Tests reveal that ChatGPT Plus is using Google's index as well as Bing as a source of answers to questions.
Recent tests by Abhishek Iyer and Backlinko provide evidence that ChatGPT Plus is using data from the Google search index.
Until now it has ben widely believed that, because Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, search results from ChatGPT Plus are coming exclusively from Bing. But these new tests - in which a made-up piece of information that was provided only to Google quickly appeared in ChatGPT Plus results - make it clear that ChatGPT Plus is using the Google search index.
The implication of that for businesses is: AI search is becoming dependent on Google's index, and if your pages don't rank there, ChatGPT Plus won't see them.
And, of course, neither will Google Gemini, the #2 provider of AI search.
Bottom line: it's now going to be doubly important for google to be able to crawl, index and understand your website, and find there good, clear answers to users' most relevant questions.
- David
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