A brand new study has discovered an apparent correlation between brands being mentioned in answers provided by artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, and high rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The study, carried out by marketing agency Seer Interactive, ran around 10,000 questions relating to SaaS and finance industries through the GPT4o version of ChatGPT, to find out when and where brands were mentioned in the AI’s answers.
It found that brands ranked on Google’s page 1 for the queries given to both the search engine and ChatGPT showed a strong correlation to the answers given by OpenAI’s large language model (LLM). The study also took Bing’s rankings into account; these were also found to have an impact, but not to the extent of Google’s rankings.
The authors of the study suggested that they thought backlinks would be a big factor in any correlation, but this was not found to be the case at all.
The authors of the study were quick to point out that while the correlation between Google rankings and brand mentions is strong, the results of the study do not necessarily prove that high rankings cause higher mentions in AI answers.
Why does this matter?
With the ever-growing prominence of AI in the digital landscape, more and more brands want to be discoverable through LLMs, similarly to how organic search engine optimisation (SEO) already works.
The results of this study suggest that if your brand is ranking highly in organic search results through traditional means of SEO such as Google, you may have a higher chance of being discovered through LLMs and AI models too.
Unsurprisingly, the study reinforces the idea that organic SEO success is often a major factor in being discovered online. At Engage Web, we specialise in improving our clients’ organic SEO results using our proven industry expertise. Have a word with a member of our team today and find out how we can help you.
- Does swearing in Google Search remove AI results? - February 6, 2025
- New AI Google tool set to phone call businesses - February 3, 2025
- How to build your blog content around your customer’s buying journey - January 21, 2025