For years, search acted like the front door to the open web and the center of gravity for digital budgets. Marketers could capture intent, earn clicks, and optimize around relatively straightforward cause and effect. That model is now being re-shaped as conversational AI turns “search” into an instant answer, not a sequence of visits.
Marketers aren’t guessing about the direction. Nearly two-thirds of worldwide marketers (64%) say reduced use of traditional search engines will be the biggest AI-driven shift affecting digital advertising in the next few years. And consumer behavior is already shifting: Daily AI search usage in the U.S. more than doubled from 14% in February 2025 to 29.2% in August 2025.
Even without AI Overviews fully in play, traditional search has shown cracks. Google search clickthrough rates declined for both paid (down 3.6 points) and organic (down 1.2 points) results from October 2024 to September 2025, suggesting a broader momentum toward faster answers and fewer steps.