, and search history, AI enhances personalisation, delivering highly relevant results tailored to individual users.

AI is NOT the new search

AI is not improving traditional search engines; it is redefining how users access and consume information. Several key trends highlight the direction search is heading:

1. AI finds and curates information

Content creators are becoming content aggregators. The ability to source, verify and craft content for a specific audience is now as valuable as the craft of copywriting. The skill of curating information does not replace copywriting and editing skills - it enhances them. 

2. Multimodal information capabilities

AI has moved beyond text-based queries, to include images, voice, and video. For example, users will be able to ask a Voice Assistant complex queries that combine spoken and visual inputs for more accurate results - think SIRI but much much more useful. 

3. AI-driven content discovery

Instead of relying on direct searches, the recent release of deep research features on platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity mean subject matter experts can now verify information sources via the provided citations, assemble content from a variety of sources and craft it for their audience. 

4. The zero-click era

As AI-generated answers become more prominent, traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics are losing relevance. Instead, businesses and content aggregators will need to focus on quality, credibility, and expertise to remain visible in AI-curated results.

Challenges & ethical considerations

While AI-powered information discovery offers incredible potential, it also raises concerns:

• Bias and Misinformation: AI models learn from existing data, which can introduce biases or amplify misinformation.
• Privacy Issues: Enhanced personalisation relies on data collection, raising questions about user privacy and data security.
• Impact on Web Traffic: AI-generated summaries satisfy searchers without requiring clicks, websites are seeing reduced traffic and revenue from click-based searches

Is my website dead?

As information discovery models becomes more advanced, the role of websites will shift dramatically. Websites will become 'final destination' for commerce, and interaction. Their main purpose will be to provide credibility and point of purchase. Far from spelling the end of websites, it is the dawn of user experience for every website. Poor user experience will be akin to having a non-responsive brochure site. 

Jetsons moment: If some futurists are right - websites will create themselves on the fly depending on what prompts have been used.

Don't be Blockbuster

Search as we know it is all but done. Investing in on-page SEO probably isn't the best way to spend your marketing coin. Technical SEO and UX will always pay dividends.

So what is a business to do in the face of all this change?

 Whenever there is a paradigm change, there are four distinct groups of people 

1. The early adopters - they charge in and embrace All The Things - they also uncover all the downsides, often headline grabbing ways. Risk is in their DNA.

2. The late early adopters - they love change - but they're risk-adverse. They watch, learn and then adopt.

3. The late adopters - Umm, okay fellas, looks like this is happening, we better not get left behind.

4. And finally, The Rejectors ... the description is in the title. Say no more.

We like to think we are in the second group - but we also recognise marketing principles fundamentally stay the same - it's the tools that keep evolving.

Our tips:

• Create niche-subject content that goes deep. With AI tools used in the right way, this has never been easier.
• Nurture your database of contacts. The trusty in-box seems to have escaped (yet again) another round of Technology Paradigm Shift. Newsletters are STILL the most effective way to nurture clients and potential buyers.
• And I hear old fashioned phone calls are making a come back... let's chat soon!