We all know about Yahoo Answers and how it shut down in 2021 forever. Little do we know about Google Answers, the search engine giant’s question-and-answer platform. For a flat fee of $3, Google staffers would answer questions sent via email. Launched in April 2002, the service was shut down within 24 hours due to unanticipated excessive demand and also because everyone was already using Yahoo!

The same year, Larry Page said, “Google will fulfil its mission only when its search engine is AI-complete”. Two decades later, by integrating generative AI in its search engine, isn’t Google bringing back Answers? Only this time, instead of Google staff, AI replies to your answers. 

Will we still have Search as we know it then? Seems like Page’s vision is coming true.

Lex Fridman asks the same question to Marc Andreessen on his podcast. To which Andreessen said, “Probably not, we will just have answers.” The AI will probably give you a few blue links that you can cite if you are trying to write something, but that’s all. You will be forced back to conversing with AI.

“It is just like reading a research paper — it’s got the list of sources at the end. If you wanna investigate for yourself, you go read those papers,” added Andreesen. Now, instead of interacting with people, you just interact with the summarisation of different links into a research paper kind of document, with just links at the end. 

Search would turn into conversations with AI

Search has always dominated the way we interact with the internet. Andreessen said that in a hypothetical world, if the current LLM guys like Google or Microsoft always had that technology, would they ever want to build something like a search engine offering users 10 blue links? “I think the answer is pretty clear, no.” he said. 

He further added that Google has been trying to drive to the answer for a very long time anyway. The company has always had the idea to just give answers in a single box, instead of giving you links to the answer. This shift towards providing direct answers is a significant departure from the traditional search experience, and it has the potential to revolutionise how we browse the internet.

With the integration of AI into Google’s search engine, the landscape is definitely about to change in this direction. Google is probably realising Page’s dream now. Instead of presenting users with a list of search results and links to various websites, it will provide direct answers to users’ queries, eliminating the need for them to click on multiple links to find the information they need. No more sifting through pages of search results or clicking on multiple websites to find the information you’re looking for. 

A lot of people have already started using ChatGPT or Bard to do this job. Moreover, Google is now just a classified ad-page, with just ads and a paragraph of information, not useful links. That is anyway the company’s biggest source of revenue. Now with summarisation capabilities, the ad revenue can also probably go down. 

Search engine ‘non’ optimisation

The SEO industry is basically about trying to cheat Google Search by ranking their websites on top. Fortunately or unfortunately, the impact of this change on the SEO industry would be profound. In the current search landscape, websites compete for visibility and traffic by optimising their content to rank higher in search engine results pages. This is achieved through various strategies, including keyword optimization, link building, and creating high-quality content.

However, with the shift towards direct answers provided by AI, the importance of traditional SEO techniques may diminish. Instead of focusing on ranking for specific keywords or acquiring backlinks, website owners will need to adapt their strategies to ensure that their content is structured and formatted in a way that can be easily understood and processed by AI algorithms.

This new paradigm may favour websites that prioritise providing clear and concise information, as well as those that excel in formatting their content to enhance readability and accessibility. Websites that can effectively present their information in a manner that aligns with AI algorithms’ understanding and generation capabilities will have an advantage in this AI-driven search landscape.

Google just wants answers

This is Google 2.0. Here, an AI-powered genie pops out of the search box and grants you the answers you seek. Who needs links and web pages when you have an AI buddy ready to spill the knowledge beans? But at the same time, this does not diminish the role of building websites as that is where the AI is seeking the beans from. But now, Google wouldn’t drive you to the page where it gets the information, quite hypocritical Google!