AI not the only challenger to Google’s search dominance
With so many competitors chasing the same advertising revenue and a recent attempt to break up Google’s advertising business by the European Commission - Dr Irute Karanicholas explores what the future of search looks like in the AI era.
Google has been the goliath of internet search for over twenty years, and nearly 100% of its revenue still comes from advertising. If AI reduces queries or clicks, this revenue could be under threat. But this giant is used to fending off competitors, more recently resisting attempts from the European Commission to break up its business – and consumer search habits have been quietly shifting long before the dawn of AI. A growing number aren’t using Google search engine at all. According to Statista, 41% of U.S. consumers used TikTok as a search engine in 2024, with social media becoming deeply embedded in how people discover and interact with information and products.
Even this is part of a much bigger picture of the company’s declining search dominance. As well as social media companies, Google’s traditional competitors have also been taking a bite out of their market share. Globally, its desktop market share fell from 88% in 2015 to 79% in 2025 (Statista). In the same period, Bing rose from 4.5% to 12%. DuckDuckGo - while still small and unheard of to some - grew nearly twenty-fold from 0.05% to 0.99%. Size isn't always the threat, but speed is.
The impact isn’t uniform. Informational searches, in particular, are now more likely to be resolved by AI answers or social media content, without ever reaching a traditional search engine. Yes, that cuts into ad impressions, clicks, and ultimately revenue. Yet the demand to search for products, services, and solutions remains strong, keeping the core of Google’s ad engine alive, at least for now.
So where does the cash go next?
The future lies in innovation, either by reinventing what a search engine looks like, or by expanding into entirely new markets. Look at Apple: now a top ten digital advertiser globally in 2025, according to Statista. Not someone you'd have put in direct competition with Google ten years ago. We saw the same pattern with Meta. If you look at the business model, Meta is really Google’s direct competitor – not through search engines, but because both are chasing the same money. Advertising.
And then there’s Alphabet. Beyond Google, they’ve already made moves in healthcare and biotech. We’ve seen public discussion around merging data, health, and using AI to create entirely new ecosystems. That’s where the next generation of ad revenue might come from – not just search, but synergy.
