How AI Influences Google's Operations

😱 Google I/O 2025 felt like a wake-up call for SEOs. AI isn’t coming. It’s already here. And it might change more than we expect... ↓ Google Search doesn’t just show results now. It answers. It reasons. It acts. However, I don’t see this as a threat. I want to use this moment as an opportunity—to grow, to rethink how I do SEO, and to bring more value to my clients. I’m approaching this shift with curiosity and cautious optimism. I've written an in-depth guide to SEO after Google I/O 2025 (and an informal chat about Search with select SEOs and Googlers in Google Building 43): https://lnkd.in/etD2XvfU Here’s what stood out to me at Google I/O: → AI Mode breaks queries into parts and builds answers. It relies on Gemini 2.5. If your content isn’t clear, structured, and easy to quote, it’s skipped. → Deep Search does hundreds of searches in one go to build long-form answers. It pulls from sources that show E-E-A-T. That means your content needs to be credible, detailed, and sourced. → Personal results change everything. Google may soon use data from Gmail, Drive, Maps. There’s no one-size-fits-all SERP anymore. Your content has to speak to specific people, not just general audiences. → Agentic Search is wild. It can book appointments, buy tickets, and filter listings. Google is partnering with Ticketmaster, StubHub, Resy, and others. Your site better have clean APIs, structured data, and simple user flows. → Search Live and Astra bring voice and visuals together. Point your camera and ask a question. Now your image SEO and product photos need real alt text, filenames, and metadata. → AI shopping features include virtual try-ons and smart recommendations. If your product feeds and visuals are messy, you won’t be part of the answer. Clicks are dropping. Expectations are shifting. And SEO might finally be taken more seriously. My job has started to feel different. It’s not just about rankings or traffic anymore. Now I focus more on: ✅ Clear, reliable content. ✅ Writing for real people, not just search engines. ✅ Using schema where it helps. ✅ Making sure AI can actually read and trust what’s on the page. ✅ Not blocking what Google needs to access. Some parts are frustrating. Some feel like real progress. I’m trying to adapt. Trying to learn. And trying to help clients do the same. If you’re in SEO too, I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about this shift. Attached are some of the photos from my trip to Mountain View. P.S. Thank you John Mueller for the invite for the chat. It's an absolute honor! #SEO #AI #GoogleSearch #AIinSearch #Gemini #googleio #googleio2025

🚨 SEO is in crisis—double-digit traffic drops across industries! 🚨 🔥 Key takeaways from Lindsay Boyajian Hagan (Conductor): 🔹 Fewer searches—Users are turning to AI for direct answers. 🔹 Organic results pushed down—AI Overviews, ads, and image carousels now dominate the top. 🔹 40% of searches display AI-generated summaries. 🔹 Reddit & Quora are outranking brands—Forums are seen as more “authentic.” 💡 What can you do? ✅ Ditch generic content—Double down on expertise. AI-generated content is everywhere—your edge is experience, authority, and trust. ✅ Meet your audience where they are—Create content on Reddit, Quora, and forums that Google prioritizes. ✅ Rethink your KPIs—Traffic is down, but brand impressions in search engines are up (thanks, AIO!). Measure what matters. ✅ Remember: Your great content is feeding LLMs. Don’t just create—strategize. And then, Chris Andrew (Scrunch AI) dropped this bombshell: 🔹 AI crawlers—not humans—are now your biggest site visitors. 🔹 Browsing is dead. AI delivers answers, not links. 🔹 2B+ users search in AI tools every month. 🔹 Optimize for AI search: • Give AI access to your content. • Create conversational, persona-adjusted content. • Ensure your site’s infrastructure is AI-friendly. At the Chief Marketing Officer Summit by CMO Alliance, the conversation was clear: Google Search is transforming at an unprecedented pace, and brands must adapt—fast. SEO isn’t dying—it’s evolving. The question is: Are you keeping up? Would love to hear—how is your brand adapting to AI-dominated search? #SEO #AI #Marketing #DigitalMarketing #CMO #SearchOptimization #AIO #MarketingStrategy #CMOSummit #CMOAlliance

Google’s AI Mode isn’t just a new feature. It’s a new framework — one that quietly rewrites how search works. Michael King’s 12,000+ word breakdown of AI Mode isn’t just comprehensive. It’s required reading if you care about the future of SEO. Because the future isn’t about keyword optimization or clean markup. It’s about how Google uses specialized LLMs, multi-document reasoning, vector similarity, and personal user embeddings to deliver a single AI-generated answer. Let’s break it down: Query Fan-Out One search from a user = multiple subqueries behind the scenes. Google’s system expands the original query into a network of related questions — each one helping to clarify the user’s intent before generating an answer. Specialized LLMs Different tasks, different models. Summarization, comparison, reasoning — all handled by distinct systems depending on the needs of the query. That’s not one AI answer; it’s a pipeline of coordinated decisions. Passage-Level Retrieval + Vector Similarity Google doesn’t just look at documents anymore. It pulls from specific passages that align semantically with the query — not just literally. Content gets vectorized and scored for closeness using cosine similarity. User Embeddings Google builds a vector profile based on each user’s past interactions — searches, clicks, behaviors. Then it matches future results to that profile. Your content might be “relevant,” but not relevant to them. And here’s what makes this so disruptive for SEOs: Many of the signals powering AI Mode aren’t visible — or even accessible — through traditional SEO methods. There’s no report that shows you how Google’s models reasoned their way to an answer. No tool that reveals which subqueries were generated behind the scenes. No schema you can add to improve how your content aligns with a user’s personal vector profile. The systems driving rankings now live behind a wall of abstraction — built on machine learning, personalization, and vector semantics. This isn’t just an update to search. It’s a shift in the architecture of how answers are created. #SEO #AI #Search #Google #DigitalMarketing #AIMode Read the article: https://lnkd.in/gMDF55Ns

RIP SEO. Today was the first time Google automatically pushed me into AI Mode for a basic search. I wasn’t on Labs. I didn’t opt in. No blue links. Just a clean AI-generated answer, with no website listings in sight. This isn’t an experimental feature hidden away anymore. It’s becoming the new default in our #AnswerEconomy. As someone who’s spent 20+ years leading web strategy and SEO efforts, I’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in how information is presented for search. We began moving beyond traditional SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) in late 2023. ChatGPT’s launch three years ago shifted the web from a search economy to an answer economy. At first, it felt like a challenge to Google’s dominance. (The number I’ve seen most often is that Google owns about 90% of the search market.) Last year, I asked myself whether “Google it” would still be a verb in 10 years. Now, after seeing Google’s AI Mode in action, I think the answer is yes, but not in the way we’re used to. The traditional cluttered Google search results page is being replaced by an AI-first interface. If your content isn’t structured, factual, and optimized for AI engines, you risk becoming invisible. The future isn’t just about ranking first. It’s about being the trusted source the AI quotes. No clicks. No CTRs. Just answers. Welcome to the next era of search. #SEO #GEO #AIEO #AIsearch #DigitalStrategy #ContentMarketing #GenerativeAI #SearchRevolution #DigitalMarketing #Marketing

In an unsurprising move, Google is putting generative AI at the center of its most valuable real estate. The company is redesigning its homepage to feature “AI Overviews,” a mode that uses Gemini to synthesize information directly on the results page. For users, this means fewer blue links, more summarized answers, and the beginning of the transition from search engine to answer engine. The new feature, though not widely available yet, appears directly beneath the Google search bar beside the “Google Search” button, replacing the iconic “I’m Feeling Lucky” widget. But the real story isn’t the feature set. It’s the strategy. Channeling their inner Clayton Christensen, Google is embracing the Innovator’s Dilemma: disrupt yourself before someone else does. In this case, Google is cannibalizing its own search ad model (still the company’s financial backbone) to protect long-term dominance in AI. The trade-off is clear: less immediate ad revenue per query in exchange for deeper user engagement and a more defensible moat around the future of search. AI Overviews could drastically reduce traffic to websites, particularly publishers, retailers, and content creators who rely on Google referrals. That’s a known risk. However, the existential threat isn’t from content partners. It’s from OpenAI, Perplexity, and every startup aiming to turn AI into the next search interface. The transition from search engine to answer engine is going to be a rough one. But if I had to bet who will ultimately be “Google for AI Search”, I’m going with Google. -s

Google claims AI Overviews are revolutionizing search behavior, with Sundar Pichai boasting about "longer and more complex queries" and increased ecosystem traffic. The data tells a different story. 🔍My analysis of Similarweb data (based on 5+ billion search queries) reveals Google's claims are partially true but significantly oversimplified. Users visit Google US more frequently (+9%) but spend less time per visit - the digital equivalent of speed dating rather than deep engagement. The most revealing metric? Query length barely changed - growing from 3.27 to 3.37 words over two years in the US. That's a mere 3% increase, hardly the revolutionary shift Google describes. ⚖️Regional differences expose further contradictions. While US visits increased post-launch, UK metrics remained flat despite identical technology. AI Overviews are creating a "quick answer" behavior pattern rather than deeper search engagement. This matters because it challenges the narrative that AI Overviews represent a revolutionary enhancement. They're actually transforming interaction patterns in ways Google hasn't acknowledged. 💡For marketers and SEOs: The new reality is "visit more, stay less." Users are becoming increasingly selective about clicking through, making the quality of each site visit more critical than ever. 👉🏻Full analysis (charts, details, takeaways): https://lnkd.in/dX73DiTy

How AI will impact your specific job depends on how AI is changing the specific business you are in. Case in point: If you're in digital publishing/online media/content marketing, you need to read this. The Wall Street Journal just published some of the implications of Google's move to AI results - answering questions directly instead of sending people to websites. The result? Traffic to major news sites is collapsing. HuffPost lost over half their search traffic in three years. Business Insider's traffic dropped 55% and they just cut 21% of their staff. The Atlantic's CEO told his team to assume Google traffic will hit zero and plan accordingly. This goes beyond news sites. Google's AI Overviews now appear at the top of searches for vacation guides, health tips, and product reviews. AI Mode gives you conversational answers with barely any links to click. This is the way things are going. Think about your own behavior. When was the last time you clicked past the first result on Google? Now imagine that first result is a complete AI-generated answer. Why would you click anywhere else? The Washington Post's CEO put it perfectly: "Google is shifting from being a search engine to an answer engine." ++++++++++++++++++++ Three lessons for anyone whose business depends on online traffic: FIRST: Stop waiting for this to blow over. The Atlantic is working on building a stronger app, investing in live events, and focusing on direct subscriber relationships. Business Insider is emphasizing audience engagement over search optimization. SECOND: If your current strategy is "create content and hope Google sends people to it," you need a new strategy. These companies are learning to connect with audiences directly through newsletters, conferences, and improved user experiences. THIRD: This is bigger than just media companies. Any business that relies on organic search traffic - from local service providers to e-commerce sites - needs to think about what happens when AI answers questions without sending people to your website. You need to start adapting, now. (An idea on how, below.) Huge thanks to The Wall Street Journal's Isabella Simonetti and Katherine Blunt for the great article! +++++++++++++++++ UPSKILL YOUR ORGANIZATION: When your organization is ready to create an AI-powered culture—not just add tools—AI Mindset would love to help. We drive behavioral transformation at scale through a powerful new digital course and enterprise partnership. DM me, or check out our website.

Last week, I presented some of our thoughts on AI search to a venture portfolio. Given the interest in the topic, I’m going to be sharing some insights over the next few days as part of an AI Optimization Series, where I’ll break down how LLMs work and strategies for adapting to AI-driven search. In this first post, I’m going to talk about how big AI search really is and where it fits into a marketing strategy. Here are some insights I go over in the video about what I’ve observed across top AI search platforms: 1/ AI product growth and the shift to Answer Engines > From the data I’ve tracked, AI search is a small but rapidly expanding share of total search traffic. ChatGPT is the dominant player right now, with around 400M active users, but we’re seeing a lot of fragmentation. New entrants are growing very quickly (eg. Deepseek and Grok hitting #1 in the AppStore) > We are seeing a convergence to the Answer Engine pattern. LLMs are adding search, and Search Engines are adding content generation. > Google just launched AI Mode following the lead of Bing and other smaller engines. AI Overviews are getting rolled out aggressively and replacing traditional featured snippets, and more users rely on AI-generated summaries instead of clicking multiple links. 2/ Referral traffic and sign-ups from Answer Engines are growing rapidly: > Many companies have started to track referral traffic from AI platforms, but that only tells part of the story. The bigger shift is that users complete their entire search journey within AI search engines, asking multiple follow-up questions and making decisions, so they might never click through to your site. > We’ve built a simple dashboard that plugs into Google Analytics to measure traffic and conversions from these Answer Engines. Some of the data that Mercury and Vercel shared shows ~5% of conversions coming from AI traffic, which doesn’t sound huge but is growing quickly. 3/ We might need new ways to measure impact. > Traditional SEO tends to rely on top-of-funnel traffic volumes, but in AI search, a lot of that happens behind the scenes. We might see fewer “research” clicks and more direct or bottom-of-funnel sessions. > We’ll need to focus on conversions and user journeys instead of just raw traffic. Users might discover a brand entirely within an LLM conversation, skip the usual research phase, and show up directly when they’re ready to buy. In the next post, I’ll go into more detail on how AI is changing the way people find information and ways to optimize for it. If that’s something you’re interested in, you can follow along for updates.

A lot to unpack from Google's Q4 Earnings call. Two big revelations: • Google is investing more than $75 billion in AI this year. • Search revenue rose 12.5% to $54.03 billion despite AI Overviews. This quote in the Reuters article stands out to me: "Pichai said that AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries for search queries displayed above Google's traditional links to the Web, had increased search usage. The monetization rate on ads for AI Overviews, introduced last October, was approximately the same compared to traditional search ads, chief business officer Philipp Schindler said." It's not surprising that Google continues to increase its investment in AI. The company sees global opportunities to reinforce its moat, stay ahead in the market, and fortify itself as a new market emerges. The ad revenue numbers surprise me. We all speculated that Google would delay implementing AI Overviews not because of a low-quality product but because of the impact it would have on ad revenue. It now makes sense why they've been so aggressive in evolving the SERPs with AI features. Two ongoing considerations for Google that SEOs and Conversational Search Specialists need to consider: 1. AI-organized searches are going to take over the SERPs completely. It might happen by the end of this year. Econ, Local, and informational searches will all be bucketed and expanded beyond the primary search. 2. Google announced they were working on 20 AI products a couple of years ago when they announced Bard at Google I/O. We're starting to see those rolled out: Notebook LLM, Gemini, Deep Research, Learning tools, Project Astra, and AI in Google Workspace, among others. Google's AI products will be the standard of quality and will dominate market share. There will be competitors, and they won't dominate the AI market like they have with search. However, they will be the leaders, and I'm skeptical that they will ultimately be overtaken.

📉 AI Overviews are killing clicks — new study confirms it. Last week, Ahrefs just dropped a bombshell analysis: After reviewing 300,000 informational keywords, they found that the introduction of Google’s AI Overviews led to a 34.5% drop in clickthrough rates (CTR) for top-ranking pages. Here’s what they found: • Average CTR for position #1 on informational queries dropped from 5.6% to 2.6% when AI Overviews were present • That’s a 34.5% decrease in clicks for top-ranking pages • Even when pages are cited in the Overview, they’re competing with multiple other links, reducing the chance of earning traffic Despite Google’s claim that AI Overviews increase clicks when links are included, there’s still no way to isolate these metrics in Search Console. We’re flying blind. This shift feels very similar to what happened with Featured Snippets — except broader, more opaque, and more disruptive. If your content strategy still treats position #1 as a guaranteed click magnet, it may be time to rethink how you measure success. If your business depends on organic search, now is the time to reassess your visibility, rethink attribution, and diversify your traffic sources. SEO isn’t dead — but the SERP is getting a lot more crowded (and a lot less clickable). Kudos to Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan at Ahrefs for digging into this. Worth a read for anyone watching the SERP evolve. Read the full Ahrefs study here: link in comments