I don't know that people are searching less on Google. I just know it's true.
During Google I/O, Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the introduction to AI had “increased search usage.” Pichai said the same thing during Alphabet's Q1 2024 earnings conference.
But if that's the case, doesn't that mean the artists at AI Overviews, or formerly known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), aren't solving the problem they were invented to solve?
That means giving users the answers and information they want faster.
Yes, in the same week that OpenAI basically created Samantha, the AI virtual assistant from the movie “Her,” Google’s tagline became “Let Google do Google.”
Now, if Google were to do Google searches for you, you could see an increase in search volume when what you're searching for isn't found on Google.
There are no blue links
The Google search video from my Gemini days speaks for itself.
Look at this:
What do you notice missing?
It's already explained in the subheading, but you won't see the blue link.
Google's former CEO said that Google doesn't care about blue links. Obviously, he wasn't wrong.
In Google's Gemini days, links were clearly web filter.
If you're lucky, web This will be the fourth option you can select ( all, image, video and news) – or, web bottom filter more option.
We knew this was coming. Google has said for 20 years that search is like the computer in “Star Trek.”
- “As search grows, it will be like Star Trek. You talk into the air ('Computer! What's going on on Earth?'), and the computer processes your question and gives you context. to determine what answer you gave. ”, searches a huge database in languages of who knows how much, translates/analyzes/summarizes all the results and returns them to you in a pleasant voice. I think this technology is about 300 years away. ”
This quote from former Google Chief Technology Officer Craig Silverstein is from 2003.
It took less than 300 years. It took only 20 hours.
The future is here.
Search was already fragmented
We don't have exact data on overall Google search usage in 2024 and how it will compare to previous years. Google hasn't made that clear.
However, reporting search usage growth is similar to reporting domain authority. It's a meaningless vanity metric.
Google claims that it has also improved user satisfaction. But I don't remember any sustained negative feedback about the quality of Google's search results, as I've seen over the past two years both inside and outside of the search marketing industry.
Google's own data shows that younger internet users are more likely to visit TikTok and Instagram than Google. Although Google is the dominant general search engine, people search on other platforms such as Amazon, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit.
Meanwhile, I've been hearing rumors about ChatGPT search, and I fully expect OpenAI to launch a search product in the near future.
Let's dig deeper.Modern search: how and where to reach your target audience
AI Overview Apocalypse
The inevitable day of SGE doom that we have been warning about since May of last year has finally arrived.
Publishers who weren't already freaking out over the drop in traffic due to Google's informative content and core updates, or Gartner's prediction that traffic from search engines would drop by 25% by 2026, will be disappointed as the AI Overview begins to roll out. I'm starting to feel uneasy.
Here are some of the headlines we saw after the AI Overview was released.
This quote from Owen Meredith, CEO of the News Media Association, is a variation on what I've heard in recent months from content creators frustrated by Google's recent algorithm updates.
- “Google's stated mission is to “organize the world's information and make it accessible to everyone'' by directing visitors to websites. [generative AI] Search and AI overviews that synthesize information directly and present it to users run the risk of discouraging users from clicking through to the original link, thereby discouraging people who invest in journalism and quality information. 's business model will be threatened. ”
Relying entirely or mostly on one platform like Google to send traffic through link clicks is not a business model. It's a gamble. Because every time Google changes something, they risk losing everything.
The 10 blue links were a temporary way to provide answers. An overview of AI is displayed.
tie a ribbon on it
So we don't know that people are searching less on Google. we just know it to be true.
People are frustrated with search. Google is still dominant, but people are searching elsewhere.
AI Overview is designed to reduce search volume, but again, the overall message from Google is “Let Google do Google.” This in itself indicates that users should search less.
However, Google has definitely seen an increase in searches for how to turn off AI results.
Oops.
Google seems increasingly disconnected from reality.
In this brave new world of Google, advertisers should expect increased costs (hello, tuning and squashing), websites should expect a decline in organic traffic, and Google is using search usage that no one cares about. They send searchers down a rabbit hole of follow-up queries to inflate their statistics. Use an agent to complete tasks such as purchases (I'm sure Google will add a Ticketmaster-type hidden fee that turns your $50 purchase into $120).