A potential Google competitor, ChatGPT Search was long rumored, then announced and is finally here and available for use. It generates responses to natural language prompts but also includes links. Now all search marketers have to do is figure out how to rank in the results.
Around three-quarters of advertisers, adtech businesses and publishers have embraced a cookieless future according to an international survey of 200 in the industry by ID5. Around the same number are refusing to rethink as a result of Google’s pivot away from (itself) deprecating cookies. Most attributed Google’s pivot to Privacy Sandbox criticisms (63%) while almost as many cited the investigation by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Developers using Google Gemini API and AI Studio to create AI-powered services and bots are now able to use Google Search to ground their prompts. A grounding prompt in gen AI provides context to help a model better respond. In this case, Google Search will, hopefully, provide the models with the truthful data they need.
The U.S. Department of Justice has formally requested the sale of the Chrome browser among other measures following last August’s guilty verdict in its search advertising antitrust suit (not to be confused with last week’s guilty verdict in the adtech antitrust lawsuit). Google is asking for a much narrower focus on deals to be the default search engine for Apple, Mozilla and others. There will be a three-week hearing on the government’s proposals.