New Report from BrightEdge Reveals Surge in AI Search Engines, Signaling a New Era in Online Information Discovery

BrightEdge Generative Parser found OpenAI’s search engine referral growth jumped 44% month-over-month, while Perplexity skyrocketed 71%.

BrightEdge, the global leader in AI-driven organic search, content, and digital marketing automation, released a new report on the current state of AI-driven search.

“This is a moment of inevitability in search; we’ve long anticipated the rise of AI, and now it’s reshaping the search landscape before our eyes,” said Jim Yu, CEO and co-founder of BrightEdge. “The data clearly shows that the stakes have never been higher. Newer entrants like ChatGPT search and Perplexity are gaining ground, while Google’s AI Overviews are getting smarter. Marketers and brands need to understand how their companies are exposed to these AI-powered search engines. It’s not just a matter of curiosity—it’s one of survival.”

Key findings from BrightEdge’s report include:

Emerging AI-first search engines are challenging the status quo

BrightEdge’s latest findings reveal a surge in the popularity of AI-first search engines.

• In November alone, OpenAI’s search engine saw a remarkable 44% month-over-month growth in referrals, while Perplexity experienced a 71% increase. This surge highlights a growing user appetite for search experiences powered by sophisticated AI algorithms.
• Notably, ChatGPT search, which has been steadily gaining ground since the launch of SearchGPT in August, now commands a search usage 6 times larger than Perplexity in terms of referral clicks.
• This rapid ascent puts ChatGPT on a trajectory to potentially capture a 1% market share in 2025, a milestone that translates to a staggering $1.2 billion+ in revenue according to BrightEdge’s data.

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But Google’s reign continues

BrightEdge is seeing Google drastically advance their search capabilities—and that was verified when Google recently announced Gemini 2.0.

• Google AI Overviews (AIOs) are now reaching over 1 billion users and expanding into 100 new countries as Google’s engine becomes more sophisticated each day.
• Google still holds 92.4% of the search market share, meaning that new entrants will need to coexist with and differentiate themselves from Google, rather than aiming to overtake the search giant.
• BrightEdge has tracked Google’s knowledge graph, watching the engine intelligently develop heuristics to emulate human reasoning. Google has made impressive advancements in determining which sources to trust and when to cite them in conversational formats, leading to more relevant responses and a helpful search experience.
• This evolution can be directly seen in how it processes citations. For example, Google can cite content within a video even if there isn’t a transcript. In the case of the query “How to clean an electric kettle,” the AI Overview cites a YouTube video from 2017, and it even loads a link that takes the user to the exact moment in the video that it used to cite the answer. This not only ensures the user can quickly get to the pertinent section of the video, but it demonstrates how AI can use multiple content formats to generate an answer.
• Google is embracing the multimodal nature of Gemini to power AIOs by leveraging YouTube videos without requiring full transcripts, allowing for precise, contextual references to video content. Gemini-powered AIOs tap into multimodal capabilities with written, video and audio content from YouTube to inform queries.

AIOs are getting more stable and present as Google is getting more confident in its AI engine’s abilities

After nearly a year of volatility in AIOs, day-to-day fluctuations for specific keywords decreased by 4.22%, indicating predictable and stable AIO behavior. This increase in stability suggests that Google has refined its criteria for when and how to present AIOs, making it easier for marketers to plan and optimize their content strategies.

• Overall AIO presence increased from 29% at the start of November to 33% by month’s end, indicating significant stabilization.
• AIO presence in e-commerce spiked to 40% in November before stabilizing mid-month as AIOs facilitated seamless user shopping experiences during Cyber Weekend.
• Travel-based content in AIOs grew 700% in October, before the major holiday travel season, then stabilized and maintained elevated levels of usage by mid-November.

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AIOs shift focus to expert sources and authoritative content, a major win for B2B tech and healthcare sectors

Google took on the challenge to provide more technical responses with a dramatic 70% shift towards advanced content from established institutions and organizations. This is a major win for the healthcare and B2B technology industries, both of which have ample opportunities to showcase their in-depth and technical expertise to further establish their credibility as authoritative sources for AIOs.

• B2B technology was the most transformed sector with nearly 32% growth in AIO presence in November due to its highly technical and query-based content.
• Keywords related to security (+55%), data (+40%), development/DevOps (+42%), and infrastructure (+38%) rose to the top ranks of AIOs.
• Healthcare content saw an uptick of 15% in AIO citations due to the expert and authoritative nature of its sources, namely medical clinics and research institutions.

The upcoming year presents huge opportunities for marketers and brands to refine their content strategies and capitalize on AI-powered search. With comprehensive and insightful campaign analytics from BrightEdge, marketers can increase their AIO presence and attract high-quality referrals and web traffic. BrightEdge equips its customers with AI-powered tools to optimize their content and plan, track and monitor their presence in AIOs.