On October 29, 2026, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, lost nearly $500 billion in value. While the numbers were shocking, the reason for the drastic decline—the second-worst daily loss in history—was not. Google’s own reliance on AI to provide answers in search queries had disrupted their largest revenue generator: paid search ads.

AI Overview Impact on Paid Search

To understand why the AI overviews Google provides might hinder paid search results, you must first understand a few things about search marketing and buyer psychology.

In other words, people still use Google to search, but they’re only interested in what’s at the top of the search engine results page. Results that fall below the fold—such as paid ads and organic search results—are often ignored.

Lower Click-Through Rates

For many searches, an AI overview appears at the top of the page. In most cases, paid and organic search results appear below the fold. For this reason alone, the click-through rate on Google ads drops from nearly 20% to 6%.

Zero-Click Searches

More than half of searches now end without a click at all—not on paid ads and not on organic search results. With the answer searchers need right there in the AI overview, there’s no need to follow up with results found below the fold.

Higher CPC (Cost Per Click)

The ads that gain the attention of searchers are those that manage to appear above the fold. Because fewer appear, they compete more ferociously for the few clicks that occur, leading to a much higher cost per click.

Erosion of Discoverability

Top-of-the-funnel marketing through search and paid ads has suffered. Broad searches result in AI overviews more than 99% of the time. This means brands that don’t appear in the overviews simply don’t get discovered.

How Businesses Can Adapt

With more than 83% of people still turning to Google for their searches, businesses have no choice but to adapt. But what’s a business to do?

Long-Tail Keyword Use

While brand discoverability may not be an ideal use for Google ads and search marketing, transactional search—searches by those ready to make a purchase—can be. With keywords that focus on people who are close to making a purchase, you can reach buyers through ads and organic results.

Diversify Your Marketing Channels

People are still discovering brands through social media. Up to 92% of buyers use social media to find and research new products. By moving some of your Google Ads budget to social media ads, you can still enjoy top-of-the-funnel marketing results.

Lean Into AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)

Create content that AI overviews want to see, including comparison guides, pricing pages, and FAQ content that Google can cite. With your brand appearing in AI overviews, you can recapture some top-of-the-funnel awareness.

Before you panic that your marketing budget has been misplaced, know this: PPC and SEO are NOT dead. They still get great results when you adapt tactics to meet the latest technology and buyer needs.

To learn more about how you can combat the decline in paid search results, reach out any time. We can discuss the many ways you can adapt your marketing strategy or reallocate your budget for better results.