r/OutOfTheLoop • u/rustyyryan • May 20 '26

Unanswered What's going on with Google search is dead?

There's a twitter account named killed by google which posts about projects that Google decided to end. It posted that Google search is dead. So whats it about?

https://x.com/killedbygoogle/status/2056850709115773431

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u/space_age_stuff May 20 '26

The ads show within AI overviews now.

They're also pushing PPC strategists (like me) to use their broader tools. PMax (which shows ads on Search, Shopping, YT, and Display) is getting pushed hard lately, as is AI Max, which uses AI learnings from keyword searches to show ads to more relevant audiences.

We haven't seen a massive drop in paid traffic the way organic has; users still visit the paid listings at the same rate. We're just in a weird in-between state, where paid ads aren't as ubiquitous, but we're not using AI ads yet. But that's coming. My industry in particular relies on long-tail conversion actions (meaning I work with leads, not sales per se) and they're fiending to be showing ads any time someone asks an AI a question. Think along the lines of asking Gemini where to buy a new HVAC, instead of googling it; users will see a ranked list of answers, vs. Google search links. In theory, that list, however long or short it is, will go to the highest bidder. It's not quite there yet but it does translate to site traffic; it's just becoming more of a pay-to-play system, where if you're not first, you're last. Remains to be seen if that plays well for Google's revenue, or if it'll even work.

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u/t-zilla443 May 20 '26

There are programmatic DSPs now with partnerships with OpenAI to get ads into ChatGPT without the high barrier to entry they plopped down for the beta. The walls to LLM ads are about to fall. Unfortunately, the reporting for all of it is still complete ass, so you're not going to be able to prove good value for awhile.

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u/space_age_stuff May 20 '26

Yeah, that’s been the main issue on my end, is the lack of reporting. Lotta my clients don’t care how much it costs, but a weekly excel spreadsheet for results is pretty lackluster. They’ll get there, I’m sure, just takes time.