Artificial Intelligence is Becoming the Main Format in Google Search

AI-generated answers in the Google search engine are becoming a priority in the digital information space, regardless of user preferences. According to market analysis company Similarweb, over the past year, the AI Overviews feature in Google search has increased its appearance rate in search results from 15 percent to 43 percent, fundamentally changing the information consumption habits of internet users. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

Changes in search habits and the role of the Google platform

According to research results, the technology, which was initially launched as an additional layer on top of regular search, has now become an integral part of the search process. Users are directly directed to AI-provided answers and then continue their search through Google's more interactive and conversational AI Mode. In particular, figures show that AI Mode visits grew from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million by May 2026.

These changes represent a broader shift in the culture of how users search for information online. While Google once simply provided a list of blue links for users to click through to other sites, today Google's own search page is becoming the final destination. The system collects and presents necessary information from the sites it indexes itself.

This situation ensures that users spend more time on the Google platform itself rather than navigating to external sites. According to Similarweb data, the average duration of search queries has increased over the past period. This means that instead of short keywords, people have started using longer, more natural, conversational queries designed for artificial intelligence.

Challenges Faced by Publishers

However, such radical changes in the search engine have not been welcomed by media outlets and content publishers. Due to AI citations that do not require visiting websites, publishers are losing their referral traffic. Last year, Similarweb also reported that this trend would have severe consequences, especially for news publications.

In response to the situation, cloud infrastructure company Cloudflare provided publishers with tools allowing them to protect their sites. Now site owners have the opportunity to block AI crawlers if AI companies do not pay for content.

Nevertheless, the latest report notes that the number of cited AI responses has increased more than fivefold compared to last year. For example, as of May 2026, only 6.8 percent of ChatGPT desktop queries in the US included source citations (excluding travel, retail, and sports queries, which are cited more than others).

Glimmers of Hope for Publishers

Nevertheless, small positive changes are visible for content creators. In particular, following an update to the ChatGPT search engine in early May, web page traffic metrics for desktop users in the US improved. While in March 2026 only 25 percent of visits were directed to web pages, by the end of May this figure reached nearly 60 percent. This shows that users are trying to make use of the blue links within AI results as much as possible.