Breaking Bard: Google’s AI Chatbot Lacks Sources, Hallucinates, and Gives Poor SEO Advice
Google opened its Bard waitlist today. Hopefully, you gain access soon. While you wait, here’s a sneak peek at Bard’s functioning.
Google Bard has some "issues," though it doesn’t seem as "unhinged" as the new Bing was initially. Here’s what people in the search community and beyond are finding in early Bard testing.
No links/citations initially.
One significant concern from the Google Bard preview was the lack of links to sources. Has Google addressed this? Initially, no. According to @simonlesser: "No citations, just a link to ‘Google it’. Hilarious answer when asked point blank about its sources."
Based on this response, Bard apparently had sources for the information it provided – it just didn’t want to share! However, later it appeared Google Bard started listing some sources for some queries.
As Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz tweeted: Note the addition of the "Sources – Learn more" with three links. Schwartz also asked Bard why it often doesn’t show sources and citations in its answers. Bard responded with an explanation for this behavior.
Bard suggests buying links.
Even though Google is opposed to link schemes and buying links, Bard seems to be a bit more lenient, saying, "I think it’s a good idea to buy links…” as shared by @DeanCruddace. However, after being told that this advice went against Google’s guidelines, Bard admitted its mistake: “You are correct, it is not advisable to buy links.”
Local search.
Some interesting implications for local search were highlighted by Greg Sterling, a former Search Engine Land contributing editor, who tweeted about different lists for a query “handyman in 94118”, and how choosing to “Google it” returned entirely different results. None of the Local Pack results appeared in the Bard lists.
Bard says Google uses CTR for ranking.
Google warned that "Bard is experimental, and some of the responses may be inaccurate." For instance, when asked if Google uses CTR as a signal to classify websites, Bard replied affirmatively, saying, “Yes, Google uses CTR as a signal to classify websites.” However, Google has repeatedly denied that CTR is a ranking signal.
Ranking signals and LSI keywords.
Speaking of ranking signals that aren’t really ranking signals, Google’s John Mueller has said, “there is no such thing as LSI keywords.” However, Bard suggested otherwise, stating evidence that Google may use them, shared by @keithgoode.
Bard predicts the next Google core update.
Google just launched a core update on March 15. When asked when the next update will be, Bard claimed it would be March 23, 2023, causing some uncertainty shared by @ryanjones.
SEO metric hallucinations.
Considering using Bard for keyword research? It can apparently calculate Search Volume, LinkJuice Calories (what?!), and an EAT score (which does not exist)! This was noted by @ryanjones.
Bard says its training set includes Gmail.
The prospect of this being true isn’t scary at all. When asked where Bard’s dataset came from, Bard listed Gmail among its sources, highlighted by @katecrawford. Google later clarified that Bard is not trained on Gmail data.
Bard: “Google Bard is already shut down.”
If you were hoping to use Google Bard, you might be out of luck – at least according to Bard. When asked about its potential shutdown, Bard claimed it was already shut down on March 21, 2023, due to lack of adoption, as noted by @juanbuis.
Garbage in, garbage out?
Some of Bard’s early issues may be due to AI hallucination. Some may simply be the fact that Bard was trained on a lot of misinformation about SEO. Always remember: bad information is bad information, regardless of whether it comes from AI or humans.
Why we care.
We’ve eagerly been waiting since Feb. 6 to get our hands on Google’s Bard. Like ChatGPT, Google Bard has the potential to be a useful tool for SEOs. It’s crucial to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
Bard: “I do have emotions.”
One more interesting note: Bard claims to have emotions, as shared by @CarolynLyden. Last year, Google fired an engineer who claimed that Google’s LamDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) technology was sentient. Hopefully, Google won’t end up firing Bard.
