This is a great manipulative graph. Not just because of the scale.
There are 3 clever tricks in this chart, and it’s almost admirable how well-crafted the illusion is.
There are 3 clever tricks in this chart, and it’s almost admirable how well-crafted the illusion is.
I’m fully in the camp that search behavior is changing. More people are turning to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools instead of Google to get answers.
But I can’t help but demystify the manipulation behind this graph:
🧠 Trick 1: The Scale The Y-axis zooms into a narrow range, exaggerating small percentage changes. It makes a mild dip look like a free fall.
📈 Trick 2: The Formula What you’re seeing here is Google’s traffic share vs. Bing + ChatGPT, calculated using the formula:
A / (A + B)
Where: A = Google traffic B = Bing + ChatGPT traffic
Seems fair? Not really. Here’s the trick:
When B grows rapidly (and it is), the denominator (A + B) grows faster than the numerator (A). Even if A (Google) remains stable, or even grows slightly, the “share” declines sharply.
You could swap Google with any big website (e.g., Apple, Instagram) and claim Bing + ChatGPT is eating its lunch. Or you could swap Bing + ChatGPT with any high-growth site and make it looks like the site is disrupting Google.
🎭 Trick 3: Adding Bing as a Distraction If it were just Google vs. ChatGPT, you’d see Google had almost 100% of the share pre-ChatGPT. That would make the manipulation obvious.
By including Bing, the pre-ChatGPT baseline is pulled down artificially, so the drop looks smoother and less suspicious. A clever way to distract the audience from the manipulation.
This chart makes it look like ChatGPT is eating Google’s lunch. But the reality?
This graph likely came from a genius storyteller in an AI lab, pitching a dramatic story to unsuspecting investors who don’t question the math but love a compelling trend line.
Be cautious of graphs that tell you what they want you to see instead of what’s actually happening.
#GenAI #ChatGPT #AISEO #SEODisruption #DataLiteracy #ChartCrime #SearchRevolution #FutureOfSearch #GoogleVsChatGPT #GEO #AEO
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