At the moment of rapid development of technology, the AI boom is sweeping the entire Internet industry with an unstoppable momentum, profoundly rewriting the traffic logic. For a long time, Google Search has occupied an absolute dominant position in the field of Internet traffic, and many companies rely on its strong drainage capabilities to acquire users and support their own business development. However, this solid pattern is now facing unprecedented challenges.
1. Market analysis: a new pattern of search and traffic under the impact of AI
With the strong rise of AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity, more and more users’ habits of accessing information have fundamentally shifted. According to Barron’s, people are using AI tools more and more frequently, even using Google’s own “AI Overview” feature to get the information they need. This change in behavior has directly led to a sharp decrease in visits to various websites such as travel, information and news. The traffic of information platforms has also declined sharply, which has caused many websites that rely on Google’s ecosystem to fall into a traffic crisis, and their revenue has declined, and some companies have even had to take measures such as layoffs to cope with the predicament.
Image source: Statcounter Analysis
Google is also under pressure in terms of search engine market share. According to the latest statistics from Statcounter, Google’s market share was 89.34%, 89.99%, and 89.73% respectively in the last three months of 2024, which is the first time since 2015 that Google’s market share has failed to maintain above 90%, signaling that its absolute dominance in the search field is beginning to loosen, and emerging AI search tools are quietly eating away at its market share.
2. Problem analysis: The dilemma faced by Google and its ecological websites
For Google, although the direct impact in the short term is relatively limited due to its heavy investment in AI technology, in the long run, the core position of its traditional search business is threatened.
The AI-powered search model is fundamentally different from Google’s traditional search method based on keyword matching and page indexing. While traditional search is difficult to accurately understand users’ vague needs, AI search can better capture user intent through natural language processing and machine learning technology, providing concise and clear answers directly, greatly improving the efficiency of user information acquisition. This requires Google to continuously optimize its AI search technology to meet users’ growing demand for efficient and accurate information acquisition, otherwise it will face the risk of further user churn.
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For websites that rely on Google’s ecosystem, the problem is even more serious.
These sites have long been built on the business model of Google search traffic, with advertising revenue being their main source of revenue. When Google Search brings in a significant decrease in traffic, the value of its ad space decreases, leading to a sharp decline in revenue. Taking news websites as an example, many small and medium-sized news websites are facing an existential crisis due to the fact that users directly access news summaries and key information through AI platforms, reducing their access to news websites, resulting in a significant drop in website ad impressions and click-through rates. At the same time, these websites often lack sufficient technology and capital investment to transform in response to the impact of AI, making it difficult to quickly establish their own AI service capabilities or develop new traffic channels, and are gradually at a disadvantage in the fierce market competition.
3. Theoretical analysis: analyze the change from the perspective of user behavior and business model
From the perspective of user behavior theory, people always pursue efficiency and convenience in the process of obtaining information.
The emergence of AI platforms meets this need, which can quickly and accurately understand user questions and provide targeted answers through natural language interaction, and this instant feedback model greatly improves the user experience. Compared to traditional Google search, users do not need to filter and sift among numerous search results, saving a lot of time and effort.
According to the “usability principle” in user experience theory, AI search performs better in improving the efficiency of information acquisition, so it is easier to gain the favor of users, thereby changing users’ information acquisition behavior.
In terms of business model, in the traditional Internet business model, Google, as the core hub of traffic distribution, achieves profitability through search advertising, while websites that rely on its ecosystem obtain revenue by obtaining Google traffic and displaying advertisements.
However, the rise of AI has disrupted this traditional model. AI search’s “Q1, 1” model has eliminated the need for users to click on external links, which has had a huge impact on the traditional bid position advertising model. From the perspective of value creation and delivery of business models, AI platforms are reshaping the way information value is created and delivered, and enterprises need to rethink how to create value, acquire users and achieve profitability in new models, otherwise they will be eliminated by the market.
4. Practical analysis: Strategies and cases of enterprises responding to AI changes
In the face of the great changes brought about by AI, some companies have begun to actively explore coping strategies and achieved certain results. Some large enterprises choose to build their own AI platforms, using their own technology and data advantages to provide users with personalized AI services, Tmall and JD.com have launched AI-based intelligent shopping assistants, which can accurately recommend products and answer users’ questions about products according to users’ browsing history and preferences, which not only improves the user’s shopping experience, but also improves the user’s purchase conversion rate, and alleviates the impact of AI platforms on traditional traffic channels to a certain extent.
Some businesses choose to meet challenges through collaboration. Some content creation platforms partner with AI technology companies to incorporate AI technology into their content creation and recommendation processes. AI technology helps platforms better understand user needs, recommend high-quality content that meets user interests, and attract users to stay on the platform, while content creators can also use AI tools to improve creative efficiency and quality. Through cooperation, the two parties have achieved complementary advantages and jointly explored new business models and profit growth points in the AI era.
In addition, exploring revenue diversification paths is also an important strategy for enterprises to cope with the traffic crisis. Some information websites have begun to try to launch paid membership services, providing members with value-added services such as exclusive in-depth reporting, ad-free reading experience, and personalized information push. In this way, the website can not only make up for the loss of advertising revenue due to reduced traffic, but also enhance user stickiness and cultivate a loyal user base.
5. Future analysis: The development trend of the AI+ industry is becoming more and more obvious
Image source: MoonFox MoonFox Data: 2025 AI Search Development Insight Report
Looking ahead, AI will undoubtedly play a more important role in the Internet field, becoming the “new home page of the Internet” trend is becoming more and more obvious. As AI technology continues to evolve, its advantages in information access will be further expanded. On the one hand, AI search tools will be more intelligent and able to handle more complex user questions and provide more accurate and comprehensive answers. In professional fields such as medicine and finance, AI will be able to provide users with professional advice and solutions to meet their needs for high-quality information in these fields.
On the other hand, AI will be deeply integrated with multimodal technology, allowing users to not only interact with AI through text but also obtain information through voice, images, videos, and other methods. This will greatly expand the ways and channels of information acquisition and further change users’ Internet habits. For enterprises, they need to embrace AI technology more actively and integrate it into product development, marketing promotion, customer service and other aspects. The future competition of enterprises will not only be the competition of products and services, but also the competition of AI technology application capabilities. Companies that can take the lead in using AI technology to enhance user experience and innovate business models will have an advantageous position in future market competition.
6. Summary
The current AI boom is profoundly rewriting the industry trend of the Internet, and the wavering position of Google Search is just a microcosm of this change. This change has brought great challenges to websites that rely on Google’s ecosystem, but it has also brought new opportunities to the entire Internet industry.
Through analysis from multiple perspectives such as market, problem, theory, practice and future, we clearly see that enterprises can only maintain competitiveness in the rapidly evolving Internet era by actively exploring strategies such as building their own AI platforms, mining AI scenarios, AI enterprise cooperation, and diversified exploration.
In the future, with the continuous advancement of AI technology, the Internet traffic pattern will be further reshaped, and enterprises need to keep up with technological development trends, constantly innovate and adjust their strategies to adapt to this new era of AI full of changes!
