AI-powered search won’t kill the web, according to Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai. This despite the growing evidence that AI Overviews and AI Mode are cannibalizing traffic and content, according to multiple publishers and SEOs.
Why we care. Google is transforming its core search product into a more conversational, AI-driven experience. Critics like the News/Media Alliance called AI Mode “theft,” while Cloudflare’s CEO said AI is killing the business model of web.
Search is growing. Pichai told The Verge’s Nilay Patel that AI Overviews are fueling more and longer queries – including on Apple devices and platforms. That news about Safari traffic falling for the first time (ever) in 22 years? Nothing to worry about, according to Pichai:
- “We have a comprehensive view of how we look at data across the board. There can be a lot of noise in search data, but everything we see tells us that we are seeing query growth, including across Apple’s devices and platforms. Specifically, I think we quantified the query growth from AI Overviews. And what’s healthy is that the query growth is continuing to grow over time.”
Publisher fury is growing. In case you missed it, here’s the full statement from the News/Media Alliance:
- “Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft. The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company.”
Pichai’s response was basically that AI Mode is a product direction – one Google is committed to:
- “AI mode is going to have sources.”
- “Yes, there are certain questions that may get answers … And, if anything over the last year, it’s clear to us that the breadth of area we are sending people to is increasing. And so I expect that to be true with AI mode as well.”
- “I think more than any other company, we prioritize sending traffic to the web. No one sends traffic to the web in the way we do. I look at other companies, newer emerging companies, where they openly talk about it as something they’re not going to do. We are the only ones who make it a high priority, agonize, and so on. We’ll engage, and we’ve always engaged.”
Web = not dead. Google has crawled 45% more webpages in the last two years, according to Pichai.
- The rise of AI-generated content “doesn’t explain the trend [Google is] seeing.”
- The web is “becoming more cross-format and dynamic.”
As for our AI future?
- “I think AI is going to be bigger than the internet. There are going to be companies, products, and categories created that we aren’t aware of today. I think the future looks exciting. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to innovate around hardware form factors at this moment with this platform shift.”
The evidence. Dig deeper into stories showing the impact of AI Overviews and AI Mode on clicks and traffic:
- New Google AI Overviews data: Search clicks fell 30% in last year
- Most users only read a third of Google’s AI Overviews: Study
- Shocking 56% CTR drop: AI Overviews gut MailOnline’s search traffic
- New data: Google AI Overviews are hurting click-through rates
- Google Search boss: AI Overviews boost click quality
- Google hypes AI Overviews, refuses to answer CTR question
- Google organic and paid CTRs hit new lows: Report
- Google AI Overviews, clicks and traffic impact: Unraveling the mystery
The interview. Google CEO Sundar Pichai on the future of search, AI agents, and selling Chrome