One Year After Google AI Mode Launch, 'Open Web' Faces Crisis with Plunging Traffic

Google's search interface has undergone its most significant change in 25 years. AI now provides answers instead of links. It has been a year since Google unveiled 'AI Mode,' a natural language-based AI search feature that offers conversational, Gemini-powered responses rather than displaying search results as links. Recently, Google has introduced capabilities to search with photos and videos, as well as AI agents that search on behalf of users, accelerating the transition to an AI-centric search ecosystem.

According to research data compiled by The New York Times, users spend 1 to 9 minutes longer in AI Mode compared to traditional search. In approximately 75% of usage sessions, users remained in AI Mode and did not navigate out to external websites. Cloudflare data indicates that between June 2025 and April 2026, website visitor traffic in the finance, publishing, and retail sectors dropped by approximately 40%, while over 50% of all web traffic was confirmed to be generated by AI bots or automated programs rather than humans.

Google has pushed back against concerns regarding declining search traffic, labeling them 'inaccurate reporting.' The company is attempting to drive users to the external web by providing website previews within AI answers and introducing a 'preferred sources' setting feature.