By Keith Kakadia, founder and CEO, Sociallyin
I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and the old search playbook was simple. Rank on Google. Win the click. Count the traffic. Repeat.
That playbook is done.
Not because Google is going anywhere. It isn’t. As of July 2026, it still holds 91.31% of the worldwide search market. It slipped under 90% for a moment back in March 2025, the first time that had happened in over a decade, but let’s be honest, it’s still the biggest game in town by a mile.
Here’s the number that actually matters. More than half of Google searches (50.33%) now end without a single click to anyone’s website. People get their answer right there on the results page, from a snippet or an AI Overview, and move on. Half the time, the trip is over before it ever reaches your site.
Then there’s the new stuff. Traffic to ChatGPT and Perplexity jumped 225% between 2024 and 2025. Their slice of total search is still tiny, up from 0.04% to 0.13%, so it’s easy to wave off. Don’t. The behavior is moving way faster than the market share.
Look at what people are actually doing. 42% of US adults now use AI chatbots to search for things, and that’s the number one reason they use them. Overall chatbot use rose from 33% of adults in 2024 to 49% this year. 44% say they use ChatGPT. And 60% read those AI summaries sitting at the top of a normal search.
People are learning a new way to look things up. And they like it.
So the customer journey isn’t a straight line anymore. Someone finds you inside an AI answer. Watches a couple of your videos. Reads a few reviews. Then type your name into Google to confirm what they already figured out. Your brand has to show up at every one of those stops, including all the ones where nobody clicks through to your site.
So what do you actually do about it?
Don’t ditch Google. It’s still the biggest front door on the internet, and pulling budget out of it would be dumb. Just stop treating it like the only door.
Answer the real questions your customers ask before they buy, and answer them near the top in plain language. Google and AI tools both reward information that they can understand fast.
Get comfortable with being seen without being clicked. Your name in an AI answer today can close a sale next week.
Show up where people actually research now. This is the same thing I tell our clients about social search: Reddit and YouTube are what the AI answers pull from. Turn your best content into LinkedIn posts, short videos and YouTube explainers, and be findable wherever the question gets asked.
Give the machines a reason to trust you. Named experts, real customer reviews, original research, mentions in outlets people respect. AI and search both want proof before they’ll put your name forward.
And stop grading yourself on traffic alone. Branded searches, direct visits, social discovery, media mentions, assisted conversions, and the questions prospects bring into sales calls. That’s the real scoreboard now.
Here’s the thing. People don’t have to fully trust AI to start searching with it. If it makes finding an answer easier, they’ll use it. The only question that matters is whether you show up when they do.
