Will ChatGPT Replace Google and Bloggers? The Full Prospect
As a blogger, this recently debated question caused me to worry. So I dived deep into the debate and came to a conclusion.
ChatGPT provides surprisingly compelling content on almost anything you ask. This new Ai bot is really something, unlike anything we knew before.
Is it really going to replace us?
Instead of just sitting and contemplating, I was intrigued to test the tool and reevaluate my role as a blogger in the new AI era.
As a blogger, I was also willing to draw the picture as objectively and thoroughly as possible and pull all the necessary details relevant to the question.
Let’s start with my brief answer to the question - will ChatGPT really replace Google and bloggers?
ChatGPT will not replace Google and bloggers anytime soon. Besides a few types of informational queries that ChatGPT answers better, bloggers provide more reliable and actionable answers than this AI bot.
This is only the essence, however.
We should consider several other factors, too, such as the bloggers who use ChatGPT on their side. Theoretically, some search results in Google might be (or partially be) AI-generated answers.
So, as we can see, the relationship between AI content tools like ChatGPT, search engines, and blogging will become complicated. Keep reading to clarify things and fully reveal my prospect.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatpGPT is an innovative new AI bot that can answer questions and handle conversations with you, almost like a human. It was developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022.
Its language model — GPT 3.5, reaches new levels of AI content compared to previous AI writing tools. It is trained on a giant database that includes the internet, articles, and books, providing so-called “general intelligence.” This intelligence can create new and different things as humans do.
Based on its extensive database, The model predicts the next word in a text, which is how the content is generated. With this sophisticated method, you can generate almost anything — from conversations, essays, poems, and even viable code to build a website.
One of the most incredible things about this tool is its ability to remember details from your conversation. That means you don’t need to rewrite a full secondary query as you do with Google.
ChatGPT became a surprising viral trend at the end of 2022. Even those unfamiliar with blogging or professional writing have found this tool entertaining. Thousands of ChatGPT Outputs got shared on social media while kids and students started using the tool for homework. The platform attracted about a million users in just five days.
Regarding blogging, it is interesting to see how relevant answers this AI tool can provide to a query — a problem you want to solve or a piece of information you need right now. I have tried generating with ChatGPT myself and was surprised at how compelling the outcome is compared to tools I knew already.
This is genuinely fascinating and scary at the same time.
Yet, as you will see next, AI-generated answers cannot compete with the real-life wisdom of humans.
Why Google Will Remain the Main Information Source
Google Serves the User in an Entirely Different Manner
The funny thing about ChatGPT is that it was not meant to replace Google. The debate on that topic started with bloggers concerned about their job or SEO specialists intrigued to know how the SEO world would change.
The fundamental advantage of Google is that it provides relevant information and lets you find specific brands, products, services, or places.
So, you can find blogs and authoritative information sites like Wikipedia to answer your questions. However, the prominent feature taken for granted is locating the specific brands you are looking for, called “a navigational query.” For example, if you want to buy a new keyboard on Amazon, write “Amazon” with the keyboard’s name.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, is not aimed at providing this to the user. Instead, it artificially generates the specific information or utility you need.
ChatGPT Will likely Become a Paid Service
Google is free and probably will stay that way anytime soon. ChatGPT is also free now but will likely become paid sooner or later. The service is currently in Beta mode as Open AI tries to improve the tool through user feedback.
It is very reasonable that ChatGPT will cost a subscription fee for the service as other AI writing assistants like Jasper or Ryter do. They might also keep a free plan but would force the free user to see ads or be limited with the number of queries.
ChatGPT’s Database Is Incomplete
The Google algorithm is designed to show the searcher the best and most updated results, depending on the query. The first example that comes to mind is news sites, but also review posts (“best keyboards in 2023”) or recent events or service overviews.
On the other side, the ChatGPT AI bot is trained on data gathered up to 2021. Therefore, it is unlikely that the AI system will be able to generate ongoing up-to-date content soon, even after the official lunch of the program.
Moreover, ChatGPT doesn’t have access to databases that google does. So it could be some details I want to find from social media platforms, online gaming indexes, or other sources. Let’s try, for example, to find some records on my chess profile at chess.com:
Indeed, Google cannot provide me with an answer to this question either. However, the search engine will direct me to chess.com, and I can quickly locate my profile on its internal members search. There I can see how many wins I’ve got in rapid chess.
ChatGPT Needs Detailed Instructions to Provide a Quality Answer
ChatGPT is very easy to use; you only need to ask something. However, to get a quality and relevant result, you must get as specific as possible. You should also be familiar with various ChatGPT prompts to get better results¹.
You might generate generic, poor content if you are unaware of the nuances you need to know in advance.
Google, on the other hand, can guide you through narrowing your query with autosuggestions. These are refined by your previous searches, which is handy. So you can learn more about what you need to ask on the go. That is a vast difference between the two platforms.
In other words, for a user who needs to become more familiar with what he is looking for or with the various ChatGPT prompts, Google is way handier.
Auto-Generated Answers Are Not Always Correct
After the first week of the ChatGPT hype, my friend shared a funny output in our friend’s WhatsApp group. He was particularly curious to see how well ChatGPTs calculate numbers. We were both surprised by the result:
Despite being incredibly compelling in many other answers generated, the tool still has some basic things that need to be corrected. This time it was calculations, but I’ve also seen outputs of weird inaccuracies in other fields.
Yea, I know what you are thinking right now — this flaw will be easily fixed soon in the GPT 4 model or even at the end of the beta mode.
While this might be true, let’s remember that, as with any program, some bugs and errors will probably remain. This is problematic when you want to make an informed decision based on the answer you get.
On the contrary, with Google, you can get several results from authoritative human sources whom you can better trust.
That leads me to the next point.
ChatGPT Manifests General Intelligence, Not Expertise
ChatGPT’s general human-like intelligence is one of the innovative ingredients which makes ChatGPT far more impressive than other bots. In addition, the GPT 3.5 language model allows dynamic and compelling answers on almost any topic. That’s insane.
The downside of this, however, is the need for more expertise. The knowledge that this AI tool has within a specific topic is limited.
Unlike AI machines, humans march in the opposite direction — from general knowledge to expertise.
While in early modernity, we were educated to have a large corpus of knowledge, today, it’s not the case anymore. In a reality where you can find anything on Google, expertise is favored over general knowledge.
Galileo Galilei is an excellent example of the early modern ideal. He was a pioneering, multidisciplinary intellectual who contributed new knowledge in astronomy, physics, engineering, and philosophy.
Nowadays, it is less common to find such intellectuals, except for a few like Jordan Peterson. So with such unusual interdisciplinary wisdom, it is unsurprising why he became tremendously popular in social media.
This tradeoff occurs everywhere — with services, products, or knowledge creation. Some examples are medicine, academia, and relatively new sub-roles that emerged in the work market, like SEO vs. PPC specialists.
Google follows the human direction and reinforces it.
Websites that display expertise relevant to the query usually rank higher. While it is already a key indicator in YMYL (your money, your life) niches like finance, medicine, and law, Google now seems to expand this indicator over other niches.
These two opposite directions — general human-like intelligence vs. human expertise — implies how ChatGPT is still far from replacing the knowledge of authoritative websites and expert bloggers.
ChatGPT Is Not as Trustworthy or Truthful as Google
Following the human direction towards expertise, Google also emphasizes the role of authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Again, that was initially related to YMYL niches so we could make safe decisions about our health, finance, and other critical aspects of our life. This tendency keeps expanding, as implied in the recent Google updates.
Conversely, the information generated by ChatGPT is not that reliable. Unfortunately, as we saw earlier in this article, you can never know whether you generate correct and applicable answers, no matter how compelling they seem.
Why Bloggers Should Not Worry About Their Job (or Side-Hustle)
Bloggers Bring Their Real-Life Experiences to the Table
This is essential in understanding why ChatGPT is still far from providing an applicable answer to a query beyond simple information.
If you go through the components of a good blog post, you’ll find original research, individual interpretations of the facts, and real-life experiences with the query.
It becomes crystal clear when we examine daily problems that need solving. The “how-to guides” posts are designed to help with just that. A decent blog must have at least several such posts as they are the most helpful and experience-based.
How-to guides walk you through the steps you need to take in your real life to solve the problem. For example, finding a job in your field, building a website, and beating procrastination are real-life problems requiring proven methods with attention to everyday nuances.
Experts and bloggers are the ones who can provide these methods.
On the other hand, the spun guides generated by ChatGPT might help you a bit less. They might also mislead you or make you waste your efforts in the wrong direction.
If you want to overcome a real problem in your life, you’ll wish to get the insights of an expert or somebody who struggled and overcame this very same problem. Not a spun advice from an Ai bot.
I recently heard Jordan Peterson say that the gap between ChatGPT text intelligence and the real world would close in one year². In my view, I can’t see how it will happen anytime soon, but let’s see. Only time will tell.
Authenticity and Personal Connection with Brands
On top of real-life wisdom, personal opinions, stories, and anecdotes invoke viewers to keep reading. This is another sphere where bloggers prevail.
ChatGPT indeed knows to tell a story surprisingly well too. Yet, the such story is based on something other than real-person experiences. It instead relies on information spun from the internet, articles, and books combined with human-like general wisdom.
While it can be entertaining to read Ai bot stories, it isn’t easy to resonate with them at a deeper level.
Another aspect of the same issue is the emotional connection with the brand. For example, when you search for your query in Google, you might sign up for the blogger’s newsletter. In favor of an email address, you can get a free gift like an e-book, checklist, or video guide.
This is where a personal connection starts with the blogger. Through the newsletters, you know the blogger better and get more actionable tips.
These kinds of benefits ChatGPT can’t provide.
Now more than ever, doubling down on being personal would help bloggers bypass their competitors.
A big caveat, though, is coding. As a more “objective” application of knowledge, coding less requires subjective real-life wisdom.
With the ability to create a site or an app in a couple of seconds, ChatGPT easily wins search results that only help you learn to code. This topic, though, is beyond my knowledge and the scope of this article.
Consumers Will Keep Looking for Subjective Reviews
In one of the last Google updates, we discovered that review blogs might get hit by the algorithm. That caused a hassle for many bloggers, especially those focusing on product reviews. However, regarding the contest with ChatGPT, bloggers should feel safe.
To make a wise buying decision, users look for comprehensive reviews. Some typical questions they pose are — how this product functions in reality, how it feels at hand, the blogger’s experience with the product, and so forth.
ChatGPT can’t provide effective product or service reviews as they are subjective. The GPT language can only give an objective overview of the product or service.
Here is the result I got from ChatGPT when I asked for a review on the Razer BlackWidow Elite mechanical keyboard.
As you can see, it is a relevant and informative review. Yet, it needs more subjective experience with the keyboard and how well it still functions after several months of use.
Where ChatGPT May Hit Google and Blogs?
ChatGPT Will Decrease the Traffic to “Response Posts”
A few years ago, Jim Harmer and Ricky Kesler from “Income school” coined the term “response post.” They explained that this kind of blog post is the first you should write when you start your blog. By “response post,” they mean a short post that answers a simple informational query like “how much does a toaster weigh?”.
The reason for starting the blog with them is that they are less competitive queries in your niche. That should help the blog to get initial traffic from Google.
This still holds today. I’ve used this strategy in my blog and got that initial traffic. So, this method proved the concept. Since the emergence of ChatGPT, however, it seems that the overall traffic to these posts would gradually decrease.
ChatGPT does an excellent job answering such simple queries as they are entirely informational. They do not require opinions or interpretations whatsoever. Thus, the bot can easily pull the answer and serve it to you.
People will probably start to favor ChatGPT because it displays a concise explanation being straight to the point, without the extra fluff that bloggers add to their response posts to rank on Google.
Again, ChatGPT still has the issue of occasional inaccuracies and as well as the confined database. Still, for the basic evergreen informational queries, we anticipate a gradual decrease in the traffic to response posts.
ChatGPT Generates Ideas Tailored to Your Needs
This is where ChatGPT becomes insanely useful. It can provide you with ideas on anything you want — an outline for an essay or tips to improve your life. So while some ideas might seem off, you can always get the ones that suit your taste and needs.
The big pro here is the ability of the bot to give you the exact kinds of ideas you want. Furthermore, if you don’t get the answer right away, you can narrow your request and guide ChatGPT to keep refining your existing answer. That’s where Google is losing to this tool.
Let’s say you work from home, and one day it hits you — you feel it’s time to change something. So you decide to make your room fresh and more welcome to work. However, you don’t want to spend too much on it. So, you ask ChatGPT and boom; you got it!
It is far more convenient to get immediate ideas tailored to your needs than browsing the internet for several given idea articles from which you need to choose.
The Future of Blogging in the Age of ChatGPT
So, for the most part, Google and blogging will prevail. That doesn’t mean that the blogging industry will not change. It probably will. How so?
Bear with me a bit more.
Until now, I described my prediction from the user’s point of view. Now it’s time to talk about the other side of the coin. That is the bloggers who use ChatGPT on their side.
Theoretically, when we browse the internet and navigate the search results, we might see Ai-generated blog posts. But is that really the case?
Yes and no.
Let me explain.
Google AI Bots May Detect Ai-Generated Content
On the one hand, there are already and will be bloggers tempted to use ChatGPT exclusively on their posts. By that, I mean a long-form generated blog post entirely made by ChatGPT.
On the other hand, most bloggers would want to avoid risking their blogs for that convenience. So they will consider Google’s new efforts to detect and punish auto-generated content.
There is a debate among SEO professionals about the degree Google can detect AI-generated content in the blog and how one should use the tool.
Google’s official updated guidelines are against “spammy auto-generated content.” Still, it remains unclear whether this means Ai content, and if so, what degree of use is marked as spammy — a long-form use, some text parts use, or even structuring the content.
Some SEO experts claim that any AI content is detectable, so using a tool like ChatGPT for writing posts is very risky. However, the way to still get some benefits from the tool is by utilizing it mainly for research and analysis³.
Other experts believe you can use Ai writer tools more significantly, albeit with caution. Their point is that spammy means poor AI content but not necessarily any Ai content. If the generated text is revised and edited by a human before publishing, there is significantly less chance that Google will mark the post as spammy auto-generated content⁴.
The Responsible Way to Blog With ChatGPT
Bloggers should use ChatGPT primarily to fill the blank page. Yes. You heard right. To generate relevant content with the bot, delete it, and replace it with your own ideas.
ChatGPT is enormously handy in overcoming writer’s block⁵.
One of my biggest hassles with blogging is starting a post. I so damn hate it. Only when I fill the page can I develop my ideas and enjoy the writing.
ChatGPT helps me immensely with precisely that.
It goes like this. I generated some relevant content for the main query and rethought the topic. My mind opens as I see all the generated bullet points and sentences on my page. I then delete much stuff, change the structure, rewrite everything, and bring to life my original ideas.
Sometimes, I also use ChatGPT to streamline my research. It gives me some complementary ideas I was not aware of. These inspire me to develop my content further.
I frankly like this bot. It’s an excellent tool for blogging. Yet, it would be wise to use it only as an assistant and never as a replacement for your original ideas or the writing itself.
Conclusion
Google — our default system for knowing almost anything we want, suddenly got a competitor — ChatGPT. This innovative AI tool resembles general human intelligence and can produce almost anything we ask.
ChatGPT has changed the game in so many ways. Its versatility and the surprisingly compelling answers it provides have made some bloggers worry about their job, myself included.
However, we should be OK from my tool examinations and understanding of the topic. Google would remain the primary information source as it sorts answers which we can trust.
Behind this trust stays the blogger’s real-life experience and expertise. This ingredient is still missing from ChatGPT and other AI tools.
Except for several informational-type queries, the overall traffic to websites and blogs is expected to stay mostly the same.
Bloggers and website owners will continue to play the leading role in creating and disseminating information on the web. The everyday wisdom and expertise we have as bloggers are unreplaceable. At least to the current AI tech advancement.
Ai machines like ChatGPT rely on us as bloggers to provide their datasets. Without our original human ideas, the quality of these datasets will deteriorate.
Disclaimer: The prospect presented in this article is my opinion only. It does not represent Google, Open AI, their plans, or future functionality. I outlined my interpretations based on my experience as a blogger and user and with common sense. The information herein is for educational purposes only and should not be treated as professional advice. The linked sites below are not associated with me and do not endorse me or this article in any way.
