BrightEdge Data Reveals Google is Still Winning in AI-Powered Search Race
12 July 2024 - 2:00AM
BrightEdge, the global leader in AI-driven organic search, content,
and digital marketing automation, has released a fresh batch of
data from the BrightEdge Generative Parser™ (BGP). Findings include
the state of Google's market share, areas where Bing and Perplexity
are growing and slowing, and how major Large-Language Models (LLMs)
like ChatGPT are evolving their approaches to content to safeguard
their models from potential legal issues. As search continues to
adapt to AI, it’s imperative that marketers continue to monitor
these alternative search engines as optimization techniques for
LLMs are likely to apply to AI and traditional engines.
"There is no doubt that Google's dominance remains strong, and
what it does in AI matters to every business and marketer across
the planet,” said Jim Yu, Founder and Executive Chairman at
BrightEdge. "At the same time, new players are laying new
foundations as we enter an AI-led multi-search universe. AI is in a
constant state of progress, so the most important thing marketers
can do now is leverage the precision of insights to monitor,
prepare for changes, and adapt accordingly."
BrightEdge Generative Parser™ has been monitoring AI Overviews
since it was in Google Labs and labeled as Search Generative
Experiences (SGE); it’s also been keeping tabs on Bing and
Perplexity, as well as LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude throughout June
2024. BGP has found the following insights.
Industry Findings
Each percentage of organic search market share is worth
about $1.2 billion.
- As the battle for consumer attention and platform engagement
grows between AI-led search engines, each percentage of organic
search market share will be worth about $1.2 billion.
- Even small gains from existing engines and new entrants have a
prolific impact on their revenue.
- This will also influence how they build future incremental
revenue, subscription, and partnership models.
Insights into Google Search
Google continues driving around 92% of all organic
search traffic to brands.
- Recent speculation about Google's declining market position is
unfounded.
- Google drives around 92% of all organic search traffic to
brands.
- At this time, there is little evidence of any significant
impact of AI or new entrants on market share or Google search
queries.
Google doubles down on authoritative sources over User
Generated Content (UGC).
- Google is prioritizing established, expert content over user
discussions and forums.
- The appearance of content from Reddit and Quora in AI Overview
citations declined to near zero in June.
- The data confirms that Google has taken action since its
statement on May 30th related to limiting the use of UGC in its
results.
- This is due to AI's difficulties detecting sarcasm and other
linguistic nuances that then trigger hallucinations.
Other AI-Powered Engines and
LLMs.
Bing is still stuck at under 5% of the market share but
is slowly growing
- Comparing the first six months of 2023 with 2024, Bing's market
share increased from 4.2% to 4.5%.
- While this increase may seem small, it is essential to remember
that each percentage of organic search market share is worth about
$1.2 billion, so increasing by 0.3% could potentially be worth
$300-$400 million.
Perplexity usage continues to grow at a rapid rate of
31% month-over-month.
- After growing quickly in Q1 2024, Perplexity growth remains
strong.
- Perplexity’s organic referrals monthly growth rate from May to
June was once again above 30%.
- If sustained, this growth will make Perplexity a legitimate
contender in the Search market race.
Referrals from Large Language Models (LLMs) are
growing.
- The overall number of referrals from LLMs is small and expected
to have little industry impact at this time.
- However, if this incremental growth continues, BrightEdge
predicts it will influence where people search online and how
brand's approach optimizing for different engines.
- Marketers should continue to monitor these alternative search
engines as optimization techniques for LLMs are likely to apply to
the AI of traditional engines.
ChatGPT is playing it safe, as using content to train
LLMs has become a hot debate.
- ChatGPT no longer gives visibility to brands that it is a
referral source.
- All referrals from ChatGPT will now look like the user went
directly to the brand's website due to the inclusion of a
"noreferrer" tag by OpenAI.
- ChatGPT is playing it safe, making it harder for brands to
claim they are stealing content.
Claude AI referrals are making their
appearance.
- Over the last month, Claude referrals have started to appear.
The number is small at the moment, but BrightEdge expects Claude
referrals to grow over the coming months.
"These findings underscore the dynamic nature of the AI-driven
search landscape," said Albert Gouyet, VP of Operations at
BrightEdge. "As engines and AI models become more adept at
surfacing and citing the most relevant and trustworthy information,
it is crucial to establish your brand as a go-to resource in your
area of expertise. This means keeping ahead of changes and doubling
down on your core competencies by creating high-quality,
informative content that highlights your unique value
proposition."
As part of its mission to help marketers stay ahead of changes
in AI and search, BrightEdge has released additional insights that
can be accessed for free in its Ultimate Guide to AI Overviews. The
complete set of insights can be viewed at
www.brightedge.com/ai-overviews.
About BrightEdgeBrightEdge, the global leader
in Enterprise SEO and content performance, empowers digital
marketers to transform online opportunities into tangible business
results. Its all-in-one platform provides organizations with
crucial market insights and intelligent AI-driven solutions. The
BrightEdge platform contains the industry's most unique and
extensive data set that connects key search, social, content, and
digital media data points. Its deep-learning engine, DataMind, has
been powering SEO AI-driven solutions since 2015, allowing
marketers to benefit from high-fidelity data-led insights and
automated action. Over 57% of Fortune 100 companies and nine of the
top ten international agencies trust BrightEdge to help them
provide the best performance by becoming an integral part of the
digital experience.
Contactpress@brightedge.com