How Our Psychology is Influencing Why SEO Needs to Expand to Include GEO/AI Optimization

Early in 2024, Psychology Today published an article citing research on how generative AI may influence how and whom we trust.  The research suggested that AI technology is influencing our sense of trust, particularly as people perceive machines as reliable.

The research suggested that by using social features through a chat interface, we may subscribe more skill and truth to the information they provide.

The American Psychological Association published research a year earlier confirming that conversations are important to our psychological well-being.  Asking questions that demonstrate that you are listening (such as when a generative AI responds by having “listened to a question” and asking a follow-up) is one of the best ways to build rapport.

It turns out that the use of the chat interface is the game changer, leading us to trust the generative AI response, and this just might be the signal triggering a change in how we search.

The Shift from Search to AI Chatbots

I remember driving south along the 101 from San Francisco and seeing the Excite@Home logo high on a building standing just off the highway. At the time, in my early twenties, I undervalued the seismic shift in how people found and used information. Google followed a couple of years later, in 1998, and slowly grew to dominate the search engine market.

25 years and two decades of coding later, search engines have evolved into ever-changing behemoths of internet categorizing complexity.

For Google, little did they know that by the 2020s, they would command 85%+ of the desktop and over 90% of the mobile search markets.  It is worth noting that over 58% of all searches are triggered from mobile devices.  (All statistics, with thanks to Statista)

If it hadn’t been for Generative AI, I feel confident that search engines would have remained the same.  Voice is a factor; however, voice search has been around for several years, and its ability to bring about change is somewhat less (Do not underestimate the importance of voice, though; we’ll revisit this one later).

Mid 2023, Microsoft deployed its OpenAI-powered upgrade to its search engine, Bing, and for the first time in recent history, Google’s dominance of the desktop search engine, albeit not mirrored on mobile, market began to shrink.

OpenAI burst into the public consciousness in late 2022 and quickly became the eighth most visited website (according to Similarweb). Google followed with Gemini, and their AI Overviews came a year later after Bing. All adopted the chat-styled interface.

Every year, the Nielsen Group publish the Global Trust in Advertising report.  While the numbers across each category slip and slide a degree here and there, since 2009, the most trusted consumer information source has always been from those they know.

As I mentioned earlier, research is showing that through its use of a chat interface, people are beginning to trust generative AI and the responses it provides.

Chatbots have been around for years, and many of us have grown to dislike them.  In 2022, Business Wire reported research by UJET Research that 80% of consumers who interacted with a Chatbot said it increased their frustration level.

So, we know that it isn’t the Chat in itself that drives trust but rather the way that Generative-AI is able to understand input and present a response in a manner similar to how we would ourselves.

I remember about ten years ago having a discussion on the importance of utterances in Chatbot design.  Utterances are the filler words and slang that we use without thinking about it.  They added a sense of realism to a Chatbot that a simple closed-question Chatbot couldn’t match.

The Psychological Factors Driving Trust in AI Chats

By 2021, Nielsen had learned that 88% of people trusted recommendations from those they knew.  Up from 80% almost ten years earlier.

And now we are seeing that generative AI is being seen as a trusted source just a other individual's network are too.

The secret to the growing success of AI as a trusted source is perhaps the grounding in conversation and the perceived personalization of the dialogue.

This is supported by research published in 1991, Grounding in Communication (Clark & Brennan – Grounding in Communication, American Psychological Association) suggested that in order to communicate successfully, there must be mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions between both parties.

Generative-AI certainly ticks this box.

Next, we have the Halo Effect.  This is why positive feelings toward a person, company, brand, or product in one area positively influence feelings in another.

Put another way, research by the Growth Memo identified that users of Generative AI are more likely to trust recommendations from Generative AI than those that are not.

The graph presents, of those surveyed and used Generative-AI previously, the likelihood that they would accept a recommendation from Generative-AI without further research.

A closing thought. Research by UK’s Ofcom in 2024 demonstrated that Generative-AI adoption is greatest among Gen-Z.

ChatGPT is the most popular among those using Generative-AI.

What is the most common use of the technology?  Finding information.

But what about voice? There are two sides to this one: technological and the benefit of voice as opposed to writing to convey information.

NPR, a non-profit organization published research on the growth of voice. While the research was American-biased, the picture they uncovered is representative of the growth of voice worldwide. At the end of 2022, NPR research discovered that 62% of Americans used a voice assistant across at least one device. 86% of smart speaker users agreed that it made living more convenient.

Readspeaker.com identified that when we use our voice, we convey the message we want to share and our identity.

When we speak, we pass along three pieces of information:

1. Linguistic Information - The words and sentences that we speak.
2. Paralinguistic Information - Traits including body language, facial expressions, pitch, speed, and volume.
3. Nonlinguistic Information - Indication of age, gender, health status, and emotional state.

Altogether, they provide a very personal response at a speed that texting and reading cannot compete.

As Generative-AI improves its ability to mimic the human condition, I suspect that the use of voice will grow, as will how consumers relate to the technology on an emotional level, bestowing increasing trust and authority on the responses that Generative-AI provides.

Conclusion: The Future of Trust in AI-Driven Search

I have only touched the surface of how generative AI shapes how consumers search for and discover brands, products, and services.

From what I can see, though, the personalized feeling a consumer receives while using Generative-AI chat is a game changer.

Perhaps it’s time to weave GEO into your strategy, and we’re here to help.

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