What do ChatGPT searches mean for SEO – and even company valuations?

In September 2023, a landmark moment happened to the internet. Previously encumbered by only having access to training data up until 2021, ChatGPT gained the ‘omniscient’ capability to browse the internet in real time. A new power was unleashed. 

When people are sipping their morning coffees in the years ahead and having their AI assistant recite their news summary, they may look back on this as the next pivotal change to information retrieval after social media – a platform that has for the first time, alongside online sources, overtaken TV as the most popular news source. 

For SEO, it has shaken up the monolithic search engine scene dominated by Google. To keep pace, Google incorporated its own AI search capabilities, and AI-generated summaries now appear first for many of its searches. But ChatGPT has totally distorted what it means to rank high on Google pages. 

I joked when ChatGPT launched that its user uptake and subsequent crashing was comparable to the Glastonbury site. But those numbers dwindle in comparison to its reach today: its maker OpenAI now commands a whopping 400 million users worldwide weekly. 

With the model fast becoming a go-to search engine, how does this impact companies, their online presence and our business of tech PR?

Has ChatGPT increased the value of online coverage? 

In October last year, the next major change occurred. The launch of ChatGPT search meant users could quickly receive answers accompanied by relevant links. In essence, this was removing the need to use a search engine altogether. Another major shift. 

The impact of this on SEO can be viewed in two corners. In one corner, it can draw visibility to far more websites, companies and information by trawling web pages for relevant information. But in the other corner, it can limit a website’s presence and caters to a select group of sources. 

Either way, the value of direct website clicks from Google is being diminished; it’s now about overall brand awareness and traction. So tailored, authentic and insightful content becomes more valuable. 

The best strategy is to appear across reputable sources online; to provide unique in-depth insights or data on topics your target audience may want to learn about. That’s what the model is searching for. That can come from online news coverage, blogs, thought leadership pieces and social media (as well as activities offline like events). The go-to PR avenues. 

Does this impact company valuations? 

While it’s by no means a replacement for other financial evaluation methods, a more recent occurrence is investors using ChatGPT to inform their investment decisions. 

“Investors can employ ChatGPT to do crucial background research on potential investment targets—including earnings and revenue trends, key product launches and developments, newsworthy company updates, and much more,” explains Nathan Reiff on Investopedia. ChatGPT search can also provide live information on stock quotes for free, democratising access to this data. 

Again, this simply heightens the need to establish a credible, authentic and wide-ranging online presence. 

Controlling what you can

There are a host of discussions to be had over the issues this poses to verified news and fake news. The use of social media and ChatGPT means people can be less inclined to fact check the information they are receiving. 

ChatGPT also amalgamates sources to produce its answers. This can provide a concise overview of a topic from different areas to enhance a search. Yet it can often make mistaken presumptions about topics and present them as a given fact – what’s known as a ‘hallucination’. (Apple’s AI news notifications are a prime example.)

Frankly, it’s hard to prevent misinformation and hallucinations from occurring. But what you can control is what you say and where you say it. 

From online searches to how investors research companies, the ability for ChatGPT to scour the internet in real time marks a landmark shift to a brand’s digital strategy. If anything, it simply accentuates the value in cultivating your online presence.