VP Marketing at Looper Insights. Writing about how AI is transforming marketing strategy, visibility, and long-term growth planning.
For decades, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and paid media strategies have been grounded in one central truth: If you could optimize your content to appeal to Google’s algorithm, you could climb the ranks, earn visibility and influence discovery. Whether it was organic reach or ad placement, it revolved around Google’s ecosystem. That ecosystem has shaped how most companies structure their marketing strategies, hire teams and allocate budget.
But with generative AI tools changing how people search, that centre of gravity is changing. This shift is happening faster than most in our industry are ready to admit.
The Shift From SEO
At the time of writing, Google still holds its dominant position in search. Gemini, despite being integrated into some search experiences, has not yet meaningfully disrupted that dominance. But what users encounter when interacting with Gemini through standard Google Search feels significantly different—less intuitive and less capable—than the experience within the standalone Gemini app or other generative tools. The first issue is usability. The second—and more complex—is trust.
Most generative tools currently offer unsponsored results. For now, when I ask a model like ChatGPT, “Which are the best analytics platforms in media and entertainment?” I get a list shaped by public data and contextual relevance, not paid placements. That is a major contrast to traditional search, where we have spent years fine-tuning search engine marketing (SEM) strategies that would help position our companies near the top of the results page.
This shift means companies, including ours, are pausing to rethink. At Looper Insights, we have started reducing investment in SEO and PPC—not because they are suddenly worthless, but because we need time to understand how this new search behaviour works and where it is heading. When the rules change, it is smart to slow down and observe before going all in.
For others looking to follow suit, I recommend reinvesting some of that budget into activities that feel less volatile and more value-driven, such as live events and well-placed PR. These are hardly new tactics, but they are gaining new relevance. In a fragmented search environment, you need credibility to travel with the user wherever they go. A thoughtful piece of press coverage or a face-to-face conversation builds trust in ways no keyword strategy ever could.
A New Phase In Marketing
What’s tricky is that many agencies and consultants are already rushing to sell AI-driven SEO strategies, and it’s easy to see why. When your role depends on staying ahead of change, there’s pressure to appear as though you’ve already cracked the code. But the reality is, no one has. Not yet. The platforms are still evolving. Monetization models remain unsettled. And most importantly, user behaviour is still shifting, sometimes week by week.
Will generative tools eventually introduce sponsored recommendations? Most likely. If you look at how Google evolved, it is a familiar pattern. Trust first, monetize later. Once a tool becomes embedded in how we work, shop, travel and even diagnose our health, the influence it holds becomes exponential. When that time comes, the marketing playbook will change again, but we are not there yet.
We are, however, seeing clear early signals. According to Similarweb, about 60% of Google searches now end without any external clicks. Users are increasingly finding what they need directly in search summaries without ever visiting a site. Data shared by Barron’s (registration required) shows Google-generated traffic has already dropped by 20% for travel sites, 17% for news outlets and 9% for e-commerce platforms. This is a measurable decline that reflects real behavioural change.
For marketers, this is both exciting and uncomfortable. We are entering a new phase. For the first time in a long while, we are not optimizing incrementally. We are facing a foundational shift in how visibility is earned.
The old frameworks are not being improved—they are being replaced. That does not mean we need to panic, but it does mean we need to pay close attention and be willing to experiment without expecting familiar returns.
Closing Thoughts
I believe there has never been a better time to be in marketing. The past decade gave us refinement. The next 10 years will bring reinvention. The unknown brings some hesitation, but mostly, it brings energy. I feel fortunate to be doing this work right now.
This article is the first in a series about the pillars of marketing that are being reshaped. Next, I will explore how the shift toward hyper-personalized content capsules could upend everything we thought we knew about content creation, messaging and what relevance really looks like in this new environment.
Feature image credit: getty
By Francesca Pezzoli
VP Marketing at Looper Insights. Writing about how AI is transforming marketing strategy, visibility, and long-term growth planning. Read Francesca Pezzoli’s full executive profile here.
Find Francesca Pezzoli on LinkedIn. Visit Francesca’s website.
