ChatGPT sometimes uses Google to find information on the web—it doesn’t just use Bing or its own search engine. (Contrary to popular belief.)
Abhishek Iyer, a former Google Engineer who now builds AI SEO agents, proved that ChatGPT uses Google when he:
- Created a webpage around a fictional term
- Made this webpage accessible only to Google
- Asked ChatGPT about the fictional term
- Received a response with an AI citation linking to his webpage
ChatGPT could have only accessed this webpage via Google.
Leigh McKenzie, Head of Growth at Backlinko, repeated Abhishek’s experiment with different versions of ChatGPT.
His results suggest that ChatGPT Plus uses Google, but the free version doesn’t.
This could be because sourcing information from Google is more expensive for OpenAI than sourcing information from its own web index or Bing.
Why Do People Think ChatGPT Only Uses Bing?
Many people think ChatGPT uses Bing as its only third-party search provider because OpenAI (ChatGPT’s owner) has a partnership with Microsoft (Bing’s owner). Plus, previous versions of ChatGPT included a “Browse with Bing” feature.
In my experience, ChatGPT itself claims to use only Bing—not Google—for web browsing.
ChatGPT makes this claim even when it sources information from the web, suggesting that this belief is the consensus online:
However, Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi only says Bing is the default search provider for ChatGPT:
I’m pleased to announce we are bringing Bing to ChatGPT as the default search experience.
OpenAI says it uses Bing as its sole third-party search provider for Enterprise and Edu workspaces:
Currently, the only third-party search provider we use for Enterprise and Edu workspaces is Bing, and we will not add other search providers unless we provide notice to you of this change.
I can’t find evidence of OpenAI claiming that other ChatGPT workspaces use only Bing.
In documentation for ChatGPT search, Bing and Shopify are the only named third-party providers.
But OpenAI also says that “ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers.”
How Often Does ChatGPT Use Google?
Abhishek and Leigh’s experiments prove that ChatGPT uses Google at least sometimes. We don’t know exactly how often or in what circumstances ChatGPT uses Google instead of Bing.
My hypothesis is that ChatGPT uses Google as a backup when Bing provides unsatisfactory results.
In Abhishek and Leigh’s experiments, Bing couldn’t provide satisfactory results because the topically unique pages were only indexed in Google.
I also think that ChatGPT only resorts to Google for paying users because Google API access is relatively expensive for OpenAI.
Why Does It Matter that ChatGPT Uses Google?
ChatGPT using Google matters in marketing because it means your website’s Google visibility could play a direct role in its ChatGPT visibility.
This strengthens the idea that traditional search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential aspect of generative engine optimization (GEO).
How to Track Both Google and ChatGPT Visibility
You can track your website’s Google rankings and ChatGPT citations with Semrush’s Position Tracking tool.
Set up a project for each search tool, making sure to add all the queries you’d like to track. Then, go to the “Overview” reports to monitor your website’s highest position for each query.
For example, a #1 ChatGPT citation looks like this:
You should also track your AI mentions in ChatGPT.
AI mentions are references to your brand within the main AI response, which can originate from the model’s training data, your own web content, or third-party web content.
With Semrush’s AI Toolkit, you can see whether your brand is mentioned in response to relevant queries. And what positions your brand appears in compared to competitors.
Have your own hypothesis about when and why ChatGPT uses Google Search? Share your thoughts with @semrush on X or LinkedIn.