How Google’s New AI Mode Could ‘Devastate’ Web Traffic & SEO
If, like 90% of search engine users, you use Google to navigate the internet, you will have noticed the presence of the ‘AI Overview’ feature in the past year.
AI Overview often appears as the top result following a Google search and comes in the form of one or two paragraphs of information, pulling from multiple sources to give users fast access to the information they need.
The US-based tech heavyweight first introduced these AI summaries to its searches in 2024, since which point they have become more and more prominent, appearing after most searches.
And despite some embarrassing cases of AI Overview delivering inaccurate information or ‘hallucinating’ entirely, the rollout of the feature has been largely successful.
This success has led Google to launch AI Mode, the logical successor to AI Overview.
In May, the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced the new technology at Google I/O, where he said: “For those who want an end-to-end AI Search experience, we are introducing an all-new AI Mode.
"It's a total reimagining of Search."
What is Google’s AI Mode?
Unlike traditional search results that provide links to websites, AI Mode creates mini articles that answer the questions of users directly.
Essentially, AI Mode can circumvent the need to visit external websites altogether.
Whilst AI Mode is an extension of the capabilities of AI Overview, it is separate from the traditional Google search bar. Users need to click whether they want to enter AI Mode before they search anything.
It functions similarly to chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, giving users detailed responses to fairly complex questions — much more so than traditional Google searches.
Whilst Google’s AI model itself is not particularly revolutionary, the fact that it is made by the company that has a near monopoly on search engines makes it likely that it will receive a great deal of use.
In fact, it could fundamentally change how people find information online, with Google’s Head of Search Liz Reid calling it “the future of Google Search”.
Why experts are so concerned
Despite all the fanfare, experts are warning that Google’s AI Mode could destabilise businesses that rely on web traffic.
"If Google makes AI Mode the default in its current form, it's going to have a devastating impact on the internet,” says Lily Ray, Vice President of SEO Strategy & Research at Amsive.
“It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivise content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more.”
Data analysis reveals the scale of the potential problem facing web publishers.
Multiple studies have found that AI Overviews, Google's existing AI feature, reduce website traffic by between 30% and 70%, depending on search terms.
Some 60% of Google searches are now “zero-click”, meaning users never visit a single website.
Barry Adams, Founder of SEO firm Polemic Digital, believes that this trend will only intensify as AI Mode becomes more widely used.
“I expect that the amount of clicks that go from Google's AI Mode to the web will be about half, and that's in the optimistic scenario,” he explains.
“It could be the difference between having a viable publishing business and going bankrupt.”
Google's defence
The furore and backlash has led Google’s team to come out in defence of its AI tools, with many insisting that the firm’s AI features will actually benefit the web ecosystem.
“If anything over the last year, it’s clear to us the breadth of where we are sending people to is increasing. I expect that to be true with AI Mode as well,” says Sundar.
“From our point of view, the web is thriving,” says Nick Fox, Google's Senior Vice President of Knowledge and Information.
“There's probably no company that cares more about the health and the future of the web than Google.”
The short-term impact
The effects are already visible for some businesses.
Gisele Navarro, Managing Editor of HouseFresh, a site that reviews air quality products, has seen some worrying trends in her site’s figures recently.
“A few weeks ago, we noticed a spike,” she says, referring to the number of times HouseFresh appears in Google Search results.
“But at the same time, clicks are trending down. So Google is showing our links more often, but no one clicks. It correlates with AI Overviews.”
According to data analysis firm BrightEdge, AI Overviews have caused impressions to rise 49% across the web, but clicks have fallen 30%.
The long-term impact
The shift towards AI-driven search could fundamentally alter how people interact with information online.
Critics worry about the loss of serendipitous discoveries and the ability to stumble upon unexpected things while browsing the web.
“It's like asking a librarian for a book, but they just tell you about the book instead,” Gisele says.
“This feeling of the web being a big library for all of us, I think that is gone.”
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