Over the past year, something unprecedented has occurred: Google now accounts for “only” 89% of search traffic. Yes, that’s still an overwhelming majority, but it’s still a pretty big deal. Until 2024, Google’s domination of the web had continued to grow year after year. The last time they controlled less than 90% of searches was nearly a decade ago, in 2015.
This trend is significant for two reasons:
- Google is not losing to another search engine; it’s losing to artificial intelligence.
- The generative AI we have now is only going to improve.
These changes are only going to become more pronounced over time. If you rely on organic search to bring traffic and sales to your website, the time to prepare for this sea change is now.
One feature of AI search that users enjoy is no-click discovery. If you have a simple question with a straightforward answer, you don’t need to click through to any web pages. So some traffic will inevitably be lost. However, AI engines do provide sources for further reading. Sites that can gain authority as AI training sources can win new traffic through these clicks, while also playing an outsized role in training the engines that their customers use to learn.
The emerging practice of optimizing your content for AI engines has been referred to by a few different names, such as AIO (artificial intelligence optimization) and CAI (conversational AI optimization. The consensus is settling around the acronym AEO (answer engine optimization). However, the mere fact that the terminology is still being defined shows just how early in the game we are. Forward-thinking entrepreneurs and marketers have a rare and golden opportunity to win first-mover advantage by acting quickly.
The Evolution of Internet Discovery
The internet has undergone similar changes in terms of how users discover new websites and information. Considering this history can provide valuable context and insight to the present moment.
The Internet Before Google
In the earliest days of the web, users had to know either the exact URL of the sites they wanted to visit or find an appropriate hyperlink.
This led to the development of directories: websites that essentially functioned as the “yellow pages of the internet,” providing recommendations and links to various sites. Yahoo dominated in this era.
Alongside those directories, rudimentary search engines also gained some popularity. However, the early ones just weren’t that good. They used very simple algorithms that often failed to find the high-quality pages users wanted. For example, you could manipulate those engines by “keyword stuffing” and overtake a high-quality website in the rankings simply with low-effort repetition of the search terms users were inputting.
Yahoo saw the slow rise of search engines and added this option to their page, but still prioritized the directory model. If you had to choose between a finely curated list of websites or a random assortment of keyword-stuffed nonsense, wouldn’t you stick with the former?
The Search Engine Era
Google saw things differently, though. They developed more sophisticated algorithms that measured factors beyond just keyword density. For example, they decided that if other websites were linking to you, that was a vote of confidence that you were providing quality information that users might want to read. So they started favoring sites with a lot of inbound links from external sources.
Eventually, they improved upon this by assigning different weights to links based on their origin, such that a link from a source like The New York Times would be more valuable than one from a random blog that launched last week. In the decades since, Google has made dozens of other algorithm updates, each designed to identify and promote the highest-quality, most relevant websites for every search.
How AI is Disrupting Google
The launch of ChatGPT 3 in November 2022 sparked the slow, steady movement away from Google that we’re seeing now. No-click discoverability, increased personalization, and the conversational nature of generative AI are all reasons why more users are opting to bypass search engines altogether.
Google, determined to avoid the fate of Yahoo, immediately began pushing its own AI engine as the top result for most searches. So, even the “89% of traffic” statistic undersells how much AI has disrupted search engines, because a significant portion of Google’s traffic is now driven by artificial intelligence.
Turning the AI Revolution into Opportunity
Like it or not, this change appears inevitable. Again, the AI we have now is the worst AI we’re ever going to have for the rest of our lives. Adapting to this change is the best strategy for remaining relevant and snatching up as much of this new AI-driven traffic as possible.
We are still in the early days of AEO. We don’t know everything, and many things are changing rapidly. However, there are a few key principles to be aware of as you manage your website in 2025.
Speed and Responsiveness
AI crawlers are less patient and thorough than search engine crawlers. A site that renders slowly or offers poor responsiveness will be penalized by Google due to a lackluster user experience. That same site might not get indexed by ChatGPT.
To counter this, ensure that you test the speed and functionality of your website using tools like PageSpeed Insights. It’s also a good idea to look for site-wide solutions that can drive improvement of these issues. For example, WordPress users should consider adding plugins like WP Rocket and LiteSpeed Cache to deliver a faster UX for both humans and bots efficiently.
Structured Data for WordPress
Another attribute of AI crawlers is that they take more cues from the structured data of your website. Adding JSON-LD code to your site to tag items, such as blogs, FAQs, product listings, and snippets, improves the odds that search engines will utilize those assets when answering questions or providing recommendations.
Rank Math, Schema Pro, and Yoast are popular tools that can help you add this structured data efficiently. All of these tools offer WordPress plugins, and similar options are available for other platforms, such as Shopify and BigCommerce.
The Importance of Experimentation and Tracking
AEO analytics are still immature. While SEO work benefits from an abundance of tools, strategies, and thought leaders, AI optimization is all about flexibility and continuous learning.
Google Analytics is one of the most effective tools available for tracking AI-driven traffic. You can go to Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition and set the parameters to Session Source/Medium. Then, search for various AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity.
However, this method is far from perfect because AI engines don’t always pass identifiable metadata. So you should also pay attention to large spikes in direct traffic where the source is labeled as (not set).
There are other options, such as the Hubspot AI Visibility tool, which are worth trying, but should be approached with caution due to their lack of transparency regarding the evaluation methodology.
Quality and Originality Still Rule
In the tech revolution that saw Google’s search engine model overtake Yahoo’s directory model, one thing remained consistent: both were looking to provide users with the highest-quality information possible. Google has just proven to be better at this, so it won.
AI models ultimately aim to do the same: provide users with the exact answers they’re looking for. If you create content that gives great answers to essential questions, you have a good chance of being featured. If you stay on the cutting edge of your industry and create content around new and original topics, your odds become even better. After all, AI has to train on something, and when you find topics very few people have written about, you have a much higher chance of becoming the default source.
The coming years will undoubtedly see more disruption and innovation. With a forward-thinking approach and a commitment to creating high-quality content, you can be on the winning side of this shake-up.
