Darren Woolley, a renowned marketing expert and former chair of the Australian Marketing Institute, has witnessed a dramatic decline in web traffic to his consultancy’s site. “It’s essentially thousands and thousands of hours and years and years of work to generate this content,” Woolley stated. His website, which boasted over 3,500 pages of content and was updated thrice weekly, saw an 80% drop in traffic almost overnight.
Woolley’s experience is not isolated. Many Australian businesses are grappling with what may be the most significant transformation in web dynamics in two decades. The open web, a vast public resource of millions of freely accessible websites, is seemingly in decline. This shift is largely attributed to Google’s pivot towards AI-generated answers in search results, which has significantly reduced the traffic to traditional websites.
The Rise of AI in Search
For years, social media and centralized in-app platforms have been eroding the open web’s share of digital ad revenue. Now, Google’s integration of AI-generated answers into its search engine has further altered the landscape. Websites are reporting fewer visitors as users increasingly rely on AI summaries, bypassing traditional source links.
James Lawrence, co-founder of Sydney’s Rocket Agency, noted that search traffic to Australian business websites fell sharply in the second quarter of 2025. “There were certain businesses largely unimpacted and certain businesses that were massively impacted,” he explained. His agency’s analysis revealed that AI summaries primarily affected “informational” searches rather than transactional ones.
“If you google how to fix a leaking tap, you’ll see an AI overview. But if you search for the best plumber in my suburb, you won’t,” Lawrence said.
Impact on the Open Web
The open web’s health can be gauged by its share of online advertising. A recent Google court filing revealed that in 2019, 40% of display adverts via Google Ads were for the open web. By early 2025, this figure had plummeted to just 11%, with apps and streaming platforms absorbing the difference. This decline is compounded by the reduced traffic from AI-generated search summaries.
Elliot Dean, director of Melbourne-based Temerity Digital, observed similar impacts on his clients’ sites. “For pages appearing in search results with an AI Overview, click-throughs have dropped 15–70%,” he reported. Even news publishers have experienced sharp declines in traffic.
In response, a Google spokesperson stated that the company continues to send “billions of clicks to websites every day” and that its AI experiences are designed to highlight, not replace, the web.
Global Implications and Future Prospects
The trend is not limited to Australia. Kevin Indig, a US SEO expert, noted similar patterns globally, with traffic drops of up to 50%. The shift in Google’s strategy has transformed its relationship with publishers. Neil Vogel, CEO of People Inc, highlighted this change, noting that Google’s contribution to their traffic has fallen from 90% to the “high 20s”.
Google’s deployment of more advanced AI search tools, such as AI Mode, is expected to further reduce referral traffic. A Niemen Lab survey across six countries found that passive exposure to AI-generated information is now the primary way the public engages with AI, often without clicking through to source links.
“A significant proportion of users” never click through to the source links, the survey found.
Adapting to a New Reality
As businesses adjust to this new reality, some see potential in AI chatbots for generating leads. However, the extent to which chatbot referrals can compensate for the loss in search traffic remains uncertain. The abrupt transition has caused “chaos and confusion” in the SEO industry, with some rebranding it as “answer engine optimisation”.
In response to declining Google search traffic, some companies are reverting to traditional lead-generation methods. Bean Ninjas, an Australian accounting firm, reported a 25% decline in organic search traffic and has shifted focus to in-person marketing strategies.
Darren Woolley, too, has turned back to pre-Google methods like calls and emails, lamenting the lost convenience of the internet. “The whole reason for the internet is to make it easier to find information. For buyers to find sellers like me,” he said.
The evolution of Google’s search capabilities represents a significant shift in the digital landscape, challenging businesses to adapt quickly to maintain their online presence and customer engagement.
