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Is SEO dead?

By Ben Tabas, Intrica Research · Updated

Answer

No. Alphabet reported on July 22, 2026 that Google Search and other revenue rose 17% to $63.27 billion in the quarter ending June 30, 2026, and Sundar Pichai said AI features are driving Search query growth. Clicks per search are lower where AI summaries appear. Pew Research found users clicked a regular result on 8% of visits with an AI summary, against 15% without one.

What the numbers show

  • Search is growing. Alphabet's Q2 2026 release, July 22, 2026, puts Google Search and other revenue at $63,271 million, up from $54,190 million a year earlier.
  • AI summaries are common. Pew Research Center found 18% of the Google searches it tracked in March 2025 produced an AI summary, published July 22, 2025.
  • Clicks drop when a summary appears. In the same Pew study, users clicked a link inside the summary on 1% of visits, and ended their browsing session on 26% of visits with a summary against 16% without.

Why AI search still runs on SEO

Google's AI features guide, last updated Dec. 10, 2025, says a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode. It says the usual SEO fundamentals still apply.

ChatGPT search reads the web too. OpenAI's crawler page, checked Oct. 28, 2026, says a site should allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt to appear in ChatGPT search results.

What to change in an SEO program

  1. Track whether AI engines name you for your buyers' questions, next to rankings and traffic.
  2. Rewrite key pages so the first two sentences answer the question with a sourced fact.
  3. Earn mentions on other sites. Ahrefs' study of 75,000 brands, May 26, 2025, found branded web mentions correlated 0.664 with AI Overview mentions.
  4. Judge AI results over many runs. SparkToro reported on Jan. 28, 2026 a less than 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google's AI gives the same brand list twice.

Search share still moves fast

Exodus's estimated Google traffic fell 68% from July to October 2026 while Trust Wallet grew 74% (DataForSEO, Oct. 20, 2026).

See the data →

Find what stops your key page from ranking in Google, the base Google's AI features read from.

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Sources

  1. Alphabet Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) · Alphabet via SEC EDGAR, July 22, 2026Supports: Google Search and other revenue for Q2 2026 and Q2 2025, and Sundar Pichai's comment on Search query growth.
  2. Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results · Pew Research Center, July 22, 2025Supports: Share of searches with an AI summary, click rates and session ending rates, March 2025.
  3. AI features and your website · Google Search Central, Dec. 10, 2025Supports: Indexing and snippet eligibility as the bar for AI Overviews and AI Mode links.
  4. Overview of OpenAI Crawlers · OpenAI, Oct. 28, 2026Supports: Checked Oct. 28, 2026: OAI-SearchBot must be allowed in robots.txt to appear in ChatGPT search results.
  5. An Analysis of AI Overview Brand Visibility Factors (75K Brands Studied) · Ahrefs, May 26, 2025Supports: Branded web mentions correlated 0.664 with AI Overview brand mentions.
  6. NEW Research: AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products · SparkToro, Jan. 28, 2026Supports: Less than 1 in 100 chance of the same brand list in two responses.

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