How to Rank in ChatGPT Search:
Full Walkthrough for SearchGPT

Author:  Sam Dunning

✪  Date:  July 1st 2024

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We’ve written this article to help you get to that all-important #1 ranking spot with a little help from the very latest AI tool on the block: SearchGPT. OpenAI’s claim is that SearchGPT gives more detailed, ‘more human’ responses to search queries… Let’s test that claim and find out who the new tool is aimed at, how it compares to the search engine titan that is Google search, and ultimately, how to use SearchGPT to achieve incredible B2B SEO results!

SearchGPT: The headlines

You’ve no doubt heard of OpenAI, the company behind arguably the world’s most well-known LLM (large language model). The AI tool has enjoyed a meteoric rise in use over the last couple of years, with well over 150 million users worldwide (as of October 2024). It therefore seemed inevitable that OpenAI would indeed eventually release its own product to rival that of Google’s search engine, and now they have done just that!


  • Release Date: 31st October 2024 (still technically in the prototype stage).

  • Revenue model: Subscription to the ‘full’ version of ChatGPT.

  • Paid Ads: Unlike Google, to date there are no paid ads, only organic search results.  

  • Links: Gone are the familiar blue links that you’ll find on usual search engines. 

  • Technology: Powered by Microsoft’s Bing search engine, plus AI data and functionality from ChatGPT’s LLM


  • Interface: SearchGPT has a clean, minimal interface. Responses are virtually instantaneous and are generated with the same visual progression of ChatGPT’s responses (i.e., it appears to type the response in real time).



Why should you use it now?


  • Boost site traffic, brand, and mindshare with the new tool
  • Early adopters have much to gain as they embrace it and understand how it works
  • Increase wins over times the tool evolves

Google organic Vs SearchGPT

The very first point of difference between SearchGPT and Google search is the interface. We are all incredibly familiar with the layout of Google with its blue underlined headings that link straight to the source of info/relevant websites. With By contrast, the first time you fire up SearchGPT, you'll be taken aback by just how minimalist the page layout is. 

 

Essentially, you are presented with two or three paragraph summaries of text in response to your search query that are interspersed with very small ‘OpenAI’ citation CTAs that bring up a pop-up dialogue box as you move your cursor over them. These sources, when clicked, open a new tab section on the right-hand side of the page with relevant search results and references. 

 

The overall feel you get is that SearchGPT wants to present you with what it feels like is the most relevant information in a very concise, easy-to-consume format. It is as if the search results have been condensed for you and relayed through a filter. The engine essentially prompts a dialogue between yourself and ChatGPT, allowing it to do much of the sifting through of the information on your behalf.

Sam’s SearchGPT video guide

Sam has put together a helpful video guide on SearchGPT where he demos a number of B2B searches conducted by a B2B SEO Agency, comparing and contrasting with Google’s responses using the ’job to be done’ framework input query: ‘how to build a killer sales demo for a CMO,’ along with a fairly typical, bottom-of-funnel B2B search for proposal software. Sam’s video goes in depth about:

 

  • Clear overview of SearchGPT
  • Contrasting it to Google search
  • Assessing SearchGPT’s overall impact
  • Testing use cases specific to B2B
  • Ideas for implementing the tool to rank


Sam has loads more actionable tips for you and goes into even more depth in his: Ultimate B2B SEO Guide

SearchGPT for B2B searches:

So, the all-important question for those in B2B is: how useful is SearchGPT for B2B? If you want rapid results for very specific queries, then SearchGPT gives quick, detailed results with a concise AI overview. 

 

You’ll find that you don’t need to click through many links, which is in stark contrast to Google search, where you’ll frequently find yourself clicking away from the results page multiple times, and you’ll often have multiple explorer tabs open. 

 

The fact that you’ll spend much of your time within the SearchGPT interface also makes it well suited for B2B searches on smartphone devices, where multiple links within a text wall can be particularly difficult to navigate on a small screen.

 

With SearchGPT, another significant advantage is the fact that it can reference data that it has already returned, and that means follow-up search queries can go into even greater depth without repeating themselves. Again, a huge advantage over Google search, where you often have to input multiple search terms, changing a word or two here or there to see if it generates a different response. 


SearchGPT as a local search tool:


  • Blue links direct straight to Google Maps.
  • Data pulled from ‘Google My Business’ is up-to-date and highly relevant.
  • Follow-up searches build upon previous queries + less typing.
  • Interface keeps results mainly to one page, with less need to follow external links.
  • Ideally suited to mobile/tablet searches.

Will SearchGPT Kill Google Search?

The short answer is NO, Google search is not dead and it should still be safe for the foreseeable future from it’s new competitor. A quick look at the numbers inform just how much market dominance Google has, with more than 8 billion searches per day globally! By contrast, SearchGPT generates around 10 million results per day.

Habits are difficult to break and so many of us are used to going straight to Google whenever we need an answer. For B2B we can see SearchGPT gaining traction and achieving greater market saturation as more B2B users become aware of its key differentiators.

SearchGPT can definitely help with brand recognition and dark social (private messaging apps, email, SMS, etc) as it analysis and identifies high-performing topics relevant to B2B and generates highly specific content that is easy and quick to share.

SearchGPT: Security & Privacy

Google collects vast quantities of user data from search queries and then uses the information it harvests to generate highly targeted personalised ads. Google search also has advanced tracking capabilities that monitor (and subsequently monetise) user behaviour. 

 

SearchGPT’s algorithm does not change based on user-supplied data. SearchGPT implements an aggregated feedback loop to refine and evolve user queries. What this means in practice is that if a user frequently interacts with specific responses, this has the potential to influence how future queries are presented and managed. Again though, individual user data is not harvested for personal profiling.

 

It is still early days for SearchGPT, but right now it’s fairly safe to say that openAI offers enhanced privacy. While Google claims to be very open about what data it harvests and how it uses it, it is defiantly extracting greater amounts of personal data to use for its ad revenue and monetisation.

Where is SearchGPT pulling it’s results from?

SearchGPT generates its results based on info that it has been pre-trained with as well as real-time searches before refining the data for presentation. The initial information it was fed with comes from the internet, as well as articles, books, and papers. It also retrieves real-time data using trusted APIs. The four-step process looks like this:

 

  • Step 1 > SearchGPT is fed training data, which it trawls and learns from by analysing patterns and relationships. The patterns it finds are what it uses to answer queries, not specific references. 
  •  
  • Step 2 > Real-time data via the internet or custom integration is referenced to ensure relevance and up-to-date results.
  •  
  • Step 3 > Results are then refined through additional training with supervised learning using a string of labelled datasets. This enables it to have the functionality to generate results that are specific to certain topics/industries / niches. 
  •  
  • Step 4 > SearchGPT ‘learns’ through continuous improvement as it updates the model. The information it harvests from users is anonymised and aggregated.

How to rank using SearchGPT

We’ve compiled a bulleted list below of juicy tips from a SaaS SEO agency that  will help you rank using SearchGPT! It should be stated that these are yet to be tested over the long term because SearchPT is simply too new, but they are robust and have all demonstrated proven results for B2B with Google Search:


  • Clearly structured pages, easy to read.
  • Engaging content that leverages high-quality media (infographics, videos, social proof, etc.)
  • New & relevant content (EEAT Google framework).
  • In-depth heavily researched, high-quality content that targets your niche.
  • Conversational content style and tone (i.e., not AI-generated!).
  • Target defined, highly specific long-tail keywords used by ideal customer profiles.
  • Answer common questions onsite (sales/CS calls).
  • Technical SEO implementation (mobile/page speed/heading tags/breaking up content/internal links).
  • Reference brands, plus implant high-quality, highly relevant niche links (quality over quantity).
  • Empower trust with signalling across the web.

Who does SearchGPT impact the most?

B2Bs that are ‘tech-savvy’ (i.e., have a more technical approach). Google will still be the go-to tool for the vast majority of everyday users, but SearchGPT will steadily draw B2B users looking for the specific functionality offered to them.


Google Search for:


  • Will retain market dominance
  • Ideal for ‘How to’ enquiries 
  • Software / vendors comparisons 
  • Problem solving

SearchGPT Search for:


  • Tech-savvy users in IT/SaaS
  • Early adopters looking for an alternative to Google
  • Leveraging a new resource ahead of competitors


For friendly, honest help regarding all aspects of Web devlopment & B2B marketing, get in touch with Sam: 

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SearchGPT FAQs

  • >> Is SearchGPT a good search tool to use everyday in B2B?

    Answer > It is early days for the search engine and it’s wide scale effectiveness is, as yet, untested, but the early signs are that SearchGPT can be very effective for use in B2B. A key benefit is efficiency, where it collates and structures detailed responses into easily digestible copy. It is also highly customisable so you can direct to give you highly relevant response that have better context.

  • >> Can you integrate SearchGPT with other tools currently in use?

    Answer > You can integrate SearchGPT with B2B tools you use everyday to boost productivity, enhance customer engagement, and increase workflow efficiency. Using CRM integration as example, Salesforce & Hubspot can be used in conjunction with SearchGPT for retrieving customer data, tracking interactions throughout the pipeline, before generating highly contextual recommendations for client comms. A SearchGPT query in this instance could look like this: “list our current pipeline opportunities for Q4 2024.”


  • >> Can you train SearchGPT to learn from your previous queries?

    Answer > Yes you can, but it requires a bit of work on the your part. To tailor responses based on past search queries you would have to store these searches on a system / database and then specifically instruct SearchGPT to reference these datapoints when it generate its response. In a more subtle and indirect way SearchGPT does learn from past inputs, for example, if you repeatedly ask variations of the same question to SearchGPT, you’ll see that it will adapt its responses, rather than issue exactly the same answer each time

  • >> What are SearchGPT’s limitations?

    Answer > SearchGPT uses the large language model in the same way that the other leading AI tools do, therefore the vast majority of data that is is trained on will be perhaps 6 months to a year out of date. Another issue that is commonplace for LLM’s is the ‘hallucination’ of some results, in that it will occasionally present the user with factually incorrect (or incomplete) responses. Localisation can be a bit of a subliming block too, where it has a lack of data for specific regions and cultures.

  • >> How do you access SearchGPT?

    Answer > SearchGPT is a tool created by OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT. You’ll need to have an account with OpenAI, which you can get for free, but to use SearchGPT you will need a ChatGPT Plus or Team subscribers plan. OpenAI do plan to offer a free version from early 2025.

  • >> Can SearchGPT support B2B marketing / sales workflows?

    Answer > Yes, SearchGPT is certainly capable of helping B2B marketing and sales workflows work more effectively. For lead-gen and researching, you can use SearchGPT to gain insights about competitors and their market positioning, as well as customer sentiments. You can also use it to research the latest industry trends thanks to real-time updating. You can further boost productivity by automating time-consuming data retrieval tasks and reducing the need to use lots of different tools.

  • >> How can SearchGPT help to identify emerging B2B market trends?

    Answer > SearchGPT is very good at identifying the latest B2B market trends because it can conduct real-time, context-aware research accessing multiple sources to generate highly nuanced results. As an example, if you run a SaaS company you can use SearchGPT to gain insights on emerging trends in cloud computing and it will scour the latest industry reports, news articles, and blogs to present context specific results. Google search would instead rely on its pre-aggregated dataset for the same search.

  • >> How can you use SearchGPT to help with B2B customer feedback?

    Answer > SearchGPT can help massively with gaining key insights about target customer groups. You can ask it to search a database for pain points, and opportunities that might have been missed by human eyes with all the noise. It is also a very good tool to use for analysing regional / demographic-specific trends to retrieve specific date on alternative customer groups with a very low risk of conformation biases.

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