Based on the above, Google still owns 83% of the market; the next challenger is YouTube at 6.79%, which Google owns. GPT and other engines will eat into this, but it’s still a marginal market share.

There are two ways to look at this:

1. ChatGPT only has a 4.3% share of the market OR.
2. It’s taken Bing nearly 10 years to get 1.97%, and ChatGPT has done it in around 3.

What’s Next?

I predict the chart above will reduce Google further to the 75-80% range, and Chat GPT will take a larger share.

Another of the ‘other’ search engines will emerge. My money is on Perplexity, particularly for eCommerce brands getting to 1% of the above.

They are positioning themselves towards commercial results, potentially off the back of the poor results from ChatGPT. They also have an integration into Shopify which is interesting to keep an eye on. It also looks to be positioning itself towards enterprise, so it’s already focusing on usps to differentiate.

ChatGPT has yet to monetise itself, and when it does, it will likely be through ads—as Sam Altman has confirmed in multiple interviews. However, they can’t create a purely ad-driven platform. They’ll need to balance paid content with organic listings, which is when Generative Engine Optimisation will truly emerge. But at the end of 2024, what’s the value in appearing in these AI results? ChatGPT offers no measurable metrics, and Google provides even fewer traffic opportunities than featured snippets. So, is this simply a brand awareness play?

Here is Sam Altman confirming via Reddit that they will soon be releasing rendered custom results similar to Google:

So, Is SEO Dead?

We asked some SEO leads to share their thoughts on this question, which is asked every time something new hits the SEO industry.

“Disagree.” SEO is dead” is a clickbait headline. The search landscape as we know it is always evolving, but it’s the nature of the job to anticipate and pivot. Before AI, it was TikTok, and before that, it was Voice Search set to disrupt the industry, but core SEO tactics for technical content and links have always remained the same. Considering users and focusing on E-E-A-T will help brands flourish, even in the age of SGE.”

Rae Collinson, Senior Global SEO Manager at SharkNinja

“As long as there are searches—whether on Google, Bing, or Perplexity—and competition between eCommerce platforms or websites, SEO will remain essential. The rise of generative AI will likely increase the demand for semantically flawless pages, pushing the boundaries of content optimisation.

In our field, couponing and having the best coupons continue to be the key strategy. It’s not just about offering discounts; it’s about generating strong signals of user engagement, driving active behaviour on our pages, and ensuring a positive experience that keeps users coming back.

Of course, at Groupon, we’re at the forefront of data analysis, leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms to understand trends and optimise performance. Here lies the true transformation since 2019: new knowledge and greater possibilities.

But the core of our work is simple: giving users what they truly need. And that’s where the role of an SEO professional becomes crucial—understanding what consumers are searching for and how they search. It’s about anticipating needs, crafting solutions, and ensuring users find what they’re looking for.”

Florence Auréart, Coupons Head of SEO at Groupon

Enter Bing

When it comes to providing results that are genuinely relevant, particularly around commercial search terms, ChatGPT is way behind—26 years behind. Google is sitting on 26 years of user signals, commercial intent, and testing. ChatGPT can’t compete with this; it can’t buy itself to this level of experience, data, and understanding. On this front, no one can compete with Google—apart from Bing? Could Bing share all its search secrets with ChatGPT? ChatGPT has the users, Bing has at least a decade of user data. That would accelerate ChatGPTs ability to compete commercially.

AI powered Search or Search Powered AI?

At the end of 2024, Google is using AI to boost its search experience but failing. Instead, they need to use Search to boost its AI experience, but it’s struggling to do that as Gemini lacks the brand awareness of ChatGPT (I only just recently realised there’s a dedicated Gemini app).

If they want to compete, they’ll need to make the main Google search AI powered by Search OR push more people to Gemini and get that to essentially cannibalise Google – the first option is easiest.

The experience of AI and Search is fundamentally different mindsets that have different needs and require different actions.

This is why I’m looking very closely at the new Google Shopping recently launched in the US; if Google can make the Shopping tab a destination in itself, e.g. like Maps or Images, then that leaves the main Search page to be more research and informative led for the AI experience that can also introduce this more ‘chat-like’ function into Google. So, the experience of AI becomes a tool for searching more efficiently and giving a better, more personable experience.

More on this topic in our podcast eCom Sessions.

When it comes to shopping, most users will always want the experience of browsing and ‘searching’ for their dream product. Yes, there are some functional products when you just want to be given a few choices, but for larger, more interesting products, you want to shop around. The chat function doesn’t allow this experience to develop, hence the need to make ‘Shopping’ better.

It feels more like a useless, limited personal assistant than an online shopping experience. Users want options; they don’t want to just be told, ‘This is the best T-shirt for you, so go buy it.’ I feel this is a fundamental reason why voice search has never taken off for anything beyond facts and information. For this reason, I feel like there will always be a need for SEOs, provided there are options provided to users.

ChatGPT has a seismic gap to close when it comes to commercialising Search through both genuine organic listing and Paid listings. Google has such a small step to make to improve its AI results and make them useful for users. Right now, it feels like it’s just ticking that ‘AI Checkbox’ for its shareholders, as the AI summaries have negatively impacted the user experience on Google.

To conclude, it’s going to take a very long time for any competitor to break through the general brand and habit of just ‘googling it’; as shown above, Google still owns 80% of the market, so that’s going to take a while to take down that monopoly.

In my opinion, it’s going to take even longer for ChatGPT or any other competitor to match Google’s 20 years of user signals, which are particularly important when it comes to commercially led search terms—you can’t buy your way to this level of experience and learning.

Finally, this is the first major competition with Google in a very long time (if ever).. SEO will broaden, and it’ll become even more isolated when it comes to measurement.

I believe it will still be a channel that hits the entire purchasing journey for a user buying a product; however (hopefully), it’ll now mean multiple touch points across multiple different search platforms, creating even more fragmented data and difficulties with proving the tangible commercial value.

As we conclude 2024, we’re looking at AI-powered Search, but in the future, it will undoubtedly become search-powered AI.

Published 14/02/2025