Apple's latest invention—Intelligent Search, integrated right into Safari 18—sees huge jumps in web browsing and search engine capabilities. This summarizing feature in response to search queries and a "Web Eraser," as a completely new tool, would signal a strategic shift that may redefine user interaction with digital content. Here's a closer look at both these developments and the impact the features could have on the industry.
Apple's Intelligent Search aims to enhance user experience by providing concise summaries of web content directly in the search results. The AI-powered feature enlists years of data that Applebot, the company's web crawler, has used to power Siri and Spotlight Suggestions. It summarizes the important points of the web page by parsing its keywords and key phrases, therefore enabling access to essential information without the need for users to click off the search page.
This approach may well turn around the tradition of the search engine and the SEO industry in the past, which literally based their focused results on links. For years, the publishers and the SEO professionals had sat back waiting for an Apple search engine that would give Google a run for its money.
Basically, Apple's strategy of virtually killing off conventional search engines, through the integration of a summarization tool into the mix might mean that websites are going to get fewer search traffic overall, therefore changing the playing field for how content is optimized towards findability.
Apple will also introduce the "Web Eraser" feature, through which users can permanently delete any part of a web page they don't like, such as ads, videos, or comments, and have it load that way each time in the interest of a better user experience and privacy. It builds on the browser's privacy features, enabling more user control than any other current browser over his/her online viewing environment. All the erased content continues to remain invisible in subsequent visits; hence, it brings simplicity and personalization to the browsing experience. This is where the introduction of Web Eraser could make a world of difference to what is being displayed on people's computer screens.
Apple directly stepped on the toes of the traditional ad-supported model of the Internet, as it gives users the users the power to block and remove such disturbing and unwanted content, basically reducing the potential of the online advertisement.
This change in behaviour comes with both challenges and opportunities for content creators and marketers to innovate how they engage audiences and serve up content. With Apple at the forefront of this move, there lies a possibility that other big techs could be in for a change—this would mean a big upheaval in the way content is consumed and, in effect, monetized on the web. Of course, the industry would be called to answer and adapt, in a manner, of course, that promotes innovation, respects the choices of the user, and fosters the authenticity of content.
