The question “Is Google being replaced by AI?” is going beyond a hypothetical debate and becoming a pressing reality for businesses and marketers everywhere. The two leading titans in search and information discovery are no longer Google and Bing; it’s Google’s traditional search and the new era of AI-powered conversational search.
With AI Overviews and chatbots providing instant, synthesised answers, the way users find information is undergoing a profound transformation. As a leading digital marketing agency in Ahmedabad, we believe understanding this shift is crucial for anyone looking to stay ahead.
Table of contents
- AI chat models vs Google, quick overview
- AI Overviews: The Numbers Behind the Trend
- The New Search Landscape: Instant Answers, Zero Clicks
- Impact on Seo and strategy
- The changing yet never ending job of SEO
- Final Thoughts
- FAQs
AI chat models vs Google, quick overview
Google remains the dominant search infrastructure, with real-time indexing, local intent, and an enormous ecosystem. However, AI chat models and Google’s own generative features (AI Overviews / SGE) are altering first-screen behaviour. The net result is not a clean replacement but a hybrid discovery landscape where single-answer experiences can reduce clicks, and “being cited” becomes as valuable as “ranking.” For many queries, especially informational ones, users increasingly expect summarised, conversational answers before they decide to click.
Credits: Semrush
AI Overviews: The Numbers Behind the Trend
A comprehensive Semrush study on AI Overviews, based on an analysis of over 10 million keywords, reveals the speed and scope of this transformation.
- Rapid Growth: In just a few months, the percentage of queries triggering an AI Overview nearly doubled, from 6.49% in January 2025 to 13.14% in March 2025. This indicates Google’s increasing reliance on AI-generated summaries.
- Informational Content is King: The study found that 88.1% of queries triggering an AI Overview were informational, demonstrating that Google is confident in using AI for knowledge-based searches.
- Zero-Click Complexity: While keywords with AI Overviews tend to have higher zero-click rates, a detailed analysis showed a slight decline in zero-click behavior after an AI Overview was introduced. This suggests a more complex relationship than a simple one-to-one replacement of clicks.
- Industry Impact: Industries like Science, Health, and People & Society have seen the largest share growth of AI Overviews, while categories with real-time or commercial intent, such as News, Sports, and Shopping, have seen slower adoption.
Credits: Semrush
Zero Click searches: Instant Answers, Zero Clicks
The days of receiving a list of “ten blue links” are giving way to a new model of discovery. AI-powered tools are now providing users with direct, summarised answers to their queries. This shift has accelerated the trend of zero-click searches, where a user’s query is answered directly on the search results page, eliminating the need to visit a website. For businesses, this means that simply ranking #1 for a keyword is no longer a guarantee of traffic. The new goal is to have your brand’s content be the trusted source that an AI pulls from.
| Feature | Traditional Search | AI-Powered Search |
|---|---|---|
| User Intent | Finding links to relevant pages | Getting a direct, synthesised answer |
| Output | A list of blue links | A summarised, conversational response |
| User Action | Clicking a link to a website | Often results in a “zero-click” search |
| Business Goal | Ranking for specific keywords | Being cited as a credible source |
Impact on SEO and content strategy
From SEO to AEO: What changes
A new term has entered the lexicon: Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) or the practice of optimising content so it is readily consumable by AI summarisation layers and chat engines. Business Insider and multiple industry roundups note that AEO emphasises clear, structured answers, machine-readable data, and topic clusters rather than keyword density.
Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking higher in search results, AEO prioritises conversational, answer-first content that is structured and authoritative. As AI search tools continue to reduce click-throughs from traditional SERPs, businesses that adapt to AEO early will have an advantage in staying visible and relevant
AEO vs SEO: Key Differences
| SEO | AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Platform | Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo | AI-driven answer platforms |
| Goal | Rank higher on SERPs | Appear as cited answer in AI tools |
| Content Style | Keyword and ranking-focused | Conversational, answer-first, structured |
| Metrics | Rankings, impressions, clicks | Mentions, citations, answer placement |
Source: seo.com
Content format and structure
Key Changes:
- Write for extractability: short, clear explanations, bulleted lists, and TL;DR summaries near the top of articles, plus explicit Q&A blocks.
- Schema and structured data: markup your FAQs, HowTos, product data, and local business info so both search engines and chat models can reliably parse and cite it.
- Authority signals: citations, primary data, and transparent sourcing increase the likelihood that an AI system will cite your content rather than a competitor’s. Semrush’s analysis shows AI Overviews often pull from multiple pages, so being one of several high-quality, authoritative sources helps.
Source: Semrush
The Changing yet Never-ending Role of SEO
This new landscape doesn’t mean SEO is dead; it means it’s evolving. The old rules of keyword stuffing and link-building are being replaced by a focus on high-quality, authoritative content. The new metrics for success are not just organic traffic and keyword rankings, but rather brand mentions and being cited within AI-generated summaries.
To succeed, content must align with Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) framework more than ever before. If we see from the perspective of a digital marketing agency in Ahmedabad, this means advising clients to produce content that is not only well-written but also demonstrates genuine expertise and credibility. This is the only way to become a source that AI models will trust and reference
Final Thoughts
As answer engines reshape how users find information, success demands original content with genuine SEO expertise, technical excellence, diversified distribution strategies, and video integration. The old paradigm of SEO backed ranking is giving way to a new one where credibility, authority, and being the direct source of information are a must. From the viewpoint of a leading SEO Agency in Ahmedabad, we believe that embracing this change and adapting your content strategy is the key to thriving in the new era of search.
FAQs
The founder and partner of Flora Fountain, Shefali leads the Content and Technology divisions. A one-time engineer who started her career writing front-end code, she took a detour sometime during her 9 years in New York, studied journalism and started writing prose, poetry and sometimes jokes. She now has 15...