Are AI Chatbots Replacing Search Engines?

SEO vs AI Chatbots: What Do the Experts Think?
To bring more clarity to this evolving landscape, we reached out to respected SEO leaders and practitioners for their take on the core question: Are AI chatbots replacing traditional search engines?
Their insights help unpack how AI is influencing user behavior, what role search engines continue to play, and how SEOs should adapt. Here’s what they had to say.
“AI chatbots aren’t replacing search, they’re converging with it. Every major platform that SEOs should prioritize is evolving into a unified “research engine” that blends large language models, traditional search, and knowledge graphs to deliver richer, more contextual results. Pure chatbots without real-time search integration aren’t compelling SEO targets – they’re out of date by design; the real opportunity lies in engines that combine conversational interfaces with live, verifiable information that drives users deeper into the decision journey. As an SEO, focus on Google Search, Bing Search, ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, Perplexity, Google Gemini.”
CEO at Kalicube®