People have been using ChatGPT for search for a while now. With the announcement that the platform is making a strong play in this space, search is about to get even more interesting.
Certainly, Google has announced that they, too, are making changes in the space. There are some adjustments we’ll all need to make and ongoing changes to which we’ll need to pay attention to keep sites relevant.
Three items one should consider on existing sites and new site build-outs:
1. Pay attention to your robots.txt file: Your website’s robots.txt should specifically allow OAI-SearchBot while maintaining separate permissions for different OpenAI crawlers. In addition to this basic configuration, websites must ensure proper indexing by Bing and maintain a clear site architecture.
2. Content attribution needs to be fine-tuned: Make sure all referenced content includes a proper citation (this is called “Source Attribution”). Your Source Sidebar provides reference links for verification. This is another attribution you should optimize. A single query can now generate multiple source citations. And searches for specific locations will return an interactive map.
3. Keep these changes in mind: Be consistent. Content freshness affects visibility. Pages behind paywalls can still be cited, so this opens up opportunities or challenges depending upon how you intend to use these citations. URLs returning 404 errors may still appear in citations. And multiple pages from the same domain can be referenced in a single response.
To ensure that pages remain accessible across traditional search engines (Google search, Bing, Kagi, Duck Duck Go, etc.) and AI-powered platforms, prioritize maintaining factual accuracy and up-to-date information while implementing a clear content structure. This means you may want to revisit older posts to make sure they are still accurate and up-to-date with the latest information.
Google is still the elephant in the proverbial room when it comes to search. This move by ChatGPT (owned by Microsoft) makes Bing more relevant. So make sure you are using their webmaster tools as well to ensure that your site is indexed.
Need some help? Drop us a line and I’ll get in touch.
