AI and Google Search: It’s Hard to Kick the Click Habit
I know a handful of Googlers and ex-Googlers. (My sister is one of them.) I live 5 miles from the Googleplex in Mountain View. Their multi-colored bicycles are scattered all over the place. I walk out at the baylands and marvel at the “dragon-scale solar skin” structures they’re building. I compete with their engineers to acquire the best brews at Giant’s Liquors. Google is a very tangible part of life here.
So I feel for them. They’re in a tough spot. Artificial intelligence and search have collided, and Bing owns the moment of impact. It’s easy to speculate on the why. And one hears things.
The reasoning is quite basic. A couple quick googles and you see that search ads account for over 50% of Google’s total revenue, and about 6% of Microsoft’s. Well there you have it.
Because if Google follows Bing, and introduces AI chat on the search engine results page, it’s immediately obvious that paid search clicks will plummet. How can they not? You’ll be interacting with a highly engaging and informative AI “event”, and the need to hunt and click throughout the SERP will evaporate. Well, greatly diminish anyway. Organic search clicks, paid search clicks, accidental paid search clicks (oh yes, they exist) - bye bye. And with them goes revenue.
Then the question becomes, how willing are you to cannibalize your own revenue in order to succeed in the long run? I watched Intuit struggle with this for years, shoveling money and resources into the desktop product lines while the SaaS solutions begged for attention. It’s a natural phenomenon.
I don’t think Google has years, the way Intuit did. Like Intuit, they are the market leader, but switching your search engine is a tad easier than switching your accounting software.
I can imagine the internal turmoil, the anxiety, the sense of urgency. I’m not immune; my livelihood is wrapped up in the demand for clicks. I directly benefit. I’m nervous, but also inspired by the possibilities.
And you can bet Google is, too.
