In the fast-moving world of generative AI, yesterday’s assumptions can quickly become outdated. One of the most persistent beliefs has been that SearchGPT, the real-time web-connected version of ChatGPT, relies on Bing as its primary search engine.
Official support channels and documentation have long stated this clearly: SearchGPT gets its information from Bing.
But is that still true?
Recent deep-dive investigations suggest otherwise. In fact, all signs now point toward a significant shift—SearchGPT appears to be using Google as its main source of search data.
Here’s what we discovered—and what it means for marketers, SEOs, and businesses who want to optimize for AI-driven search.
Understanding How SearchGPT Works
SearchGPT enhances the ChatGPT experience by providing real-time answers sourced from the web. To do this, it reformulates user queries into optimized search strings and sends them to a third-party engine to retrieve current, relevant information.
Every time this happens, ChatGPT generates a JSON log behind the scenes. In that file, you’ll find:
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One or more refined queries based on your prompt
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A list of URLs, titles, snippets, and publication dates pulled from an external search engine
This structured response helps SearchGPT compile an answer with citations and timestamps. But the big question is: which search engine is it actually querying?
The Bing Assumption—Put to the Test
To test the assumption that Bing was still in use, we compared the results of SearchGPT queries to the top 20 results for the same keywords on Bing.
Example: We prompted “vacation in Sicily.” SearchGPT rewrote the query to “best things to do in Sicily holidays” and returned a set of pages.
When compared side-by-side with Bing’s actual results, the overlap in URLs was only 30%. That’s far too low to be considered reliable sourcing from Bing. Adjusting variables like device, location, or IP address didn’t significantly change the overlap.
So if it’s not Bing… who is it?
Comparing to Google – A Striking Match
When we ran the same queries through Google, the story changed entirely. The overlap between SearchGPT’s results and Google’s top 20 was 90% or higher in some cases.
Here are a few examples:
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“Loan consolidation” – 84.3% match
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“How to reduce taxes” – 64%
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“Vehicle registration document” – 71.4%
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“How to clean an oven” – 86%
This level of consistency strongly suggests that SearchGPT is no longer powered by Bing, but is instead pulling results directly from Google.
Snippets: The Smoking Gun
To go further, we examined the snippets—those short text previews that appear beneath URLs in search results.
Each search engine generates snippets differently, often pulling dynamic content from pages. If SearchGPT’s snippets match Google’s but not Bing’s, that’s a strong indicator of source.
In example after example, the snippets used by SearchGPT were identical to those in Google search results, but had no resemblance to what Bing displayed.
Even the timestamp formatting used in SearchGPT matches Google’s metadata conventions, down to the Unix timestamp.
Evidence of Google Index Access
There’s more. In some cases, SearchGPT can “see” content behind JavaScript or detect whether a page has been updated—even when that content isn’t easily accessible by traditional crawlers.
How?
Instead of crawling web pages directly, SearchGPT appears to be using Google’s cached index via site: operator queries. This allows it to:
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Access dynamic, JavaScript-rendered content (e.g., ecommerce sites)
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Reference the most recently indexed version of a page
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Return meta-information even if the page has slow load times
It’s not exploring your page live—it’s pulling from Google’s already-processed version.
What About the ?srsltid Parameter?
If you’ve ever noticed odd-looking URLs in ChatGPT’s citations—especially those containing the ?srsltid= parameter—you’re not alone.
These are tracking parameters used by Google (notably in Shopping or Merchant Center listings), and their presence in SearchGPT output further confirms that Google is the underlying engine being accessed.
Why the Quiet Switch?
There’s been no formal announcement from either OpenAI or Google about a search engine switch. However, there is a clue in the tech world’s calendar.
Bing is scheduled to sunset its public Search API in August 2025. As that deprecation nears, it makes sense that ChatGPT would need to find another source—and there’s no better candidate than Google, the world’s most complete search index.
What This Means for You
If you’re in SEO, content marketing, or digital strategy, this is a crucial insight. Here’s how it impacts your approach:
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Focus on Google again.
The SEO playbook hasn’t changed—Google remains the primary battlefield, even within AI environments. -
Ensure JavaScript-rendered content is crawlable.
If your website relies on JS for product descriptions or blog content, make sure it’s fully visible to Googlebot. If Google can’t see it, SearchGPT won’t either. -
Expect deeper AI integrations.
If this unofficial partnership evolves further, we might soon see SearchGPT responses enhanced with Google Maps, Business Profiles, and Shopping results. -
Track citation patterns.
Watch for citations from domains frequently ranking on Google (like Reddit). These domains will be overrepresented in AI responses due to Google’s own ranking bias.
Final Takeaway
There’s no longer much doubt—SearchGPT is powered by Google, not Bing.
This has huge implications for anyone working in digital marketing or content strategy. And it reinforces what we already knew: if you want to show up in AI-driven answers, you still need to win in Google Search.
Welcome to the new era of AI + SEO—different front end, same core engine.
