ChatGPT Rebuilds Its Search Tool

OpenAI appears to have significantly changed the way ChatGPT carries out web searches, replacing its previous JSON-based search format with a simpler pipe-delimited system.

The change was observed over just a few days, with the new format revealing more information about how ChatGPT searches for websites, products, businesses and other sources.

The findings come from observations of ChatGPT’s browser traffic across several different types of searches, including commercial research, local businesses, news, finance and physical products.

A New Search Format

Previously, ChatGPT’s web searches were structured using JSON, with individual queries grouped together in a single request.

The newer system instead displays searches as separate lines, with information divided by vertical bars. A typical search may now look something like:

fast|AI customer support software pricing 2026|30|example.com

The first part identifies the type of search, followed by the query itself. Additional fields can specify a time period and a particular website.

ChatGPT also appears to use a separate instruction to determine how much information should be returned from each search.

This provides a clearer view of what ChatGPT is actually looking for before producing an answer.

Search Freshness Appears To Depend On The Query

One of the more interesting parts of the new format is the number appearing after the search query.

Observations suggest that this could represent a freshness window, measured in days.

For example, searches for rapidly changing information such as share prices may use a very short period, while commercial research can use a longer window.

Different searches have been seen using time periods such as:

2 days for current share-price information
7 days for football results
30 days for product and software research
90 days for company financial information
365 days or more for some Reddit searches

This appears to reflect how quickly ChatGPT expects information on a particular subject to become outdated.

However, there is currently no confirmed public specification from OpenAI explaining exactly what these numbers represent, so this should be treated as an observation rather than an established rule.

What This Means For SEO

Businesses should pay attention to how frequently the pages answering important commercial questions are updated.

If ChatGPT is using a 30-day window when researching products or services, regularly refreshed pricing, comparison and product pages could have an advantage over information that has remained unchanged for months.

The important point is not simply publishing more content, but keeping key information accurate and genuinely up to date.

ChatGPT Is Using Different Search Tools

The new system also shows that ChatGPT is not relying on one type of search for every question.

Different requests can trigger different tools depending on what the user is asking.

Web Search

The fast search appears to be the main replacement for the previous web-search process.

It can be used to find information across websites and may include specific domains when ChatGPT wants to investigate a particular source.

Product Search

Physical products can trigger a separate product lookup.

For example, when researching robot vacuum cleaners, ChatGPT may search a product catalogue rather than simply looking for articles about robot vacuums.

This is important for retailers because appearing in ChatGPT’s product results may depend on catalogue and merchant data, not just traditional website SEO.

Business Search

Local searches can trigger a business lookup that works differently from a normal web search.

ChatGPT may first search for businesses using a location and category, then take the names it discovers and investigate those businesses individually.

For local businesses, this means information such as the business name, location, reviews and other listing details can play an important role in whether ChatGPT recognises the company.

Image Search

Image searches can also be triggered alongside other search methods, particularly when users are looking for places or products where visual information is useful.

Interactive Tools

Some queries do not result in a traditional search at all.

ChatGPT can now call interactive components for areas such as sports schedules and financial information. Instead of returning a collection of webpages, the system can produce a tool such as a live schedule or stock chart directly within the response.

This represents an important change for SEO because some searches that previously resulted in website visits may increasingly be answered directly through these interactive features.

ChatGPT Can Target Specific Websites

Another notable change is how ChatGPT handles searches for individual websites.

Previously, it could use Google’s site: operator within a search query. The new format can place the website domain into a separate field.

This effectively gives the search request a dedicated website-targeting option.

For brands, this makes it particularly important to ensure that ChatGPT associates the correct website with the business.

This could become an issue following:

Website migrations
Rebrands
Domain changes
International domain structures
Changes to company websites

If ChatGPT has an outdated domain associated with a company, it may investigate the wrong website when carrying out its research.

Reddit May Be Playing A Different Role

One of the more unusual findings concerns Reddit.

In some searches, ChatGPT appears to identify a group of brands or products first and then use Reddit to investigate what people are saying about those options.

For example, a search might contain several software brands alongside Reddit as the target website.

This suggests that Reddit may sometimes be used to gather opinions about a shortlist that ChatGPT has already created, rather than asking Reddit to create the shortlist itself.

In one observed search, a large number of Reddit results appeared in the retrieval data, yet the final answer did not directly cite those Reddit discussions.

This raises an interesting possibility: Reddit content may influence the information available to ChatGPT without necessarily receiving a citation in the final response.

However, it is important not to treat this as proven. The available search data shows what ChatGPT retrieved, but it cannot confirm exactly how much influence those results had on the final answer.

Why The Reddit Changes Matter

The findings could have implications for businesses using Reddit as part of their AI visibility strategy.

If marketers have been posting simply to generate mentions that appear as ChatGPT citations, a reduction in visible citations could make that approach less measurable.

That does not mean Reddit has stopped being useful.

Genuine participation in relevant communities can still help build brand awareness, reputation and a long-term presence. Reddit discussions can also remain part of the information ecosystem that AI systems learn from.

The bigger warning is against relying on mass posting or artificial engagement purely to manipulate AI visibility.

A discussion being retrieved by ChatGPT does not necessarily mean it will receive a citation or directly drive traffic.

What SEO And GEO Professionals Should Do

The latest changes show why monitoring how AI search actually works is becoming increasingly important.

Rather than relying entirely on traditional keyword rankings or citation counts, businesses should test the questions their customers are likely to ask ChatGPT.

Look at:

Which brands appear in ChatGPT’s searches
Which websites ChatGPT investigates
How frequently information is refreshed
Whether your business appears in local searches
Whether your products appear in catalogue results
Which searches now trigger interactive tools
Whether Reddit or other third-party websites are being used to assess your brand

These checks can provide a better understanding of how an AI system views your business before it produces an answer.

The SEO Landscape Is Changing Again

The move from JSON-based searches to the new pipe-delimited format highlights how quickly AI search systems are evolving.

The underlying principle remains familiar: ChatGPT still needs information from websites, databases and other sources to answer many questions. However, the way it finds and processes that information is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

For SEO and GEO professionals, this means strategies based on older assumptions can quickly become outdated.

The focus should therefore be less on trying to optimise for one specific AI search behaviour and more on making sure your website, brand information and external presence are accurate, useful and easy for AI systems to understand.

As ChatGPT continues to develop its search capabilities, keeping track of how it actually retrieves information may become just as important as monitoring traditional search rankings.