I’ve been watching the biggest marketing heist in history unfold in real time.
While you’ve been optimising for Google’s blue links, AI search engines have been quietly stealing your traffic. The numbers are brutal.
Gartner predicts search engine traffic will drop 25% by 2026. That’s not a dip. That’s a marketing apocalypse.
Business Insider lost 55% of their traffic between 2022 and 2025. The New York Times saw their organic search share drop from 44% to 36.5% in just three years.
Your SEO strategy just became an expensive wallpaper…
The $200 Billion Power Grab
Google generated nearly $200 billion from Search in 2024. Now their own executives admit it’s “inevitable” that Search will lose traffic to AI.
Think about that for a second.
The company that built the internet’s biggest traffic machine is telling you their own product is about to get disrupted.
ChatGPT exploded 800% in growth and now dominates 86.32% of the AI chatbot market with 55.2 billion visits.
This isn’t coming. It’s here.
AI Overviews now trigger on 13.14% of all queries, up 102% in just two months. Zero-click searches are becoming the norm, not the exception.
The Winners Are Already Playing a Different Game
While most brands panic about lost clicks, smart companies are winning big in this new world.
Expedia integrated with OpenAI’s Operator and Microsoft’s Copilot Plus. They’re letting users send Instagram Reels directly to their platform for instant travel planning.
Rocky Brands revamped their content using AI SEO tools and saw a 30% increase in search revenue with 74% year-over-year growth.
JD Sports partnered with Algolia for AI-driven search services, expecting conversion rate increases between 3% to 23%.
These brands aren’t fighting the change. They’re riding the wave.
The New Category Nobody Saw Coming
Companies like Profound are already capitalising on this shift. They raised $20 million from Kleiner Perkins, Nvidia, and Khosla Ventures, reaching a valuation of over $100 million.
Their client Ramp used AI search optimisation to become the 5th most visible fintech brand globally in weeks.
Traditional SEO agencies are scrambling to catch up while specialised AI search optimisation firms eat their lunch.
The rules changed. Most players are still using the old playbook.
What Smart Brands Do Differently
I’ve analysed the winners, and they all follow similar patterns.
1) First, they optimise for AI summaries instead of traditional rankings. They structure content with clear headings, concise answers, and data that AI can easily digest.
2) Second, they diversify beyond search. Social media, podcasts, newsletters, and direct channels become primary traffic sources.
3) Third, they build brand authority in their specific domains. AI engines favour trusted sources when generating responses.
4) Fourth, they monitor AI trends obsessively. They know which platforms are gaining traction and adjust their strategies accordingly.
The difference between winners and losers comes down to adaptation speed.
Your Move
The brands winning in AI search started preparing months ago. They saw the data, recognised the pattern, and pivoted their strategies.
You can keep optimising for yesterday’s game while your traffic disappears.
Or you can start playing by tomorrow’s rules today.
The choice is yours. But the window for easy wins is closing fast.
Smart money is already moving. The question is whether you’ll be part of the next wave of winners or another casualty of the biggest marketing shift in decades.
Time to decide which side of history you want to be on.
Reference
Gartner. (2024, March 4). Gartner predicts search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 due to AI chatbots and other virtual agents. Slashdot. https://search.slashdot.org/story/24/03/04/170221/gartner-predicts-search-engine-volume-will-drop-25-by-2026-due-to-ai-chatbots-and-other-virtual-agents(search.slashdot.org)
Simonetti, I., & Blunt, K. (2025, June 10). Google’s new AI tools are crushing news sites. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/google-ai-news-publishers-7e687141(wsj.com)
Goodwin, D. (2025, May 6). Google AI Overviews now show on 13% of searches: Study. Search Engine Land. https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-13-searches-455057(searchengineland.com)
Alphabet Inc. (2025, February 4). Alphabet announces fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 results. https://abc.xyz/assets/a3/91/6d1950c148fa84c7d699abe05284/2024q4-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf(abc.xyz)
Business of Apps. (2025, May). ChatGPT revenue and usage statistics (2025). https://www.businessofapps.com/data/chatgpt-statistics/(businessofapps.com)
Expedia Group. (2025, May 19). Expedia Group unveils GenAI features transforming travel discovery. eHotelier. https://insights.ehotelier.com/global-news/2025/05/19/expedia-group-unveils-genai-features-transforming-travel-discovery/(insights.ehotelier.com)
BrightEdge. (n.d.). Rocky Brands SEO and content case study. https://www.brightedge.com/resources/case-studies/rocky-brands(brightedge.com)
Susin, M. (2024, June 3). JD Sports bets on AI to boost online sales. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/jd-sports-bets-on-ai-to-boost-online-sales-34c4ae94(wsj.com)
Axios. (2025, May 14). Profound raises $20 million to help brands optimize for AI search. https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pro-rata-f84acf89-55d1-40a5-9e9b-21dd8a75823c
ResultFirst. (2025, May). 5 AI SEO case studies to scale your organic traffic. https://www.resultfirst.com/blog/ai-seo/5-ai-seo-case-studies-to-scale-your-organic-traffic/(resultfirst.com)
