Is Santa Real? That’s a good question. The short answer is that it depends on who you ask. That’s what I found out when I asked three different search engines and 3 different AIs. I asked ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Claude AI. Then, I asked three different search engines whether or not Santa is real, I asked Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go.There is an article published at the New York Post, Angry parents urge Google to change answer to question: ‘Is Santa real?’ . I have to agree, as a parent myself, I’m not very amused about the answers that the search engines, especially Google are giving. However, angry or not, parents need to understand that search engines do not manually change the search engine results pages. The search engine results are, for the most part, not manipulated by Google. For the most part, Google’s search engine algorithm, the way they determine which web pages show up at the top of the search engine results pages, is “fair”.
Everyweb page and every website has an equal chance of showing up at the top of the search engine results–and it mostly comes down to the content on those web pages. There are, however, around 1300 possible search engine ranking factors, so it’s generally not as “easy” as that. But my honest opinion on this, as a search marketing professional having practiced SEO for over 20 years, is that Google shouldn’t step in and manipulate the search engine results “manually”, just for one particular search query because someone doesn’t like what appears in the search engine results pages. If you don’t like the search engine results and what appears there, YOU have the opportunity to change the search results. Just create better, more relevant content that is better than what currently appears there. That said, let’s take a look at what 3 different search engines and 3 different AIs have to say about whether or not “Santa Is Real”.
Is Santa Real?
The NY Post article focuses primarily on 1 search engine, Google, and shows that there’s one main search engine result, the top search engine result, that parents don’t like. Google’s search engine results for “Is Santa Real?” is below:
As you can see, there is one top “main” result, this is called the “featured snippet” result for the search query. Not all search queries cause a featured snippet to appear. But for a lot of the searches, it does appear. In this case, Google’s algorithm has decided that this particular web page, from hotelchocolat.com, is good enough to be “better” than other articles or web pages addressing the search query. This result also brings up the “People Also Ask” questions, where other web pages have answered those questions. Google’s decided that those questions are related and appropriate to the original search query, “Is Santa Real?”.
While the search results for this search query does have a scientific answer as well as information about the history of Santa Claus, I don’t think that the history, while partly relevant, should be highlighted here. I’m not a big fan of the featured snippet for this search query, as it does appear to say that Santa, as we know him (and as kids know him in present-day), is not real. I can see how this would definitely concern many parents. But it’s truly not Google’s fault–it’s more the fault of who wrote the article that appears as the featured snippet here.
Let’s take a look at some other search engine results, and then look at how popular AIs answer this question, Is Santa Real?
Here is what ChatGPT has to say:
ChatGPT says, ”
Santa Claus is a legendary figure who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on Christmas Eve. The story of Santa Claus has its roots in various cultural and historical traditions, and many people enjoy celebrating the holiday season with the idea of Santa Claus as a symbol of generosity and joy.
In reality, Santa Claus is not a literal, living person who delivers presents around the world. The story of Santa is often seen as a fun and magical part of the holiday season, especially for children. While the figure of Santa Claus may not be real in a tangible sense, the spirit of giving and the joy of the season that he represents can be very real and meaningful.”
Let’s see what Google Bard, Google’s own AI, has to say, which is surprising to me: it says that Santa is not real:
Google Bard, Google’s AI, says, ”
Santa Claus is a legendary figure who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on Christmas Eve. The story of Santa Claus has its roots in various cultural and historical traditions, and many people enjoy celebrating the holiday season with the idea of Santa Claus as a symbol of generosity and joy.
In reality, Santa Claus is not a literal, living person who delivers presents around the world. The story of Santa is often seen as a fun and magical part of the holiday season, especially for children. While the figure of Santa Claus may not be real in a tangible sense, the spirit of giving and the joy of the season that he represents can be very real and meaningful.”
This is similar to what ChatGPT says, and is similar to what Google’s search engine results are saying, as well. They focus on the history and not the current fun, magical part of the holiday season that kids are used to nowadays.
I also asked Claude.AI the same thing, Is Santa Real? I think Claude has the best answer:
Claude AI, as I mentioned, as the best answer. It’s not definitive one way or the other, saying, ”
Santa Claus is a legendary figure who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on Christmas Eve. The story of Santa Claus has its roots in various cultural and historical traditions, and many people enjoy celebrating the holiday season with the idea of Santa Claus as a symbol of generosity and joy.
In reality, Santa Claus is not a literal, living person who delivers presents around the world. The story of Santa is often seen as a fun and magical part of the holiday season, especially for children. While the figure of Santa Claus may not be real in a tangible sense, the spirit of giving and the joy of the season that he represents can be very real and meaningful.”
I think this is the best answer, frankly, because it first comes out and says, “It’s not definitive one or the other.”.
I then asked Microsoft Bing the same question:
As you can see, I think Microsoft Bing’s answer to “Is Santa Real?” is one of the most extensive results. Yet the first result is how to break the news to kids. So if kids search this at Microsoft Bing, well, then that’s not a good search result according to most parents. Yet if you look at Bing’s AI result, the Bing AI says that there is no definitive answer to the question–which is like what Claude AI said. Although Claude AI says that at the beginning of its result.
And finally, I checked Duck Duck Go, to see what they say about “Is Santa Real?”. Unfortunately, DuckDuckGo’s results not very parent-friendly, as well.
DuckDuckGo.com essentially shows, again, results that aren’t very parent-friendly, it’s mainly about breaking the truth about Santa not being real. Is that really a decent search engine result to show here? The searcher/user wants the question answered: they don’t necessarily care about how to break the news to kids. In fact, if it were me, I’d ask how to break the news to kids. I am not very happy about this search engine result, as it doesn’t appear to answer the actual search query.
So what’s the real answer here? Is Santa Real? It depends on who you ask. The consensus, amongst 3 search engines and 3 different AIs appears to be that Santa is not real. But, the search engines and AIs that I asked tend to take a historical approach, or don’t even answer the question.Y
Yes, Santa is real. There. I admitted it.