AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it

Historically, search engines functioned by indexing the web and presenting users with a ranked list of links in response to keyword-based queries. However, with advancements in generative AI, search is evolving to provide direct, conversational answers synthesized from vast datasets, including the content of web pages, books, and other sources.

This transformation offers users a more seamless and efficient way to obtain information by reducing the need to sift through multiple links. However, the shift to AI-driven search introduces significant challenges. Websites may see reduced traffic as fewer users click through to external sources, disrupting traditional ad-driven revenue models. There are also concerns about copyright issues, as AI systems generate answers using content from creators without direct attribution or compensation. Furthermore, the technology isn't infallible, with risks of inaccuracies, bias, and hallucinated responses affecting trustworthiness.

ZNest’s Take

Key Takeaways

• Search in Senior Living: Search engines are crucial in senior care, a niche requiring informed decisions from consumers unfamiliar with the space.

• Google’s Monopoly: Google dominates search but faces issues of declining quality and responsiveness. Lead aggregators thrive due to SEO and ranking tactics.

• Emerging AI Search: Semantic search in AI prioritizes user intent over keywords, reducing SEO abuse.

• Future of Search: More competition and innovation are expected. Transparency and seamless data access will define success.

Any impact to search will have a tremendous impact on the senior living industry. Since the advent of the internet, search engines have become the gateway, and sometimes gatekeepers, of knowledge. However, it plays an even more important role in senior care due to a combination of factors–families need to navigate difficult, complex, and emotionally charged decisions, there is potential time sensitivity, the industry is a niche area meaning there is little existing knowledge base in the average consumer, among others.

Search Today

Google is ubiquitous with search, covering roughly 90% search share worldwide. In the case of search, two main issues prevalent in monopolies stand out, reduced quality and reduced responsiveness to customer demands. These two issues are tightly intertwined and are the reasons why A Place for Mom and Caring are so dominant.

If you’ve ever felt like your Google results are getting worse, you are in good company, and it is not just you. Researchers in Germany looked at Google product review results over time and found that low quality content tends to drown out useful information and there is a high prevalence of SEO (search engine optimization) spam. They found that, on average, higher-ranked pages are more monetized, more optimized, and lower in quality. Google struggles to distinguish quality content from mediocre ones, leaving it vulnerable to manipulation and every adjustment in the algorithm leads to a counter adjustment from marketers.

Bringing this back to senior living, it is incredibly difficult for any one community or group of communities to outrank lead aggregators whose entire focus is to outrank everyone else. Coupled with the fact that close to 30% of clicks go to the first organic search result on Google and 75% of users never make it past the first page of results, you have strong business incentives to maintain that hold.  

Search Tomorrow

With AI search, much of the issues with today’s SEO goes away. The ability for a user to ask in normal language what they are looking for brings us to semantic search, where the system understands the meaning behind a query, rather than relying solely on keywords. Semantic search focuses on the context and intent of the user’s search, thereby delivering highly accurate results. Things like keyword stuffing, tailoring content to an algorithm instead of a human, and content saturation won’t be rewarded or at least not by the same amount.

So what does this mean for communities?

In the short term, probably nothing. Google’s iron grip on search will not disappear overnight, especially not with an older population. Additionally, while Google tinkers with improving search with AI, they must contend with changes in their search business. Afterall, they do not make money off of the searcher but rather advertising for sponsored placement based on keywords. Finally, generative AI allows for the creation of content at a scale never seen before, meaning it will be easier than ever to flood the web with targeted content.

The long term is a different story. The way people search is going to change and for the first time in a long time, we are seeing new and exciting entrants in the space. More competition means more innovation and we will see that play out not only in the technology used but new user experiences and monetization strategies. Furthermore, the move toward agents that complete tasks and not simply show results means that accuracy and user experience will be more prized than ever. Our hypothesis is that we will move to a world where any friction between a searcher and the answer will drop to zero. That means users will increasingly want answers that do not require additional steps, i.e. getting the information they want (prices, benefits, value, etc.) without having to click around, call, or otherwise jump through hoops.

Transparency and data availability are critical for informed consumer decisions because they provide clear, accurate information about products or services. Those who are open about everything they do and allow users to see what they want easily via semantic search will pull ahead and those who add extra steps for consumers to climb will inevitably fall behind.

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