Why Gen Z Isn’t Googling Anymore

⏱️ 11 min read           

Now, do me a favor if you will and think back. When was the last time you Googled something? Now, ask yourself this: if you're under 30, did you Google it at all? For millions in Gen Z, Google isn't the go-to search tool—it’s just old news. And that’s not just a trend; it’s a crisis coming for the search giant." 
 
A storm is building that’s threatening to dismantle Google’s empire—shifting demographics, aggressive competitors, and an ecosystem of digital advertising on the verge of collapse. Is this the end of search as we know it?" 

Welcome to That's Life, I Swear.  This podcast is about life's happenings in this world that conjure up such words as intriguing, frightening, life-changing, inspiring, and more. I'm Rick Barron your host. 

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Like a mighty redwood that has dominated the forest for generations, Google, stands at a very pivotal moment since its inception. Its massive presence is masking the subtle signs of being in jeopardy at its very roots. While industry observers marvel at its apparent invincibility, multiple forces are converging that could reshape Google’s future more dramatically than any single regulatory challenge. Indeed, the recent antitrust proceedings unveiled by federal prosecutors may ultimately prove less significant than the broader technological and market dynamics now in motion.

Searching methods area rapidly changing. Courtesy of: Amberstudent

A seismic shift is occurring in the digital information landscape. Google’s bedrock search platform faces new challenges from multiple directions. There are three big challenges sure to keep Google’s management up at night:

·       Online shoppers and information seekers are shifting to Google's competitors, taking ad dollars with them

·       The second threat is the rise of “answer engines” like Perplexity

·       The third and most dangerous threat to Google is the degradation of the web ecosystem it shaped and relies on—a challenge largely beyond its control

Let’s break these three issues down.

First, AI-powered solutions are transforming how users search for answers, while emerging social platforms capture the attention of digital users. Meanwhile, the aggressive rise of machine-generated web content threatens to compromise the reliability of traditional search results. 

This said, Google faces a clear and immediate threat: users searching for information or shopping online are turning to competitors, causing ad dollars to follow. 

The writing appears to be on the wall: Consumer behavior is evolving rapidly as internet users embrace alternative platforms for both information discovery and online shopping, prompting advertisers to redistribute their budgets accordingly. Industry analysts paint a stark picture - by 2025, projected figures from eMarketer suggest Google will control less than half of America's search-based advertising revenue, marking a historic downturn in its market dominance.

Meanwhile, TikTok, with less than 4% of U.S. digital ad revenue, shows strong growth potential. According to a Wall Street Journal report, 23% of TikTok users search within 30 seconds of opening the app, contributing to its global daily search volume of three billion.

The second major threat is the rise of “answer engines” like Perplexity, which deliver direct responses to queries. OpenAI has added internet search to ChatGPT, Meta is exploring its own search engine, and AI chatbots—even those without internet access—are increasingly capable and widely adopted. Microsoft and Apple now integrate such tools into their operating systems.

Answer engine Perplexity. Courtesy of Venturebeat

NYU professor Melissa Schilling, states that “Google’s dominance in search seemed unshakable until AI emerged, much like e-commerce challenged Walmart,” She compares it to Microsoft’s failure to recognize the smartphone’s impact, allowing the iPhone to upend consumer computing.

Google is fighting to lead this AI shift, rolling out AI-generated search summaries in the U.S. earlier this year. The company acknowledges these innovations are a response to fierce competition from AI-driven startups and tech giants alike.

The third and most dangerous threat to Google is the degradation of the web ecosystem it helped shape and relies on.

Search quality is declining across the board, partly due to the spread of AI-generated content. This alone poses a serious challenge for Google. However, its response—providing AI-generated summaries that reduce the need to click on links—risks further eroding the web.

As a key driver of internet traffic and revenue, Google sustains much of the web’s content creation. If its traffic dwindles, so will the incentive and resources to produce sites optimized for its search algorithm.

The dynamics at play reflect a delicate ecological balance. Google has historically functioned as a critical traffic distributor, channeling visitors (and by extension, revenue) across the internet's vast network of sites. As these direct-answer features reduce click-through rates, content creators may find diminishing returns on their investment in creating high-quality, 
 search-optimized content - potentially triggering a downward spiral in web content quality.

Industry leaders are already sounding alarm bells about this shifting landscape. 

"The rise of AI-driven answers poses existential questions for digital marketing strategies and web properties," notes Finastra's marketing chief, Joerg Klueckmann. As an early technology adopter, he envisions a future that is developing where widespread AI adoption could fundamentally alter web traffic patterns and force a rethinking of traditional digital marketing roles and website strategies.

Evidence suggests this transformation is already underway. Despite posting strong revenue gains in their 2024 earnings report, Google faces concerning metrics. Data from advertising platform Skai reveals an 8% year-over-year decline in ad click-through rates. While the precise cause remains unclear, analysts speculate that Google's newly implemented AI summary features may be the culprit. These summaries reduce users' need to interact with sponsored content or scroll to ad-populated areas of search results.

Research paints a stark picture of the evolving digital landscape. Analysis from SEO technology firm Authoritas in 2024, highlighted how AI-enhanced search results could dramatically reshape website visibility and traffic patterns. The financial implications are significant - advertising specialist Raptive estimates publishers could see a $2 billion revenue decline for publishers, once these changes fully roll out.

However, Harvard Business School's Professor David Yoffie offers a measured perspective on the timeline of this transformation. "Consumer habits are remarkably resilient," he observes, noting that without a revolutionary alternative, established user behaviors tend to persist. In short, we’re creatures of habit. This suggests that Google’s market position, while challenged, may erode gradually rather than collapse suddenly.

After the government’s recent victory in an antitrust case against Google in 2024, the Justice Department is proposing that the search giant should be prevented from giving preferential access to its search engine on devices that use its Android mobile operating system. It’s also proposing that it sell off its popular Chrome browser, among other remedies.

The response from Google was swift and emphatic. Kent Walker, who oversees global affairs at the company, characterized the government's recommendations as drastically overreaching, arguing they would undermine both consumer interests and America's technological edge. The company plans to present its own alternative remedies to the court before year's end.

The Justice Department's case will likely take years to reach a conclusion, and the final resolution is expected to fall short of the ambitious measures initially proposed. The most probable result is that Google will strike a consent decree deal with the Trump administration, much like Microsoft did with George W. Bush’s administration, according to Yoffie.

Similar to the effort to dismantle Microsoft, the government’s case against Google might ultimately be overtaken by competitive market dynamics that prove more influential than antitrust regulation. 

What can we learn from this story? What's the takeaway?

Over history, we’ve seen corporations come and go. Companies like Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, Netscape, AOL, Digital Equipment and more.

Once some companies fail to innovate so that they stay ahead of the curve, that is the moment they lose their edge and fight to catch up, if they can. Time will tell what Google ends of doing and avoid becoming a footnote in history.

Well, there you go, my friends; that's life, I swear

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, which you can find on Apple Podcasts for show notes and the episode transcript.

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