I recently watched a video where the person spoke about how Google wants you to stay on Google.
It was something I had noticed in the past year or so but never really gave much thought to.
The person spoke about how when you search on Google they now provide information on the results page that means you often don’t need to visit another website to get what you need.
I first noticed this through the ‘People Also Ask’ function which provides answers and links to previous searches based on content from other websites. However, more recently Google introduced an AI tool generates a short summary to the search query by collating information from various sites.
This keeps you on Google and stops traffic going to other sites. Google used to direct users to other websites but now they don’t want want you to leave. They’re making a big effort to get you stay.
Firstly, this change means that websites will get less traffic. If your website only provides an answer to a question (but there’s no login or section for people to make purchases), users have less reason to visit your site. On the other hand, it might make you more favourable for use by the Google AI.
Secondly, I think Google is trying to compete with AI Chatbots like ChatGPT. Instead of giving you options for where to get the information you’re looking for, Google will now provide you with the answer.
I think it’s a useful tool because it makes it quicker to get the information you need. But I also think that we benefit from doing a little research and not just being the answer.
The Daily Gemm 