What Is SearchGPT? — 3 Things to Know

“A new way to search.”

That’s OpenAI’s vision for their prototype, SearchGPT. 

It’s no secret that the world of content has drastically changed since ChatGPT first hit the mainstream back in November 2022, and it seems SearchGPT is the newest step in the generative AI progression timeline.

On October 31, 2024, OpenAI released a further announcement regarding SearchGPT. 

As a result of testing and feedback via the SearchGPT prototype, ‘the best of SearchGPT’ will be added to ChatGPT as ChatGPT Search. Currently, these features are available via ChatGPT Plus and Team plans, although they note that access will expand to free users in the future.

But what exactly is SearchGPT? And what does it mean for content creators and consumers alike?

Here, we will look closer at SearchGPT, and point out some of the most important things you need to know.

Short on Time? Here Are the Key Takeaways

• SearchGPT is designed to provide quick, concise answers directly to users potentially speeding up the research process.
• SeachGPT offers a conversational interface that allows users to ask follow-up questions and engage in a more natural, discussion-like search experience.
• The quality of SearchGPT's outputs heavily relies on the quality of existing online content, emphasizing the need for high-quality content production to achieve better visibility and citation.

What Is SearchGPT?

First, let’s take a look at exactly what SearchGPT is. 

As the name suggests, OpenAI has combined the power of generative AI and the popularity of search, to create a new way for people to discover the information they are after.

Using real-time information, SearchGPT attempts to provide direct and conversational answers to users with summaries and insights, using large language models (LLMs) to understand the context.

While OpenAI has not released any specific details on how SearchGPT actually produces these answers, Search Engine Land suggests that it will likely be a similar process to Google AI Overviews but with the responses presented in a slightly different format.

By gathering the most relevant content, SearchGPT can then provide a quick answer for users, cutting out the endless scrolling and clicking that traditional search requires.

3 Important Things to Know About SearchGPT

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at three important things you need to know about SearchGPT.

1. SearchGPT is designed to provide direct answers

Rather than providing users with a list of links to choose from, SearchGPT aims to produce concise, relevant answers to speed up the research process.

However, although OpenAI’s announcement notes that it will provide sources. Receiving information via a direct answer is still limited compared to getting information from multiple sources. 

While researching multiple sources can take a little longer, it also allows readers to formulate a more complete picture and properly fact-check the topic in question.

Take, for example, a subject like health and fitness. 

• If SearchGPT takes the information for its answer from websites that focus primarily on cardiovascular fitness, then any answers will focus more heavily on those forms of training. 
• This may mean that users who don’t ask follow-up questions may not learn about other forms of training, such as weight training.

2. You can ask follow-up questions

However, one way that users can account for this is through the conversational interface, where users have the ability to interact with SearchGPT. This makes the search process more chatty than the current process, which is one search followed by another.

This form of learning and reading allows users to essentially ‘think out loud’ and challenge answers to understand the context in more detail.

3. It increases the need to produce high-quality content 

As mentioned, SearchGPT generates answers from search results whilst also citing and linking to sources.

As a result, producing high-quality content is more important than ever. Search Engine Land notes that SearchGPT prioritizes, “relevant, up-to-date information.” Further, they recommend a multimedia approach to optimizing content for SearchGPT by incorporating text, image, and video formats to make content increasingly valuable for users. 

Brands that focus on accompanying content with videos, infographics, and high-quality imagery will likely perform well if this form of search begins to take prominence.

The key takeaway from a content marketing and SEO perspective? Optimizing and updating content as part of your content strategy, as well as incorporating multimedia could increase the chance of getting referenced by SearchGPT.

Final Thoughts on SearchGPT or ChatGPT Search

Is SearchGPT the future in regards to how we gather information online?

Well, that remains yet to be seen. Until recently the tool was only available via a waitlist for the prototype, so it is hard to tell yet whether or not this form of search will be successful. After all, the quality of the results depends on the quality of the content referenced. 

However, news outlets are reporting that ChatGPT usage continues to grow, with 200 million weekly users, which is a good indicator that people are becoming more comfortable with AI technology. So, a transition to a conversational SearchGPT approach might not be as far away as some people think it is.

Frequently Asked Questions About SearchGPT

What is SearchGPT?

SearchGPT is an AI-powered search tool that collates search results and produces them in a concise and direct answer using real-time data.

What is ChatGPT Search?

ChatGPT Search was announced by OpenAI in October 2024. It is described as incorporating the best of the SearchGPT prototype. Due to the recency of its release, information about ChatGPT search and how it is performing is still developing.

Is SearchGPT free to use?

Up until recently, SearchGPT was in the prototype testing phase which required being on a wait list. ChatGPT Search is now available to ChatGPT Plus and Teams plans. Access is set to expand to free users in the future.