Opinions on ChatGPT or Copilot as a traffic source

[LinkGenius]

I'd like to know your opinion about considering chatbots as a traffic source.

Since I have ChatGPT Plus I use it instead of a search engine in an increasing amount of cases and I'm content with the results most of the time. Furthermore, I see ChatGPT does it's research using the Bing search engine and provides links to it's resources often so I can check the results. Bings Copilot has similar functionalities (although not as good in my opinion). This made me wonder if it could become an "new" traffic source in the future. There must be more people using chat bots this way.
Here is a made up example of a prompt for illustration: "Give me the 5 best courses about affiliate marketing, considering price, extensiveness and quality of the knowledge. Collect 20 courses first and do research on each course to check which courses people are most satisfied with, explain why these courses are in the top 5."

According to Bing web search market share barely moved by AI chat hype there isn't a large shift in market share. However, there is a decrease of marketshare for Google in favor of Bing. Furthermore, the traditional search result quality is declining (affiliate sites are mentioned in this context) and I expect the quality of chatbots to improve further.

What are your thoughts? Would it be smart to start thinking about how to get your website listed in the answers of chatbots?

 

[Graybeard]

What are your thoughts? Would it be smart to start thinking about how to get your website listed in the answers of chatbots?

Well, how many people are actually using AI (collectively ChatGPT plus, Bing [I use that in Skype] and Bard --the G@@gle wanna be) to search your very narrow topic --that might lead to a web link?

TAM (total addressable market) for what subject?

Ask AI to explain "how vector search works" and "how vector search works might change search engine algorithms factors."

SEO is screwed in its current text content forms.

 

[LinkGenius]

Thanks for your great response! As I understand it, vector search is a way to transform text to vectors (numbers), making search engines (and AI, algorithms etc) understand the meaning of both queries and content better. As I see it, in a "traditional" search engine this would replace keywords and instead understand the meaning of the search query and match it with the websites content. However, in this context the search engines will still rank websites in a list, and still will have the need to measure how successful the recommendations where.

Vector search can very well give a great list of courses as in the earlier prompt, but there are still advantages when using a chatbot. You can ask follow up questions, filter the earlier list on additional requirements etc. I actually use it this way when I can't find what I'm looking for in the traditional search engines. And of course, lazy as I am, I ask for a link where I to find what I need.

The fact that a chatbot might load data from your website (based on Bing search queries for ChatGPT and Copilot currently) means you can influence it responses.

You're right that today there are not many people are using chatbots for internet searches, maybe that will remain. But there is also a chance that this will change in the future. Maybe people will be writing pages specially for chatbots where they emphasize how authoritative their site is on a subject. Or how people should definitely check out the URL on their site (that is blocked by their robots.txt).

It's quite foggy in my crystal ball (maybe I should look longer than 8.25 seconds ) and I like to know what you see in yours, even if its foggy too.

 

[Graybeard]

This is hard to understand --however

What are Vector Embeddings | Pinecone

Vector embeddings are one of the most fascinating and useful concepts in machine learning. They are central to many NLP, recommendation, and search algorithms. If you’ve ever used things like recommendation engines, voice assistants, language translators, you’ve come across systems that rely on...

www.pinecone.io

*not an endorsement of their services but there is a lot of techie info there

then I tried this after reading the above article yesterday --there are *clues*:

 

[T J Tutor]

I'd like to know your opinion about considering chatbots as a traffic source.

Below is an answer from an AIContentfy article. Most of the research on the subject I've read is pretty much the same as this. I expect that is because they are all generated by AI.

"Chatbots are an effective tool for driving website traffic and improving the customer experience. There are several ways to effectively use chatbots to drive website traffic, including personalizing the chatbot experience, integrating chatbots with other marketing channels, utilizing chatbots for customer service and support, optimizing chatbots for mobile devices, collecting and analyzing customer data through chatbots, creating chatbot-led campaigns and promotions, providing valuable and relevant information through chatbots, encouraging customer engagement through chatbots, offering chatbot-led product recommendations, and implementing chatbots on high-traffic pages. By using these strategies, companies can engage with customers, drive website traffic, and increase conversions.

Additionally, chatbots can collect valuable data and insights into customer behavior, allowing companies to make informed decisions about their marketing and sales strategies. Overall, chatbots are a powerful tool for companies looking to improve the customer experience, drive website traffic, and increase conversions."

 

[Graybeard]

Chatbots are an effective tool

They are only as good as their human creator at this point anyway. If you cannot prompt (program) YOUR correct logic into YOUR chatbot it's going to have all of the issues that the other chatbots will have. Parrot like `symptoms`.

 

[Graybeard]

**User Intent:** Chatbots are designed to understand user intent, and if your website can fulfill that intent effectively, it might lead to increased visibility. Ensuring that your content is structured to answer specific questions or provide solutions could be beneficial.

So, I query the chatbot some

Now back up your bullshit bot

SO???

YADA YADA ...

continued below ...

 

[Graybeard]

That much huh???

Me and who else?

Cut to the chase already ffs
on and on parroting internet trash (another 500+ words)
finally Mr Megamind chat bot says this:

More to the real demonstrative point:

Nothing that new and unspoken before here. But he (it) spits out lot of words --generalities that make sense.

True of false:

*In conclusion*:

So what data do you have?
How accurate and current is it on what you are selling?
How much of it is just internet bullshit?

 

[gerlinch]

ChatGPT and Copilot can be solid traffic sources, but it depends on how you’re using them. I’ve seen some good results when I use them for generating content and ideas—especially with ChatGPT for blog posts and Copilot for more specific stuff, like helping with writing emails. The cool thing is they can save you a lot of time, but they don’t replace good old-fashioned creativity or strategy. If you’re looking for more targeted traffic, I’d still recommend mixing in some other tactics, like SEO or social media. I also like using copilot for outlook alternatives — if you need help with organization and responses!

 

[Graybeard]

I am not trying to create blogs or web 'SEO' content for affiliate offers using different AIs, so I don't have the ability to measure the differences or the uplift in results.

• Does it positively affect your search volume?
• Does it generate any income for you?

 

[Maul Hausauer]

That's an interesting perspective! I’ve been considering the same—chatbots like ChatGPT are quickly becoming a go-to tool for finding detailed answers, and I’ve noticed they often pull from high-authority sites. This could definitely open up new opportunities for traffic, especially if the chatbot ecosystem expands. Optimizing content for chatbot algorithms might be the next step in SEO evolution, focusing more on providing comprehensive, structured, and user-focused answers that bots can easily reference. It's worth keeping an eye on how they source their info to stay ahead!

 

[MiljanT86]

I think chatbots definitely have potential as a traffic source, especially as they get better. I’ve been using ChatGPT more for quick answers, and it’s often more efficient than sifting through search results. If your website provides content that fits with the kinds of questions chatbots answer, it could be smart to focus on that. While I don’t think SEO is going anywhere anytime soon, it might be worth thinking ahead about how your content shows up in chatbot responses, since they seem to be improving fast. I wouldn’t fully rely on it yet, but it could be something to watch.