The Impact of OpenAI Search and Apple Intelligence on Traditional SEO

“Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” These legendary words both simultaneously ushered in a future few could fathom, and killed an entire industry at the same time. The year was 1876, and Alexander Graham Bell spoke these words while making the first phone call to his assistant in a room out of earshot. The world was never the same.

In a single moment, the technology and way we communicated changed forever, leaving older technologies like the telegraph in the dust. Fast forward to present day, and what we refer to as “telephones” resembles an amazing miniature computer, more powerful than what was used to land a man on the moon. And everyone has one.

Halloween of 2024 marks another such watershed moment. And like the telephone, technology and the way we interact with it has leapt into the future.

If you missed it, October 31st, 2024 was the day ChatGPT introduced its very own search engine. Paired with the launch of Apple Intelligence, AI is on the precipice of completely changing how we use search engines.

OpenAI’s language-driven search capabilities and Apple’s device-integrated intelligence tools are reshaping how we understand and interact with search. Rather than relying on traditional keyword density and link-based ranking systems, these AI-powered platforms emphasize user intent, context, and personalization, creating a new standard for SEO that focuses on relevance, quality, and engagement over keyword tactics.

In this helpful guide to the future of search, we’ll dive into how OpenAI Search and Apple Intelligence work, what sets them apart from traditional search engines, and the impact these technologies will have on SEO.

Open AI Search: The Search Engine Killer

OpenAI’s search technology represents a significant departure from the traditional keyword-matching models of search engines. Built on natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning, OpenAI’s search tool interprets the intent behind user queries and delivers more conversational, context-driven responses. This search engine can process nuanced questions, anticipate follow-up questions, and adapt to user behavior over time—offering results that feel more like a personalized, informative conversation than a list of ranked websites.

ChatGPT can understand natural language and user input in a way search engines never could. OpenAI’s search can comprehend the meaning behind a query, providing results based on context rather than isolated words. In other words, just like having a conversation with a good friend who knows what you mean, even when what you’re saying doesn’t say it exactly, ChatGPT is capable of picking up on the context of your questions. Consequently, the search model adapts to user intent by delivering results that directly address complex or highly specific questions.

In addition, ChatGPT is designed to learn from its interactions with you. Overtime, just like the very good friend from the example above, it will refine results based on your preferences learned from repeated interaction. This allows ChatGPT to create a personalized set of search results tailored specifically for your tastes.

You read that right. Custom, personalized search results.

The bottom line is that content that “ranks” well in this new world of search won’t be whichever piece of content has a keyword in it a certain number of times, or uses the right amount of semantic longtail key phrases. In fact, ChatGPT can get so good at inferring your meaning that it may even display search results that don’t have the target keyword at all, but it matches the core intent of what you’re asking.

Apple Intelligence: Personalized, Privacy-Focused Search in the Palm of Your Hand

Like ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence uses user data to personalize the search experience and provide custom results tailored for specific users needs. Unlike ChatGPT which is a standalone application that requires a subscription to use, Apple Intelligence is slated to be built directly into all new Apple products going forward.

Apple’s model integrates user behavior, location, and usage patterns across its entire ecosystem (devices, apps, and services) to deliver personalized results that align with the user’s specific needs and preferences. In essence, Apple’s AI uses everything you do on all of your Apple devices, from iPhones to AppleTVs to understand your personality, wants, and needs.

It continuously learns more about you and begins to personalize the search results it serves based on the knowledge base it builds from your behavior. This means that, like ChatGPT, search results prioritize the needs of the user as they are understood in relation to their unique profile, not according to which keywords are typed (or spoken) into your iPhone.

While having an AI learning your innermost thoughts from the contents of your Spotify playlist, or that one that one peanut brittle recipe you looked up several months ago sounds like a dystopian future, Apple Intelligence prioritizes your privacy. Apple Intelligence data gather operates as a closed ecosystem. None of the data is shared externally from your devices. As a result, personalization is a seamless part of the Apple ecosystem without compromising user security.

Beyond Traditional Search: Are Keywords Dead?

This is certainly the question on the mind of most digital marketers and SEOs, but it’s more complex than most realize. In a sense, yes, keyword-focused SEO is now a thing of the past, but keywords themselves are not. Historically, SEO was largely about selecting and placing the right keywords on a page. The more frequently keywords were used in specific patterns, the higher the ranking potential in traditional search engines.

However, with the introduction of OpenAI and Apple’s contextual search technologies, the rules are changing. These new tools focus on providing the most relevant information based on the user’s overall intent and context, rather than relying heavily on keyword matches.

Keywords should be the starting point for future SEO work, but they shouldn’t be the end of it. Keyword research will need to evolve to focus more broadly on topics of interest rather than exact match queries. For example, inputting “wheel repair services” into tools and looking at total search volume and the most common keyword variants is far more valuable than searching for a specific keyword with the highest search volume to target.

As mentioned before, because ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence both learn for user behavior over time, they may serve content to them that doesn’t feature the keyword or key phrase they entered even once, but instead is determined to be the best match to meet the “general essence” of the question asked. AI is capable of thinking much closer to how humans think than traditional search. It understands that “eggs” and “chocolate souffle” are related despite having nothing in common on the surface. AI knows there’s a logical path depending on user needs to get from one to the other, and when that path should be taken.

The new focus of SEO should be on better understanding user intent, and designing engaging content that answers common questions. Worthwhile content experiences are going to be far more successful in the realm of AI search than creating surface-level content. The emphasis on context and intent means that crafting detailed, insightful content that truly addresses user needs will become the cornerstone of SEO.

How to Position Your Content to Perform in the New Era of Search

If you want to generate traffic for your website, you need to focus on creating informative, highly-engaging content designed to meet specific user needs. Pages that provide thorough explanations and well-supported answers to common questions will experience better performance. At the same time, the emphasis on user experience has elevated the importance of authorship and credibility. Search engines that prioritize quality will favor content that is backed by credible sources, studies, and expert insights.

No more surface-level two-paragraph blogs. You’re going to need to go deeper.

Aside from simply writing to answer user queries, you also need to consider how search is being used and appearing within AI applications. Apple Intelligence is integrated directly with Apple devices and replaces voice assistants like Siri. This means optimizing for voice search has become extremely important. Specific topics are preferrable because we know users tend to use longer-tailed, highly specific phrases when interacting with voice assistants. In addition, you’ll want create audience segments and personas, and write content that appeals to them specifically. Finally, content should be written to sound natural, as if you are simply speaking to someone about a subject of interest. Both OpenAI and Apple AI models are designed to behave like someone is having a conversation with the AI. Users prefer this because it feels much more normal than entering a keyword and having an algorithm spit out potential results. Your content should mirror the natural language AI uses to be engaging.

One last piece of advice: As AI places such a premium on engagement, you need to focus on creating that engagement within your content.

Users prefer visual elements like images, infographics, and videos. However, video content drives more engagement than other types of multimedia by a wide margin. Unfortunately, the days where you could write an interesting blog, slap a stock image at the top as a hero, and see your rankings skyrocket are well and truly behind us.

If you want to rank, you need to give people what they want. And what they want, as has been proven by the popularity of TikTok, Reels, and YouTube, is video content. Videos are no longer optional. If you want to drive traffic, in 2024 and beyond, your marketing strategy needs to include plans to create, edit, and utilize custom, entertaining, and helpful videos across your website.

Strategic Marketing in the Age of AI

The evolution of search and the official launch of AI in the search world makes it more critical than ever to collaborate with a trusted digital partner who is continually monitoring the latest trends and requirements.

Are you ready to evolve your marketing strategies into the world of AI?

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