For as long as the internet has existed, search was pretty straightforward. You would type in a question and you’d get recommended the relevant links and resources.
Underneath that structure, something structural was happening. Google wasn’t just answering questions. It was choosing what to show and what to omit from your search results.
And that decision has never been random.
If you look up something like “best photo editing apps,” you don’t just get a simple answer. You get list-style articles, app-comparisons, and blog posts ranking the same familiar names (Lightroom, Snapseed, VSCO).
Not necessarily because those are the only good options, but because those pages are constantly linked to and referenced on the internet. And so, they keep showing up again and again.
Backlinks act as the vote of confidence for articles and brands. They are the deciding factor for what gets attention and what doesn’t on the internet.
And then ChatGPT came along.
Now, when you look something up, instead of getting a library of options to choose from, AI search just gives you one condensed answer.
In this article we’ll be looking at these two systems and how they interpret search intent.
How Google Actually Ranks Pages
With Google, search intent is divided into four categories.
- Informational intent. This is when you’re trying to learn something.
- Navigational intent, for when you’re trying to find a specific website.
- Commercial is when you’re comparing options before buying.
- And finally, transactional is the intent to take action. You’ve done your perusing and you’re ready to buy, subscribe, or sign up.
On paper, this looks very straightforward. But in practice, Google isn’t just reading your intent and pulling answers to match it. It’s working from a map of the internet it created through links.
Every page is connected through hyperlinks. When one site links to another, it’s basically saying, “this is worth paying attention to.” With time, certain pages accumulate thousands of these links, while others get a few.
Google takes note of that to organize the web. Pages that are heavily linked seem more trustworthy, and as a result, are shown more in search results (while pages with fewer links disappear into the background).
In a way, backlinks are what give Google its structure. They’re like a web-wide voting system that determines which pages show up in your search results.
So when you search something like: “why is the sky blue?”
You don’t get a random mix of explanations. You mostly see university pages, science sites, and educational blogs. Not because Google is evaluating which pages are more “scientific,” but because those pages are heavily linked to by other sites.
Now let’s try something like “Notion login.” you type that in, and Google just goes straight to the official site because it’s clearly the most important, linked to page.
The same thing happens to commercial searches. Let’s say, you look up “best laptops for students.” You’re going to run into the same types of pages: review blogs and affiliate posts. The same websites will show up because their backlinks shape which sites will get priority (as in, more visibility).
ChatGPT doesn’t work like that.
If you ask “best laptop under $1000,” it doesn’t go through which pages got ranked. It generates an answer by sifting through information from many sources.
Google vs ChatGPT: Key Differences in Practice
Google is still, at its core, a live index of the internet. It’s constantly crawling websites, updating information, and changing rankings when new content appears or old content changes.
That’s why it’s especially important in real-world, fast-changing situations. If flight prices shift, news breaks, or a product launches, Google will quickly pick up on that.
But users don’t see the index itself. They see the polished layer on top of it (the search results).
High-intent searches often show ads first. SEO-friendly pages usually rank higher in popular topics. AI Overviews can summarize information before you even click a link. And results can change depending on where you are and what you’ve searched before.
So even though it feels like one simple search, what you’re really seeing is a filtered version of a much bigger system.
ChatGPT doesn’t use that interface.
Instead of giving you a list of pages, it gives you one combined answer. If you ask something like “Notion vs Obsidian,” you don’t get search results. You get a single explanation that pulls information from both tools and summarizes them for you.
And because the thread remembers context, you can build on that information, and not restart your chat every time you want to ask something else.
So side by side, they’re very different. Google helps you navigate the web. ChatGPT makes it a one-stop shop.
Pros and Cons
Google Pros
Google is great for keeping track of real-time changes. Things like prices, availability, breaking news, live updates… anything related to what’s happening right now.
Another plus is that it lets you click on different sources so you can compare information for yourself.
Google Cons
Not every page has the same chance of showing up. So a great article with no backlinks might never be recommended to you. Meanwhile, a mediocre but hugely linked page will be shown to you simply because it has a lot of sites pointing to it.
ChatGPT Pros
Good for summarizing ideas, comparing options, and quickly understanding topics without needing to browse multiple sources.
ChatGPT Cons
It doesn’t show sources or ranking structure, so you can’t trace where the information originally comes from.
So to sum up:
Google gives you access to the live web, filtered through authority.
ChatGPT gives you understanding, without showing the sources.
Optimizing for Google vs ChatGPT
When it comes to visibility, there are two systems to optimize for.
SEO for Google
On Google, showing up in search results comes down to authority.
For example, if you search “best project management tools,” you’ll probably see well-known blogs, comparison sites, and review pages. That’s because they already have strong backlink networks. New pages can be great, but they usually don’t show up unless they’re part of that system.
This is why SEO usually starts with link building. Not because content isn’t important, but because without links, content doesn’t get seen.
Google also isn’t just a simple list anymore. It now includes things like:
- AI Overviews
- Featured snippets
- “People also ask” sections
- personalized results
So there’s a bit of AI in there as well.
SEO For AI Systems (ChatGPT)
For AI, ranking doesn’t matter at all. It's all about how easily your content is understood and reused.
For example, between two explanations of how a VPN works, if one is long and messy, while the other is clear and step-by-step, the second one will show up in AI answers. It may not be the better article, and it may not have any links, but it was easier to use.
Even Google is starting to look like this, since AI Overviews often show answers before you click anything.
The Overlap
Some things help both systems: Clear, well-structured content is easier to rank in Google and easier for AI systems to use in answers.
But they don’t reward it in the same way or at the same time.
The Future of Search
Don’t think of these changes as Google vs ChatGPT. Think of it as two different ways information gets visible on the internet.
Google organizes the internet through links and authority, while ChatGPT focuses on interpreting information and turning it into direct answers.
With AI Overviews and chat-based search being layered on top of regular search, SEO efforts are split in two directions: authority for search engines, and clarity for AI systems.
Let's be honest here. The shift is already happening. The only question is how fast it'll become the default.
At LinkyJuice, we help brands adapt to both sides of this change. We help you build traditional SEO authority while also making your content easier for AI systems to understand.
