Google is still the largest search platform by traffic. That's not changing. But the search behaviour of your customers is changing. When someone wants information, they're asking an AI before they're asking Google. When they want a recommendation, they're asking ChatGPT before they're asking their friends. When they want current information, they're asking Perplexity because Perplexity searches the live web. The distribution is shifting and it's shifting faster than most businesses realise.
This creates a strategic question: where should you focus your resources? Google still drives significant traffic, but that traffic is coming from a smaller proportion of your target audience. ChatGPT and Perplexity are driving less traffic right now but they're growing faster, and more importantly, they're driving different kinds of traffic. People using AI to search are already qualified. They're asking specific questions. They're ready to take action. Google traffic includes everyone, including people who are just beginning to learn about your space.
The answer is both and. You can't ignore Google. But you shouldn't be spending 90 percent of your effort on Google when 30 percent of your valuable customer discovery is happening through AI. You need a split strategy that accounts for where the market actually is and where it's going.
Traffic Source Transitions
Five years ago, Google search might have been 80 percent of your organic traffic. Now it might be 70 percent or 60 percent, with 10-15 percent coming from ChatGPT and Perplexity combined. In another three years, this ratio might be 50-30. The transition is accelerating. If you're measuring success purely by Google metrics, you're missing the fastest growing channel. You might even think you're doing worse when you're actually doing better, because total traffic from Google is declining even though discovery is shifting toward more qualified channels.
Track this in your analytics. Set up attribution for ChatGPT referrals and Perplexity referrals if you can. Use UTM parameters or try to identify patterns in your referrer data. Over six months, you should see a clear trend. Is AI traffic growing as a proportion of your total? If not, you might not be as visible as you think. If yes, you should allocate resources accordingly.
The kinds of customers coming from different channels also differ. Google brings more top-of-funnel traffic. People are in early research. They might not know they have a problem yet. They're comparing many options. AI search brings more qualified traffic. People asking specific questions have usually already decided they have a problem. They're narrower in what they want. They convert better.
The Resource Allocation Question
You have limited time and money. You can't optimise for everything. The question is: where does your specific business see the best return? For a business selling a commodity or a well-understood service, Google might still drive the most traffic. For a business selling something specialised or technical, AI search might already be driving more qualified traffic. You need to understand your own situation.
A simple test: what proportion of your customers, when they first learned about you, found you through Google search versus through recommendations or references? If most of your customers come to you because they were recommended to you or they found you in research before deciding they had a problem, AI discovery is more important than Google for your business. If most come from specific keyword searches, Google still matters more.
If you're in professional services, medical services, or luxury goods, recommendation and research-driven discovery is probably more important than Google for your business. If you're selling a commodity or a self-evident product, Google might still drive most discovery. But the trend is moving toward AI. Even commodity businesses are seeing more discovery through AI as the technology becomes more common.
What to Do Right Now
If you've been focused entirely on Google SEO, you need to shift. Not away from Google completely, but you need to start building visibility in AI systems. This means PR and earned media. It means being cited in publications. It means building your reputation outside of search. It means producing content that demonstrates expertise and that's worth recommending.
You should still maintain your technical SEO. Fast, mobile-friendly, properly indexed sites matter to everyone. But you should stop spending huge budgets on link building and keyword research. Spend that money on PR, on being featured in publications, on building relationships with journalists and influencers in your space. Spend money on creating original content and research that's worth citing.
You should track your visibility in AI systems actively. Check where you show up in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity results related to your services. Set up Google Alerts for your business name to track media mentions. Monitor your traffic sources to see if AI traffic is growing. This gives you feedback on whether your efforts are working.
The Case for Patience with Google
Google is probably not going anywhere. It's not going to disappear as a discovery platform. It's going to remain important. But it's also not going to grow the way it has in the past. The company itself is dealing with this. Google is integrating AI answers into search results. Google is trying to compete with ChatGPT and Perplexity. But Google's core business model, advertising, doesn't work as well when AI is providing answers directly without users clicking through to multiple sites.
This doesn't mean you should abandon Google. But it means you can be patient with Google. You don't need to chase every algorithm update. You don't need to spend huge budgets on rank tracking and keyword research. Maintain your site. Keep it fast and indexed. Publish good content. But focus your growth efforts on channels that are actually growing and on ways to demonstrate authority that work across all discovery systems.
In three years, you might look back and realise that the energy you spent optimising for Google would have been better spent building your reputation and getting media mentions. You can't know for sure. But the trend is clear enough that hedging your bets by investing in both is the safe play.
Building Optionality
The safest strategy is to be visible everywhere. Be findable on Google. Be cited in Perplexity. Be recommended by ChatGPT. Be reviewed on Google. Be mentioned in publications. The businesses winning long-term are the ones that aren't dependent on any single discovery channel. They've built authority and visibility broadly.
This doesn't mean spending equally on all channels right now. It means building a portfolio of visibility strategies. Allocate your budget based on where your customers actually are. But always be building authority through earned media and reputation, because that authority translates across channels. A business with strong earned media and reputation will show up in Google, in ChatGPT, in Perplexity, and in recommendations from their industry. They're not dependent on gaming any single algorithm.
Start moving your resources now, while the window is still open. The businesses that are starting to build AI visibility now will be established by the time it's obvious that AI is how most discovery happens. By the time everyone agrees that AI matters, it will be too late to catch up with the leaders. Get ahead of the trend.
— Sam