Contrary to the belief that AI assistants replace search, clickstream data reveals a surprising trend: users who start using tools like ChatGPT subsequently perform *more* searches on Google. This is likely due to fact-checking AI responses or researching concepts and products suggested by the AI.
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Data shows traditional SEO traffic from '10 blue links' is flat, not declining. The rapid growth of LLMs represents an additive channel, increasing the total volume of search and discovery, rather than replacing existing search behaviors. Marketers should view this as a growing, not a shifting, market.
Contrary to popular narrative, Google's AI products have likely surpassed OpenAI in monthly users. By bundling AI into its existing ecosystem (2B users for AI Overviews, 650M for the Gemini app), Google leverages its massive distribution to win consumer adoption, even if user intent is less direct than visiting ChatGPT.
Your reliance on Google AdWords is a critical vulnerability. As user attention shifts from traditional search to AI-powered chat, search volume will drop, competition for remaining traffic will intensify, and your customer acquisition costs will skyrocket. This isn't a future problem; it is happening now.
Contrary to the narrative that AI will kill search, Google sees AI as an expansionary force. Features like AI overviews and Google Lens are driving a 70% YoY increase in visual searches, fulfilling new types of user curiosity and increasing the total volume of questions asked.
It's crucial to balance the hype around LLMs with data. While their usage is growing at an explosive 100% year-over-year rate, the total volume of LLM queries is still only about 1/15th the size of traditional Google Search. This highlights it as a rapidly emerging channel, but not yet a replacement for search.
Contrary to popular belief, new search interfaces like TikTok or AEO don't diminish Google's traffic. Instead, they grow the overall 'pie' of search and discovery, creating new channels. Google's VP of Search confirmed that traffic to publishers is not down. AEO is an additive channel, not a replacement.
The speaker's firm saw a 50% traffic drop after Google's AI Overview launch, yet leads from tools like ChatGPT grew 500%. This suggests that while AI-driven search reduces overall traffic volume, the visitors it does send have higher purchase intent and are better qualified.
Visitors arriving from AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT are highly qualified, having used detailed prompts to find a specific solution. This pre-qualification leads to significantly higher engagement and conversion rates—reportedly 7-8x higher than typical ads or organic search—making AI optimization a high-leverage activity.
Unlike chatbots that rely solely on their training data, Google's AI acts as a live researcher. For a single user query, the model executes a 'query fanout'—running multiple, targeted background searches to gather, synthesize, and cite fresh information from across the web in real-time.
These two seemingly contradictory trends can coexist. While overall search queries on Google are increasing, the platform is answering more queries directly with AI overviews and featured snippets. This means a higher percentage of searches are "zero-click," resulting in less referral traffic for websites.