Google Grapples With AI’s Hit to Its Ads Juggernaut

AI Summary

Google is facing signs that consumers’ use of AI chatbots for research may be reducing engagement with its search ads. A Los Angeles business owner reported that part of its roughly $2,000 daily Google advertising budget went unused because fewer people were seeing or clicking the ads.

Cleverly CEO Nicholas Verity, whose Los Angeles business has advertised on Google for seven years, noticed an unusual pattern in Google search advertising about eight months ago. Part of the roughly $2,000 a day he set aside for Google was going unspent because not enough people were seeing or clicking on the ads to use up the budget. He believes that’s a result of more people researching the web on AI chatbots instead. “I want to give Google more money, but there’s that search traffic I think is going to people doing their own research in [large language models],” he said.