Are the Best Days of Google Search Already Behind It?

Google: a company so successful that it’s become a verb. Want to know something? Just Google it.

The California-based tech giant knows this, which is why it’s hellbent on making search more intuitive and more frictionless than it’s ever been. With the launch of AI overviews and, more recently, a fully-fledged AI mode, Google is shifting gears and entering a whole new era of online search. Or a “total reimagining,” as the company’s chief executive Sundar Pichai put it.

On paper, all of this sounds great. Users will get answers to their questions more quickly, making fewer clicks and using more natural search terms. Google Search will become more efficient than it’s ever been.

So what’s the problem, you luddite?

OK, hold up, I’m not a luddite. I actually use AI pretty frequently, and I have a real appreciation for what it brings to the table. Who wants to sift through line after line of data and categorise or order it manually? Just let your favourite chatbot handle it. And maybe ask it to create some cursed photos or videos while you’re at it.

AI has the power to save us hour after hour of excruciating, mind-numbing work. It has the power to make us better at our jobs, to make us more productive. And it even has the power to make us laugh.

But does that mean I want the majority of my interactions on the web to be with a faceless machine learning algorithm? No. Which brings us to problem number one.

It’s disconnecting us from human-created content

What makes the internet great? If you ask me, it’s all the stuff us humans have populated it with. Captivating, fascinating articles. Detailed instructional videos. Photography, art, music… the list goes on.

The job of a search engine, in my opinion, is to put us in contact with all that content. It should serve up relevant information based on our query and then leave us to make our own mind up. It’s a facilitator for our enjoyment of the internet, a liminal space. Our online experience should begin with a search engine, sure, but it shouldn’t end with one.

I know AI mode isn’t the only way of interacting with Google Search right now, but all indications seem to be that it’s Google’s vision for the future of search. Fast forward five years or so, and those 10 blue links we’ve grown familiar with might be consigned to the history books. In their place, an AI-generated summary with a few citation links sprinkled on top.

But instead of being spoon-fed a chatbot’s summary on a given topic, I want to do the research myself and draw my own conclusions. If AI mode becomes the default – or even the only – way of experiencing Search, I fear an entire generation of people will lose the thrill of exploring the internet the way it was meant to be explored – and a whole load of content creators won’t be able to make their mark on the SERPs.

Google, I beg you: remember that you’re a search engine, not an answer engine.

Smaller businesses are going to struggle to compete

Back in my day, the internet was a bit like the Wild West. In the 2000s, you never quite knew what you’d come across when you hit enter on Google (or the I’m Feeling Lucky button) – and it’s only in the last decade or so that it’s become a somewhat-regulated, more guided experience.

Am I saying we should go back to the way things were? No. But back then, Google Search was an open playing field where businesses large and small could compete on a level footing, provided they had the know-how and resources to do so.

With the introduction of AI overviews and now AI mode, the playing field isn’t looking quite as level any more. From our research, AI tends to favour big-name brands in its responses even more than the SERPs do, which means that it’s going to be tricky for independent, local businesses to get a look in.

As AI becomes more and more prevalent across Search, could we be entering an era where big brands dominate and smaller ones get crowded out? I hope not.

It’s strengthening Google’s monopoly

Google already has a monopoly on the search engine sector, which means that, by extension, it has a monopoly on the availability of information on the internet. With more than 90% of all search queries being directed through Google here in the UK, this one organisation has an alarming amount of control over who sees what information (and where).

AI mode is only going to strengthen that monopoly – because instead of feeding you information directly from blogs and news articles, it adds its own spin on each topic too. Plus, Google has the power to tweak the way it responds to specific queries (and the links it uses as citations).

That’s a little concerning if you ask me – and it gets worse when you factor in how often AI gets things wrong.

I’ve just had an idea

There’s no denying that AI mode will come in handy for millions of users across the globe, and it will continue to get better. But is it the search experience I want, every time I open my browser? No.

So here’s what I’d like instead. If you ask me, Search peaked with the addition of featured snippets: helpful, interactive elements that made the SERPs more useful and more engaging, while continuing to rely fully on human-created content.

As a result, my dream version of Google would be its final iteration pre-AI overview – but with a twist. The Y2K aesthetic is big right now, and I love a bit of nostalgia. So I’d slap the early 2000s logo and UI design on it. Tell me that idea doesn’t make you all warm and fuzzy inside.