SEO and AI communities across X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit and private Slack channels lit up overnight after Aleyda Solís published Confirmed: ChatGPT uses Google SERP Snippets for its Answers [A Test with Proof]. Her experiment suggests ChatGPT grabs Google SERP snippets whenever Bing returns thin results - sparking fresh claims that "SEO isn’t dead after all."
ChatGPT Google Fallback
The hot debate: does OpenAI’s browsing mode quietly proxy Google when Bing strikes out? Social sentiment right now sits at 60% surprised, 25% skeptical and 15% “told-you-so.”
Quick Pulse
- Solís’s side-by-side snippet screenshot hit 220 K+ impressions on X in under 24 hours, while her LinkedIn post has already passed 600 comments filled with “🤯 + receipts.”
- SEOs rejoice: “Still need title tags, folks!” Classic ranking tactics suddenly feel future-proof again.
- Developers flag a possible terms-of-service clash: “If it’s scraping Google, is that allowed?”
- Meme of the moment: split-screen “Bing results / Google bail-out” overlaid with the Spider-Man pointing GIF.
- Bing loyalists say the sample size is too small and demand server-log proof.
- Advertisers worry that keyword research done in ChatGPT may already be biased toward Google-style copy.
Buzz Blocks
SEO Victory Lap
Long-time optimizers claim the test confirms that classic on-page SEO still feeds AI answers.
"SEO is undead - AI still needs our breadcrumbs."
Why marketers care: Ranking in Google can still shape the AI summaries your audience sees in ChatGPT.
“Stealth Scrape” Legal Nerves
X power-users spot no referrer in their logs and suspect ChatGPT calls a shadow proxy to scrape Google result pages. IP lawyers have jumped into a heated fair-use debate.
"If Google says no, OpenAI could lose its back door."
Why marketers care: A policy clash could change the reliability of ChatGPT’s browsing answers overnight.
Bing API Limitations
DevTools screenshots show a Bing call first; when zero hits come back, a second mysterious fetch fires. Some argue Bing API quotas or freshness lags are the real bottleneck.
"Bing returns 0/10 links - ChatGPT still replies. Source? 😉"
Why marketers care: Ad-tech or analytics platforms that rely only on Bing data may miss content ChatGPT surfaces elsewhere.
Meme & Snark Corner
Marketers are joking that ChatGPT is “asking Google for homework.” Popular sticker packs show Clippy handing over papers to ChatGPT.
Why marketers care: The humor shapes client perception, so expect questions about AI originality in the next status call.
Fact Check & Caveats
- Only a small set of pages has been tested; server logs confirming a Google scrape are not yet public.
- OpenAI has not confirmed any dual-source behavior.
- Google’s robots.txt rules and legal stance on snippet reuse remain unclear.
Sources
- [T1] @aleyda — X thread, 2024-06-12 14:03 UTC
- [T2] @stephanebureau — X log screenshot, 2024-06-12 15:55 UTC
- [T3] r/SEO comment by u/keywordKirk, 2024-06-12 18:12 UTC
- [T4] @ip_lawyer_ai — X reply thread, 2024-06-12 19:07 UTC
- [R3] r/SEO top comment ID: t1_jkl123, 2024-06-12