Is ChatGPT Changing How We Google? (And What Does Google Gemini Have to Say About It?)
Anyone else feel like the way you “google” has changed. Well, you’re not alone.
It used to be simple: you had a question, you Googled it, and like magic (or a cleverly ranked SEO strategy), you found an answer.
But now? You ask a question and get hit with an AI-generated paragraph at the top of the page, a video summary, a chatbot offering to rewrite your question better, and five contradictory Reddit threads below it.
Welcome to the AI-powered search future — where ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and traditional search results are battling it out for your brain space.
And here in Dubai’s lightning-fast PR and communications world, that matters more than ever.
From Googling to Prompting: How Search Has Changed
Ask ChatGPT: “What makes a good PR campaign in the UAE?”
It replies with a friendly, structured list that sounds like your favourite lecturer and your most strategic colleague had a baby.
Ask Google the same question and now, thanks to Google Gemini, you don’t just get links you get what appear to be well thought-through crafted answers before the links. These are generative AI summaries that pull together sources, opinions, and a lot of (sometimes questionable) confidence into a tidy box of information.
And if you squint, you’ll notice traditional websites are pushed even further down the results page.
For PR and marketing teams? That’s huge. It means your blog, press release, or op-ed might not be seen first – or at all – unless you rethink your content strategy.
What Even Is Google Gemini?
Think of Gemini as Google’s answer to ChatGPT. It’s integrated directly into Google Search, using generative AI to produce natural-sounding answers on the fly, often before you’ve even hit enter. It’s powered by Google’s own large language models and is already live in the UAE, Saudi, and Qatar and across the middle east.
You’ll see it at the top of results for things like:
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“What’s the best time to send a press release in Dubai?”
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“Top media outlets for fintech news in the Middle East”
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“How to host a successful brand event in DIFC”
Rather than showing you links, Gemini gives you a quick answer. If you’re in PR, media, or comms – and your job depends on visibility – that changes the game. Before you were given a snippet of information before being required to click to get the full information.
Now? well now you just need to read the helpful box at the top and away you go. Who wrote it? No idea. When was it written? Not sure. Is the information even correct? To be determined.
Dubai + AI = A New Kind of Search Culture
In a region known for being ahead of the curve, professionals in Dubai aren’t just Googling. They’re Gemini-ing and they’re ChatGPTing… or even insert-name-of-company-LLM-ing here… and they are using it to write LinkedIn posts, brainstorm influencer partnerships, and localise taglines for the Saudi market. Not all with the same level of success.
As a Dubai-based PR and communications agency, we’re seeing:
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Clients using Gemini results to fact-check our pitches
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Journalists using ChatGPT to draft Q&A follow-ups
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Marketers optimising for AI summaries instead of SEO keywords alone
What This Means for Brands (and the PR People Who Love Them)
It means your content needs to be:
– Structured for AI scraping
– Written in plain English (sorry, no more “revolutionary synergy solutions”)
– Aligned with how people ask questions, not how marketers write headlines
At Bright Company, we’re helping clients navigate this new AI-powered search world by:
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Writing content designed to show up in Gemini-style summaries
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Testing how ChatGPT and Gemini interpret brand messaging
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Advising on how to future-proof your visibility in an AI-first world
Will Google Still Matter?
Of course. But it’s less about links and more about answers. And that answer might be written by a robot.
So the next time someone says, “Let me Google that,” they might really mean: “Let me see what ChatGPT and Gemini say first.”
And if your brand isn’t part of that conversation? Well, we all know the answer to that question.
TL;DR:
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are changing how people search. Instead of clicks and links, users want answers and insights. In Dubai’s competitive PR and comms landscape, smart brands are adapting their content to speak fluently to humans and machines.
At Bright Company, we’re here to help you do just that. With style. And probably a pun or two.