Will Google's Bard rank your business?

If you've not seen, Google has come out with a response to the massive hype around ChatGPT.?

Here's a quick news story on it.?

Short version is Google are planning to launch Bard, a competitor in the space.

The question here is what will this mean for businesses who rely on content to drive traffic and then conversions.?

Will AI strip them of the opportunity to use content as a means of growth?

Google needs content

I think Google's Bard will be far better and more detailed than ChatGPT as they'll be plugging it directly into the search results.

However, I don't think that it'll fully replace them for three reasons.

First, most high-value searches are comparison terms.?

People want to compare A to B, they want to understand whether or not a specific service can solve their problems.

And they're going to look for user reviews and multiple viewpoints before making a decision.?

Often, people will align with a specific content creator and go by their preferred choice and advice.?

I can't see how AI will help with this.?

It'll be great at creating a short, succinct summary of an answer. But for more detailed research it can't compete - at least not yet.

Secondly, I can't imagine Google shooting themselves in the foot by removing the need for a search engine.?

In 2021, over 50% of their revenue came from ads on search.?

If they remove the need for search, they're hamstringing their ability to make money.?

I know that they will introduce some form of "AI ads", but they need the search results pages to generate a lot of their revenue.?

And finally, their AI model is likely going to be trained on content people find through Google.?

If their AI removes the need to use Google, brands won't publish content which will give the AI less content to learn from.?

Which, over time, will lead to outdated information in the AI making it useless.?

So what will AI do for Google?

I dunno.

And I don't think anyone (even Google) really know right now.?

The rumour is they had this functionality years ago but held off on releasing it for fear of reputational damage.?

ChatGPT has obviously forced their hand.

Obviously, this will have huge impact for the marketing community and really all we can do is stay on top of the news and adapt as new developments happen.?

But this is par for the course in SEO.

My prediction

Personally I think this won't be the business-ending issue it could be.?

Google have been moving toward keeping people on Google and away from the sites they list.

Featured snippets being the prime example.

Google serves you the answer within Google so you don't go to the site.?

My view is that AI will simply replace the featured snippet.?

It'll be fine for the simple questions, but won't be able to navigate complex and detailed analyses.

People will still gravitate towards "experts" and personalities for this.

If you create content that is more than just simple explanations of "What is X", then you should fair better in this.

If you're relying on simple Q and A type content, you will likely see a drop in traffic from organic.?

No one knows if it will play out this way but this is, in my opinion, the most likely outcome for now.?

So keep on producing high-quality content that requires real thought and analysis and you should be OK.

Which, now I type this out, is the exact same good SEO advice that's been around for years.?