If you’re new to “search”, or one of the “old guard”, there’s a risk of some kind of search source myopia. A short-sightedness around what sources really matter for your day-to-day work.
This isn’t new in AI search, but it’s another bruise that’s getting punched again, and again (and again). As AI Chatbots and different tools like AI overviews, Co-pilot etc, pull from a more and more diverse range of data sources, our job gets a lot harder. And more interesting!
It’s hard when you need to be focused on everything
When anything is hard or challenging, that is the place you have an opportunity to really get ahead. So this is the opportunity to really start reviewing the different data sources that could be preferenced or relied upon by AI tools in the future.
I have built a table of search sources and categorised them by how useful I think they’ll be to you right now.
Approach the tier 1 sources with the most interest - as they’ll more-than-likely be worthwhile. Tier 2 and 3 may be less easy to achieve or even be confident they’ll be beneficial and tier 4 are highly likely, but lacking confirmation.
There is a chance this table may date badly - an occupational hazard of “AI Search” at the moment. But another thing you could try is look ahead to where may be good sources of data AI providers will be looking for in the future.
If you’re in a niche or a country (even) where the above data sources have less traction (i.e. Yelp isn’t huge in the UK), perhaps there are other “big players” you may want to look into, even if there isn’t a confirmed relationship yet.
The most meaningful research you can do as to which of these data sources are most likely shaping AI results today. That’ll require some work studying generated results from some queries your customers are likely searching for - look for the gaps, or the areas you can get ahead.
As always, any feedback or suggestions welcome. Good luck!